This October (6th to 8th) join us in Bath for our AGM weekend and the opportunity to discover the city’s Victorian heritage.
Friday has an optional morning visit to the Museum of Bath Architecture (entrance fee not included) and the Royal Victoria Park. The AGM will be held in the former Percy Chapel (now the Elim Pentacostal Church), an octagonal Lombardic Romanesque building of 1854. The day ends at John McKean Brydon’s former Pump Room Ballroom (1897) with a lecture by Dr Michael Forsyth and Professor Marion Harney, authors of the Pevsner Architectural Guide to Bath, and a 3-course dinner with wine and coffee on the terrace overlooking the Roman Baths. Book here.
Saturday has three walks around the city, starting at Bath Abbey with its fan vaulting by George Gilbert Scott. The walks will be run concurrently and repeated to allow members to participate in all three. One walk will take in the Municipal Offices and Technical School (1897), the Victoria Art Gallery (1900), and the city centre; the second walk will extend from Isambard Kingdom Brunel’s railway station and viaduct (1840, 1841) to George Alexander’s Italianate Bath Savings Bank (1841), and will include Charles Hansom’s St John the Evangelist RC church (1863); the third walk will cross the River Avon by Goodridge’s cast-iron Cleveland Bridge (1827) and will include a range of work by visiting architects George Edmund Street, Arthur Blomfield and his nephew Reginald Blomfield, as well as by Bath architects.
Sunday will take us out of town by coach, firstly to the church of St Peter, Hornblotton (1874), before lunch at the largely 19th century Charlton House Hotel in Shepton Mallet. Then on to Downside Abbey (1872-1938) and School (1823-1902), the major Roman Catholic complex with contributions by Goodridge, Hansom, Thomas Garner, Leonard Stokes, Frederick Waters and Giles Gilbert Scott. The day will end at Bath Spa station in time for trains after 5.00pm.
Cost: £275 for the AGM and weekend of activities. The coach trip and all visits, admissions, gratuities, dinner on Friday and lunch on Sunday are included. The optional visits on Friday morning are excluded. Accommodation is not included and members will need to make their own arrangements.
This event is for The Victorian Society members only. Join here to become a member, or when booking add £24 to upgrade your individual membership to household so you are both members book here.
Photo caption: John McKean Brydon’s former Pump Room Photo (c) Stephen Richards under creative commons license
27/04/2023