BATH ABBEY

Bath Abbey is England's last great medieval church, dissolved in 1539 and is now a busy parish church. A lively program of concerts and services keep the Abbey a central part of Bath's cultural life.

The sanctuary was begun in 1499 by Bishop King. From the pillars of the Norman church arose the pure late perpendicular abbey, inside nave, chancel, and narrow transepts soar to fan vaulting by Robert and William Vertue (designers of the fan vaulting in the Henry VII chapel, Westminster Abbey). Outside five-light windows stand between flying buttresses, crocketed pinnacles and a castellated pierced parapet. A magnificent sight during daylight, but equally impressive when lit up at dusk.

Turner's Bath Abbey
The West Front of Bath Abbey
Watercolour, 1796, J. M. W. Turner
Turner's watercolour treatment captures the dreamy gothic quality of light on Bath stone and can be seen in the Holburne Museum.