Literary Bath

England's privately owned pleasure gardens

In the eighteenth century, England's privately owned pleasure gardens hosted royalty, nobility and famous people of the day who promenaded through exquisite, classical vistas and artfully contrived ruins in a fairyland of tinkling fountains and glittering lights. They showcased the finest musicians and artists of the day, hosting Mozart's English debut, and exhibited fine art in a public setting for the first time. At a time when the city streets were unlit and impassable (as they perceived them) except by sedan chair, pleasure gardens offered well-to-do ladies a thrilling opportunity to meet people from beyond their proscribed circle of friends. The gardens were also the first truly egalitarian venue, where anyone was granted admission for the price of a ticket, regardless of class. In an age almost as celebrity-orientated as our own, with nobles replacing TV stars, the gardens were the place to see and be seen. They began to appear as England fell in love with fun again at the Restoration, and reached their height in the 1740s and 50s. In the halcyon days of the mid to late 18th century, the gardens were the backdrop to an endless parade of concerts, balls, public breakfasts, masquerades and firework displays.

For those who worked, holidays really were only single days, and before the railways made travel to the coast or countryside viable, a day at a pleasure garden on the outskirts of the city was the perfect way to unwind. By the Victorian era most pleasure gardens had lost their Arcadian chic. Offering family entertainments, balloon ascents, animal exhibits and ice-cream, they were the forerunners of the seaside or amusement park.

Tragically, little is left of such an important part of our history. Of the great London gardens, Vauxhall Pleasure Gardens was entirely lost to Victorian property development until the blitz cleared a portion of the site, which was redefined as a park after the second world war. Now restored to the original name of Spring Gardens, it remains a public park off Kennington Lane in Lambeth, with part of the site on Tyers Street dedicated to Vauxhall City Farm and the Riding Therapy Centre. Ranelagh also all but disappeared, save for a small area where the Chelsea Flower Show is now held (Royal Hospital Road, Chelsea). The fate of the provincial gardens was generally more severe. Victims of civic and industrial expansion, almost all were gone by 1860, leaving only a district or street name to mark their passing.

On the photo: An entertainment in Vauxhall Gardens in c.1779 by Thomas Rowlandson. The two women in the centre are Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire and her sister Lady Duncannon. The man seated at the table on the left is Samuel Johnson, with James Boswell to his left and Oliver Goldsmith to his right. To the right the actress and author Mary Darby Robinson stands next to the Prince of Wales, later George IV
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Sydney Gardens Vauxhall in Bath was possibly the greatest pleasure garden outside London. It boasted a labyrinth, where Jane Austen walked every day when she lived in Bath, as well as a picturesque folly of a ruined castle. Once Brunel's railway bisected the site, popularity began to wane, and by the end of the 19th century it was little more than a public park with concerts. Suffering further decline in the 20th century, there is little left apart from a bowling green and tennis courts to entertain visitors (Pulteney Road). However the space is set to return to its former glory with the current redevelopment of the Holburne Museum (bath.ac.uk/holburne) on Great Pulteney Street, once the Sydney Hotel and gateway to the gardens, and further plans to restore Sydney Gardens (Sydney Place).
• Sarah Jane Downing is the author of The English Pleasure Garden 1660-1860, published by Shire Publications, £5.99 pleasure-sydney-gardens-vauxhall-bath

On the photo: Sketch of the Fancy Fair at Sydney Gardens, Bath for the Relief of Distressed Seamen. Painted around 1836 by an unknown artist
In her letter to Cassandra dated 19^th June 1799 , written while Jane Austen was staying in Bath with her brother Edward and his family in Queen’s Square, she recorded her impressions of one such event:
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Last night we were in Sidney Gardens (sic) again as there was a repetition of the Gala which went off so ill on the 4^th-  We did not go till nine and then were in very good time for the Fire-Works which were  really beautiful and surpassing my expectations- the illuminations too were very pretty.

She appears to have disliked the music played there, for she made this caustic comment in her letter to Cassandra of the 2nd June 1799, when writing of the planned visit to the original gala:

There is to be a grand gala on Tuesday evening in Sydney Gardens-A concert with Illuminations and Fireworks; to the latter Elizabeth and I look forward with pleasure, and even the concert will have more than its usual charm with me, as the Gardens are large enough for me to get pretty well beyond the reach of its sound.

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St Swithin’s Church and Paragon nr 1. The house of the uncle and aunt of Jane Austen

Jane’s mother, Cassandra Leigh was living in Bath at the time of her marriage to George Austen in 1764. Her father had retired to Bath in the early 1760s,  and had died there in January 1764, and was then buried in the subject of our post today, St Swithin’s Church. The Austens married on the 26^th April 1764 by special license at St. Swithin’s

 

This is a copy of the register recording their marriage

 

In a characteristically practical manner, Mrs Austen did not appear at church arrayed in any special wedding dress of fine embroidered silk. Instead she wore  a typical mid 18^th century travelling dress -a habit-of red worsted wool.

Her dress must have been very similar to this one held by the Victoria and Albert Museum in their collection. If you go here you can see a 360 degree view of the dress and a short description of it.

 

 

On January 21, 1805 the Reverend George Austen died at the age of 73, and was buried St. Swithin’s Church. Originally George Austen’s tombstone was in the crypt, but it was moved outside in 1968, and the memorial plaque was added in 2000.
 

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Jane Austen’s aunt and uncle  James Leigh Perrott and his wife lived during the winter season, at Number 1, the Paragon. Jane Austen stayed with them there in 1797 and also in 1801 when the Austen’s first left Steventon upon Mr Austens retirement, so that they could have a base while they were house hunting for a suitable place to live in Bath. It has to be admitted that Jane Austen was not in a good fame of mind when she stayed there in 1801. She had been rather forced to leave her beloved Steventon home, their friends and neighbours and the surrounding countryside, against her will. She was a self confessed “Desperate Walker” and being hemmed in, in a town,  by houses and buildings, however grand , must have felt oppressive to her.
 

 

 

 

The Paragon is a delightfully quirky 4-bedroom Georgian townhouse in the fashionable and bustling centre of the World Heritage City of Bath. The property has been given a special Gold award for 'exceptional quality of accommodation and customer service' by VistEngland for 2014.

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Home of Jane Austen and her family during their stay, 4 Sydneystreet Bath.

For the Austens the first floor was the most important. Here they received their quests and were living a great part of the day. The view through the three windows is pretty much the same as Jane saw.

The first floor is bought in 2011 by Bath Boutique Stays.   They restored it in a beautiful way.  bath-boutique-stays

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She stopped writing, and was unable to start again for ten years

Jane's life was turned upside down in 1800 when it was announced that the family would move from Steventon to Bath.

Bath is an important influence in Austen's novels, and is often portrayed as an exciting place offering escape from the mundane. In Pride and Prejudice Wickham escapes his dull life by running away to Bath. Catherine in Northanger Abbey is all "eager delight" at arriving in the city.

But for Jane Austen her move to Bath was not a happy one. Much as she chafed against her limited life in Steventon, leaving the village was deeply traumatic. The traditional tale is that she fainted on hearing news of the move. She stopped writing, and was unable to start again for ten years.

In 1805 George Austen died leading to difficult circumstances. It was only after 1809, when her rich brother Edward provided Jane with a permanent home at Chawton in Hampshire, that writing began again.

Houses in Bath where Jane Austen lived

No 4, Sydney House

No 4, Sydney House was a good, well proportoned newly built terraces house. It was well placed outside the crowded centre of Bath, but within walking distance over Pulteney bridge.

From its talldrawing room windows it looked across the road to the newly laid-out and very agreeable Sydney Gardens at the front

The father of Jane died in 1805 in a house in Green park Building East to which they had moved not many weeks after the lease on Sydney Place ran out.

An old photograph of Green Park Buildings from The Buildings of Georgian Bath by Walter Ison,looking towards Seymour Street)

Jane, her mother and Cassandra had to move again to  No 25 Gay Street. We know very little about the house as it was at the time when Jane Austen lived in it. Gay Street was a very busy street, full of chairs carrying people from the Upper to the Lower town, and would have been noisy. It was firmly set into the centre of town with very little chance of good views of the surrounding countryside.

No 25 Gay Street

You can see that Gay Street steeply descends the hill towards Queen’s Square in the break in the circle of houses in the middle of the picture.

The Austen ladies were of course at this time beginning to find that their financial position was not particularly secure. By his will Mr Austen left everything to Mrs Austen. But his main source of income was the money from his livings of Deane and Steventon and any entitlement to that money ceased at the moment of his death. Mrs Austen had a little independent income and Cassandra had the interest on the £1000 left to her by her late finance Tom Fowle, but Jane Austen had nothing whatsoever in the way of income.

The letters sent between the Austen brothers at this time indicate quite interesting attitudes to the economic and social fate of the Austen ladies. Frank had just been appointed to the 80-gun HMS Canopus. He generously offered £100 per annum towards the upkeep of Mrs Austen and his sisters, and did so in a letter to Henry Austen requesting that he keep this offer secret from the ladies.

Here is part of Henry’s illuminating reply to him:

With the proudest exultations of maternal tenderness the Excellent Parent has exclaimed that never were Children so good as hers. She feels the magnificence of your offer, and accepts of half. I shall therefore honor her demands for 50 pounds annually on your account. James had the day before yesterday communicated to me & Her his desire to be her Banker for the same annual assistance, & l as long as I am an Agent shall do as he does. – If Edward does the least he ought, he will certainly insist on her receiving a £100 from him. So you see My Dear E, that with her own assured property, & Cassandra’s, both producing about £250 per ann., She will be in the receipt of a clear £450 pounds per Ann.

They only remained in Gay Street for six months before moving once again, this time to Trim Street, a narrow lane in the darker and cheaper part of town.

Trim Street

At this time, the family could not afford the social entertainment that they may have enjoyed in former years.

The Jane Austen centre in Bath, provides us with an insight into Jane's life in the city and the life that was going on around her at that time, as illustrated in some of her novels. The centre is housed in No 40 Gay Street, in a Georgian town house, similar to the type that Jane would have lived in during her time at No25 Gay Street.

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It came as a considerable shock when her parents suddenly announced in 1801 that the family would be moving away to Bath.

Regency Bath was a place of frivolity, fashion and incessant social striving and provided rich material for Jane Austen's satiric pen.

It came as a considerable shock when her parents suddenly announced in 1801 that the family would be moving away to Bath. Mr Austen would give the Steventon living to his son James and retire to Bath with his wife and two daughters. At this time Jane was 26 years old. The next four years were going to be difficult ones for Jane Austen.

They lived at several addresses in Bath such as Green Park and Gay Street, but for the most part at 4 Sydney Place.

Today, visitors to Bath can take those very walks, and see the very places where Austen’s characters danced and dreamed. An hour and a half from London, Bath is a beautifully preserved Georgian town, a spa town, as it was in Austen’s day. The streets, crescents and gardens that Austen saw are much as they were in her day.

 

The Ball Room

This is the largest 18th century room in Bath.

Dancing was very popular

 and balls were held

 at least twice a week,

attracting 800 to 1,200 guests at a time.

The high ceiling provided good ventilation

 on crowded ball nights

 and windows set at a high level

prevented outsiders from looking in.

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Only two of Jane Austen's novels are set in Bath: Northanger Abbey and Persuasion, both published in 1818. Both mention the Assembly Rooms, which Jane Austen herself visited.  the Assembly Roomswhere people would gather to play cards, dance and take tea

'Mrs Allen was so long in dressing, that they did not enter the ball-room till late. The season was full, the room crowded, and the two ladies squeezed in as well as they could. As for Mr Allen, he repaired directly to the card-room, and left them to enjoy a mob by themselves.' Northanger Abbey, 1818

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Austen’s city still remembers her; at the Jane Austen Centre on Gay Street visitors can learn all about Bath in her day and the importance of Bath in her life and work. In September, the annual Jane Austen Festival celebrates the beloved author with nine days of exhibitions, performances and literary events.

The main highlights include the Pump Room - the social heart of the city during Austen's time where people registered on arrival in the city and took the water.

The Royal Crescent - the most impressive address, where people enjoyed promenading and generally being seen;

 Gravel Walk - the location of a touching love scene in the novel 'Persuasion';

A short stroll from the Jane Austen Centre on Gay Street is Gravel Walk, just off Queen’s Parade Place. Known as something of a Lover’s Lane in Jane Austen’s day, the path was a route for sedan chairs heading to and from the town centre and following th…
 

The Sedan Chair was invented in France and later introduced to Britain. It consisted of a covered box carried on two poles, and proved invaluable to rich people traveling to social gatherings in their finery, in the days when there were no pavements and the streets could become very muddy. The entrances to the grand Georgian houses were made large enough to enable chairs to be carried right upto the door so the occupant would not get wet!

The Museum of Costume and Assembly Rooms exhibits the fashions of Austen’s day

 

Jane Austen Centre

 

jane austen festival

Regency Bath

In 1806 they moved from Bath, first to Clifton, and then, in autumn 1806, to Southampton. Two years later, Jane remembered (in a letter to Cassandra) with "what happy feelings of Escape!" she had left Bath.

Jane Austen and Bath Buns

Jane Austen was only too familiar with Bath Buns. She often found it necessary to sneak them surreptitiously into her room to augment the rather meagre meals given by her well-meaning but rather stingy Aunt Leigh Perrot.
Bath Buns are probably this city's most famous gastronomic contribution. No one is sure of their origin, but they were mentioned as early as 1763. Another famous baker, Sally Lunn, lends her name to a similar type of tea bread. The Sally Lunn Bun is baked from a secret recipe, handed down through the generations. It is only available at Sally Lunn's Refreshment House, where she established her baking as a favourite of fashionable society in the 1680's. The actual building is the oldest house in Bath, dating from the fifteenth century. Today's visitors can still enjoy a scrumptious tea and a tour through their Kitchen Museum.

jane austen and bath buns

The exhibition at the Jane Austen Centre in Bath has been created with the guidance of local members of the Jane Austen Society and authorities on Jane Austen. It aims to be not only informative but exciting and illuminating. With knowledgeable staff, a lovely period atmosphere, exclusive film, costume, contemporary exhibits, maps and books. It is the perfect starting point to an exploration of Jane Austen's Bath.

The Centre at 40 Gay Street in Bath houses a permanent exhibition which tells the story of Jane's experience in the city between 1801 and 1806 and the effect that living here had on her and her writing.
Gay Street is the ideal location for the Jane Austen Centre in Bath, set between two of Bath's architectural masterpieces, Queen Square and the Circus.
Jane Austen actually lived in Gay Street (higher up the hill on the same side, at No.25) for some months in 1805.

Places where Jane stayed

The Vyne, near Basingstoke. We know that Jane Austen came to dances here.

Southampton.

We know that Jane attended dances in the ballroom of the Dolphin Hotel. It has the largest unsupported bay windows in the country.

 

Ashe Village.
A few miles north of Steventon is the village of Ashe, where Jane's father was also the rector and Jane visited her friends the Lefroy's at Ashe House.

This is an old coaching inn south of Steventon, where horses were changed on the way to and from London. Stage coaches carried the mail, and Jane Austen walked to here to send and receive her letters. The reciepent paid for the mail, as this was before the invention of postage stamps.

                                           

                                                       Dancing in the Assembly Room