Just a pretty face

I mentioned Sham Castle in the previous post and here is a close-up. I said to Thelma that it was built partly to enhance the view from Ralph Allen's town house (below) and partly to advertise the Bath stone from R.A.'s quarries. He set up in competition with Portland Stone, used by Sir Christopher Wren to rebuild London after the Great Fire in 1666. There is a little Bath stone in London, but not much.

 

When Ralph Allen built his mini-mansion, it had clear views way up to the hills where he built the castle, but now it is completely surrounded by later buildings and is seldom - if ever - seen by tourists. It was also within a one minute walk of the original Assembly Rooms, so Ralph could spend the evening drinking and dancing there, then stroll back to his little house rather than up the hill to his immense and grand Prior Park. He had a few quid.

The first building I ever worked on in Bath was the Town House (some of you already know this, so skip this bit). It had stayed empty right through the war and when I was there in the early 1970s, it had been squatted for a few years. I opened a little cupboard and found the original crystal chandelier in a box (the house wasn't big enough for two). The original 18th century, dusty and ragged bell-pull tassel was still hanging beside the fire surround. The Town House was - and still is - a miniature gem. I was very fortunate to have gone inside before it was sanitised for offices after 250 years of neglect. I am always saying this: places fare much better when completely ignored.

Ralph Allen was a proper entrepreneur.  He invented the world's first dedicated postal service too. He utilised the stage coaches between Bristol and London which used the King's (or Queen's) highway, creating Royal Mail. Once sacrosanct, Royal Mail is currently being dismantled, run-down and destroyed by a bunch of short-termist men in suits. When Elizabeth the second dies, that will be the end of the Post Office.

There are many hidden bits and pieces of medieval and pre-Georgian Bath dotted around if you know what to look for. Whole facades of 1600s town houses still sit in full view to those that can see them, and sometimes 17th century buildings hide behind Georgian fronts which are as make-believe as Sham Castle. Bath is all front. It is truly facile.