Bathford is a village a few miles north of Bradford-on-Avon, where we stayed during our trip to Bath, Wells etc.

We stopped for a look around on pur way back north.

In the grounds of St Swithun’s Church I found its War Memorial, a cross surmounting a pillar on a square base with gabled edges:-

Dedications to both wars:-

Other names for both wars:-

Great War names:-

In the churchyard there was one war grave of Second Lieutenant E C Guillebauld, Worcestershire Regiment, 3/6/1915, aged 32:-

Bath’s War Memorial lies just down from the Royal Crescent at the junction of Royal Avenue and Queen’s Parade Place. It takes the form of a memorial wall with a Cross of Sacrifice before it:-

The inscription on the cross reads:-

To the left of the memorial is a plaque in memory of those who died in air raids on the city:-

The first plaques on the left of the memorial wall are a Great War addendum plus a dedication to Forces, Civil Defence and Special PCs:-

Continuing from left to right are the Great War Names:-

The Great War Dedication, “They died for us, men of Bath who fell in the Great War 1914-1918” lies above the name plaques:-

Middle Great War plaque (World War 2 dedication below):-

Final Great War plaque:-

Second World War Names:-

Plaque to civilians and Service personnel:-

Post 1945 dedication and names:-

Since Bath is known for its Georgian architecture I had not expected to find any Art Deco buildings.

And I didn’t.

But what I did find was that some shops had Art Deco glass, in the door:-

and/or in the upper windows:-

Again here in both:-

The cross motif was repeated above the bakery’s door:

As well as the old Roman pools and archaeology the Roman Baths in Bath act as a museum with various exhibits to see.

Head of Sulis Minerva. The Roman name for the baths (and Bath itself I think) was Aquae Sulis – the waters of Sulis. Sulis was a local goddess and was merged by the Romans, as was their habit with foreign gods, with one of their own, in this case Minerva:-

A late Roman brooch probably Celtic in origin:-

Roman coins of various denominations:-

I forgot to post this picture among the archaeological ones. This is the Frigidarium, the cold plunge pool bathers went into after the main baths:-

There were various illustrations around the walls of how certain things might have looked in Roman times. For some reason the humans depicted mainly seemed to consist of scantily clad women.

This is a video of the water inflow into the baths. (It needs tilting by 90 degrees. My video editing skills are non-existent):-

A mosaic floor found in the Roman Baths, Bath:-

Horse sculpture:-

Reconstructed and coloured sculpture. The fragments in relief (found on the site) were on display elsewhere but this is how they would have appeared in Roman times:-

Sculpture fragments:-

Reconstructed altar:-

Video representing a sculptor of Roman times. In foreground are examples and reconstructions of the work.

There are several pools at the Roman Baths in Bath. This perspex model shows the sequence in which water flows through the system:-

One of the pools has bubbles coming up through it:-

The darker line round the walls show where the water level once used to be:-

Thsi model shows how the exterior of the baths would have looked in Roman times:-

We couldn’t go to Bath and not visit the Roman Baths. It’s not cheap but there’s a lot to see and they provided us with one of those audio guides.

Baths from bath level:-

Upper level. Note sculptures/statues. Roman gods or emperors as I recall:-

View to left of above:-

Bath Abbey from Roman Baths:-

Bath has many attractions, most of them historical and architectural, but it does tend to be crowded with people as these views of Bath Abbey show:-

To the right of the first picture above is the famous Pump Room as known to Jane Austen:-

Facade. The Greek inscription apprently means ‘Water is Best’:-

Just below Old Pulteney Bridge in Bath there is a weir in the shape of a part-ellipse:-

Weir from above, Old Pulteney Bridge to left:-

Video of weir:-

Bath in Somerset was our main destination for our trip down south last year. Its architecture is mainly Georgian and reminded me a lot of Edinburgh.

This is Old Pulteney Street:-

To get to there from the city centre you must cross Old Pulteney Bridge:-

Though Bath’s most famous Georgian feature is the Royal Crescent (stitch of two photos):-

I must say that area of grass in front of the Crescent looked rather scruffy and unkempt.

Gable end of The Crescent:-