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Sydney Gardens

1790s establishments in EnglandGrade II Historic Parks in EnglandParks and open spaces in Bath, SomersetPleasure gardens in England
Kennet and Avon canal geograph.org.uk 340531
Kennet and Avon canal geograph.org.uk 340531

Sydney Gardens (originally known as Bath Vauxhall Gardens) is a public open space at the end of Great Pulteney Street in Bath, Somerset, England. The gardens are the only remaining eighteenth-century pleasure (or "Vauxhall") gardens in the country. They are Grade II listed on the Register of Historic Parks and Gardens of special historic interest in England.The gardens were laid out in the 1790s, to plans by Thomas Baldwin which were completed by Charles Harcourt Masters, as a commercial pleasure garden with a variety of attractions. Features included a maze, grotto, sham castle and an artificial rural scene with moving figures powered by a clockwork mechanism. Events included promenades and public breakfasts which were attended by Jane Austen among others. It was also the venue for an annual flower show. The layout was affected by the construction of the Kennet & Avon Canal in 1810 and the Great Western Railway in 1840 which pass through the park. The gardens later fell into decline. In 1908, the site was bought by the local council and reopened as a park. Since 2015, work has been undertaken to improve the environment of the park and provide additional attractions for visitors. The Sydney Hotel, which was built with the gardens, was the centre for entertainment. It is now the Holburne Museum. Other structures including the walls and bridges connected with the canal and railway are listed buildings along with small buildings now known as the pavilion and Minerva's temple and the public conveniences.

Excerpt from the Wikipedia article Sydney Gardens (License: CC BY-SA 3.0, Authors, Images).

Sydney Gardens
Great Pulteney Street, Bath Bathwick

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N 51.3862 ° E -2.3499 °
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Holburne Museum

Great Pulteney Street
BA2 4DB Bath, Bathwick
England, United Kingdom
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Website
holburne.org

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Kennet and Avon canal geograph.org.uk 340531
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St Mary's Church, Bathwick
St Mary's Church, Bathwick

St Mary's Church, Bathwick (also called Bathwick Old Church) was a parish church in Bathwick in the city of Bath in England. The church was demolished in 1818. Its parish was succeeded by St Mary the Virgin's Church, Bathwick on Church Road at the base of Bathwick Hill. Its churchyard is currently contained in that of St John the Baptist's Church, Bathwick. Medieval in origin, it was recorded in May 1815 as being merely 64 feet long, 17 feet wide with room for 130 people seated. It featured a dominant Early English tower, a nave and chancel and large nearly triangular buttresses. By the Georgian era, it was fast becoming a ruin. With William Pulteney's purchase of the Manor of Bathwick estate in 1727, the Pulteneys wished to relieve themselves of the small ruin on their estate, but waited until they had developed the property. By 1814, the new parish church of St Mary the Virgin, Bathwick at the base of Bathwick Hill was completed. The designer of that church, John Pinch the Elder, was shortly employed by the Pulteney family to demolish the medieval Mary's, then called Bathwick Old Church, which he carried out in January 1818.Many of the stones, as well as the altar, pulpit and roof timbers, were recycled to construct St Mary the Virgin Parish Church's new mortuary chapel, which was also designed by Pinch the Elder. However, this new chapel never was licensed to perform marriages and only occasionally performed funerals and baptisms. It is now bricked in, abandoned, and thoroughly decrepit. The churchyard and many of the burial plots of Bathwick Old Church still exists in St John the Baptist, Bathwick Churchyard. The east end of the Victorian church of St John's now occupies the west end tower location of Bathwick Old Church. The entirety of St John's was designed to fit in the old church's space.