John Bacon father and Son Sculptors at Bath Abbey -

 

John Bacon I (1740 - 99).

Lady Anna Miller nee Riggs (1741 - 1781).

The Monument at Bath Abbey was erected in 1785.

Anna Riggs was the daughter of Edward Riggs, and his wife Margaret nee Pigott, of Chetwynd, Shropshire. Her grandfather, Edward Riggs, had been a member of the Irish House of Commons, a commissioner of revenue, and a Privy Councillor in Ireland, and Anna inherited much of his wealth.

Her father became a commissioner of customs in London in 1741. Horace Walpole described Anna's mother in 1765 as an old rough humourist, who passed for a wit. Fanny Burney characterised her as mighty, merry and facetious,

In 1765 Anna married John Miller, a member of an impoverished old Irish family seated at Ballicasey, County Clare. Miller had served through the Seven Years' War, but resigned his commission at the peace of 1763. Anna brought with her a large fortune, and he took her maiden surname before his own.

At extravagant cost he built a house on the High Street at Batheaston, near Bath, and laid out a garden, of which Walpole gave a detailed description.

https://www.batheastonhouse.com/photos

John Miller became a baronet in 1778 and Anna became Lady Miller. She instituted a fortnightly literary salon at her villa at Batheaston. Lee characterised the salon as bearing "some resemblance to the later follies of the Della Cruscans". 

In Italy, Lady Miller had purchased an antique vase, dug up near Frascati in 1759. The vase was placed on an "altar" decorated with laurel, and each of her guests were invited to place in the urn an original composition in verse. 

Anna Riggs Miller’s Letters from Italy, published in 1776, recounts the Italian part of her Continental trip made in 1770 and 1771. the trip took them to Paris, where their son was born, and then on a very extensive tour of Italy.

A committee was appointed to determine the best three productions, and their authors were then crowned by Lady Miller with wreaths of myrtle. The practice was continued until Lady Miller's death.

Walpole, wrote unkindly in a letter to Henry Seymour Conway, said, "I am glad you went [to Bath], especially as you escaped being initiated into Mrs. Miller's follies at Bath-Easton.

Sir John Riggs-Miller died on May 28, 17989 and the title descended to his only son, born in 1770, upon whose death in 1825 the baronetcy became extinct.

 

https://ia601202.us.archive.org/35/items/ladymillerbathea0000hess/ladymillerbathea0000hess.pdf

Anna Seward, whose poetic talents were first encouraged by Lady Miller wrote the tribute inscribed on the monument.

Devoted stone! amidst the wrecks of time

Uninjured bear thy Miller’s spotless name:

The virtues of her youth and ripen’d prime,

The tender thought, th’ enduring record claim.

When clos’d the numerous eyes that round this bier

Have wept the loss of wide extended worth,

O gentle stranger, may one generous tear

Drop, as thou bendest o’er this hallow’d earth!

Are truth and genius, love and pity thine,

With liberal charity and faith sincere ?

Then rest thy wandering step beneath this shrine,

And greet a kindred spirit hovering near.

Fanny Burney gives a delightfully realistic, though not wholly flattering, picture of the Miller family, as she met them in 1780, when Mrs. Thrale had taken her to Bath. 

It was at the home of the Whalleys in Royal Crescent that the introduction took place, when Lady Miller asked Mrs. Thrale to present her to the author of Evelina. 

Said Mrs.Thrale:

“Miss Burney, Lady Miller desires to be introduced to you.”

"Up I jumped and walked forward; Lady Miller, very civilly more than met me half way, and said very polite things, of her wish to know me, and regret that she had not sooner met me, and then we both returned to our seats.

Do you know now that, notwithstanding Bath Easton is so much laughed at in London, nothing here is more tonish than to visit Lady Miller, who is extremely curious [select, particular] in her company, admitting few people who are not of rank or fame, and excluding of those all who are not people of character very unblemished.

Some time after, Lady Miller took a seat next mine on the sofa, to play at cards, and was excessively civil indeed —scolded Mrs. Thrale for not sooner making us acquainted, and had the politeness to offer to take me to the balls herself, as she heard Mr. and Mrs. Thrale did not choose to go.

After all this, it is hardly fair to tell you what I think of her. However, the truth is, I always, to the best of my intentions, speak honestly what I think of the folks I see, without being biased either by their civilities or neglect; and that you will allow is being a very faithful historian.

Well, then, Lady Miller is a round, plump, coarse looking dame of about forty, and while all her aim is to appear an elegant woman of fashion, all her success is to seem an ordinary woman in very common life, with fine clothes on. Her manners are bustling, her air is mock important, and her manners very inelegant.

So much for the lady of Bath Easton; who, however, seems extremely good-natured, and who is I am sure extremely civil".

The Millers were never fully admitted to the select inner circles of the Blue Stockings, though they did enjoy a high degree of popularity (as well as ridicule) for a period of over six years. 

The termination of the assemblies came with the sudden death of Lady Miller at the Bristol Hot Wells on June 24, 1781.

.............................

The Frontispiece to Poetical Amusements .................

A vase on a pedestal; myrtle draped around. 

The vase was an antique Roman urn, found by a labourer in 1769 at Frascati. As a part of the ancient town of Tusculum, fifteen miles south of Rome, this had been the country seat of many wealthy Romans, including Cicero.

Mrs. Miller’s description, written in 1775, is as follows:

"It [the vase] is at present the receptacle of all the contending poetical morsels which every other Thursday (formerly Friday) are drawn out of it indiscriminately, and read aloud by the Gentlemen present, each in his turn. 

Their particular merits are afterwards discussed by them, and prizes assigned to three out of the whole that appear to be the most deserving. Their authors are then, and not before, called for, who seldom fail to be announced either by themselves, or, if absent, by their friends: Then the prize poems are read a second time to the company, each by its author, if present, if not if not, by other Gentlemen, and wreaths of Myrtle presented".

A selection of the compositions was published in 1775. The edition was sold out within ten days and a new edition appeared in 1776 with a second volume of poems. Horace Walpole described the book as "a bouquet of artificial flowers, and ten degrees duller than a magazine". A third volume was published in 1777, and a fourth in 1781. 

The profits of the sale were donated to charity. Among the contributors were the Duchess of Northumberland, who wrote on a buttered muffin, Lord Palmerston, Lord Carlisle, Christopher Anstey, William Mason, David Garrick, Anna Seward, and Lady Miller herself, to whom most of the writers paid extravagant compliments.

The Urn had been purchased after her death by one Edwyn Dowding, and was placed in the public park of Bath. It has now disappeared.

The Urn now in Victoria Park, Bath often described as Lady Millers Urn is not the Batheaston Urn.

.................................

The Frontispiece to Poetical Amusements at a Villa near Bath.

 Printed by R. Cruttwell, for L. Bull, bookseller, in Bath: and sold, in London, by Hawes, Clarke, and Collins, 1775.

Available on line -

https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=njp.32101037041777&seq=9

Image below from -

http://george3.splrarebooks.com/collection/view/the-batheaston-vase-adorned-with-myrtle-w.-hibbert-bath

..................

Drawing no 105, from the book of Designs of Thomas Parsons of Claverton St, Widcombe, Bath.

see my post

https://bathartandarchitecture.blogspot.com/2019/07/the-parsons-of-bath-18th-century-stone.html

https://ia601202.us.archive.org/35/items/ladymillerbathea0000hess/ladymillerbathea0000hess.pdf

........................

Notes on Bacon Snr.

Two years after she and her mother bought into Artificial Stone factory at Lambeth, Eleanor Coade fired Daniel Pincot and promoted a talented young employee, the sculptor John Bacon, to take his place and help her reinvent Pincot’s formula and production process.

...........................

John Bacon II. (1777 - 1859).

The Herman Katencamp Monument - 

Inscribed J Bacon Junr. Sculptor, London, 1808.

Herman came to Exeter from Bremen to work in the Baring counting house and married at Holy Trinity, Exeter in 1747 an Exeter woman, Ann Moor.

For an useful biog. of the Katencamps see -

https://www.doccombeparishscapes.co.uk/post/the-katenkamps-the-trials-tribulations-of-a-devon-merchant-family

The Wicksteeds and Thomas Worlidge in Bath.

 

Thomas Worlidge (1700 - 1766) sometimes referred to as The English Rembrandt.

                                   John Wicksteed (d. 15 Dec1754) Seal cutter of Lyncombe, Bath.

The origins of the Wicksteed family remain obscure. There were several Wicksteeds working in London in the 18th Century who might have been related.

The name appears to have originated from Cheshire.

 

John Wicksteed’s wife Sarah Wicksteed had the shop was on the Corner of Orange Grove, Bath nearest the Abbey from c 1732 – 67. 

The house survives although much altered on the frontage in the early 20th century (see photographs below). 

Most of the retailers in business and selling fancy goods in Orange Grove in the 18th century can also be identified.

The shop on the parade at Orange Grove with the shop closest to the East end of the Abbey Church and the first to have a bow-fronted display window, was John Wicksteed's, toyman, china-dealer and seal-engraver.

His wife Sarah probably tended the shop from c.1727 while he himself managed the water-powered jewelling-mill ('Wicksteed's Machine') that he had set up in Lyncombe in about 1729.

 A signboard over the door in Orange Grove advertised 'Stone Seals', meaning the coats-of-arms, crests and ciphers he engraved on Brazilian pebblestone at this mill and set in gold mounts.

I suspect that some intaglios previously attributed to Burch, Marchant and Tassie are in fact by Wicksteed. 

I am as yet unaware of any intaglios that can be positively identified with Wicksteed's productions but given the length of time that he was in business I am hopeful that some of his products well reappear.

............................

Some notes John Wicksteed of Bath - 

here adapted from Bath Commercialised by Trevor Fawcett.  2002.

The Seal Engravers.

The chief use of a seal was to authenticate documents, though there was snob value too in wielding a personalised seal that bore a family device or coat of arms. Moreover, the mechanical craft of seal engraving shaded off into gem engraving with its pleasing overtones of Classical Antiquity.

Both aspects, utilitarian and aesthetic, were present in this specialist Bath trade datable to c.1732 when John and Sarah Wicksteed opened a 'toyshop' in Orange Grove which offered the additional service of bespoke intaglio seals. John Wicksteed's workshop may have remained in Bathampton at this point, but in about 1729 he re-sited it in Lyncombe Vale just off Ralph Allen Drive on the rout to Prior Park House.

 This proved an inspired move, for 'Wicksteed's Machine' - named after his water-powered 'jewelling mill' - soon became a favourite spot to visit, a curiosity of the neighbourhood out of which a tea garden, the Bagatelle, would eventually emerge. Orders could be placed at the Orange Grove shop, whose prominent sign, 'STONE SEALS', announced the engraved 'Brazil pebble' insignia set in gold which were still the main product.

.........................

John Wood I, the Bath Architect and John Wicksteed.

"The Art of Engraving Seals was brought to Bath, about seventeen Years ago [c. 1725], by Mr John Wicksted; and he fixed his Machine at Hamton, (Bathampton) removing it afterwards to the Junction at the lower Parts of Widcomb and Lyncomb, where it now remains in a small Building, for which I made a Design on the 15th of August, 1737, every Way suitable to the Vaste and Spirit Of our Artist; but a Proposal by his Engineer, and others, to erect it with common Wall Stone to be first Plaistered; and then Painted to imitate Brickwork; was such an Instance of whim and Caprice, that when I got the Draughts I had made into my Possession, I never parted them again. This was to have been two and thirty feet square, of the Dorick order one storey high and covered with a pyramidal roof in the vertex of which the funnels of the chimneys were to rise up” –from  Wood’s An Essay towards a description of Bath, 423.

 

The land on which Wicksteed’s Mill and house were located were leased for 99 years from 1729 from Mr Phillip Bennet of Widcombe Manor – See - A Survey of the the Parish of Widcombe taken by order of Vestry Augst 22d :1737.

However, on John Wicksteed's death in 1754, his son James Wicksteed (d.1824) seems to have branched out, first exploiting the more creative vein of cameo miniatures, and later (1769) developing a small spa and the Bagatelle garden on the Lyncombe site.

Subsequent events were dictated by a family quarrel. James Wicksteed sold the Bagatelle property in 1773 and departed for London, working as an engraver at Mays Buildings in St Martin’s Lane in 1779 and later 30 Henrietta Street Covent Garden abandoning the seal business in Bath to his estranged son Edward (d. 1778).

Then for eight years (1778-86) Edward’s widow Mary, with a young family to support, kept the firm going in premises (still dubbed 'Wicksteed's Machine') at the New Bridge (Pulteney Bridge).

Here she employed several skilled men and sold through the toyshops - all in the face of bitter competition from her father-in-law, James Wicksteed, who had returned to the Bath fray.

James Wicksteed lived briefly at 39 Henrietta Street, Covent Garden with the painter George Stubbs where he worked as an engraver and gem engraver.

Both Wicksteeds, though, had died by summer of 1787 leaving the field open to Anthony Vere, a London seal engraver equipped likewise with a 'machine' as well as a collection of heraldry books for reference. (See Bath Chronicle 20 Dec 1787), Vere “engraver of seals at his home opposite the Pump Room & his collection of heraldry may be inspected” In 1763 his address was in Maiden Lane, Covent Garden (Mortimers Directory).but was probably spending the Winter season in Bath.

Vere had worked during the Winter season at Bath since c.1779, and besides sculpting cameos, engraving metallic, jewelled and figured seals, and setting gems, he accepted copperplate commissions for bookplates and visiting cards.

The Bath printer-engraver William Hibbert was retailing black cipher seals in 1776.

…………..

The Handbill Dated 1741.

Referring to the Mill on the Road leading to Prior Park the House of Ralph Allan.

Advertisement in the Bath Journal - 2 April 1761.

Note the reference to likenesses taken.

...................................

George Speren (1711 -  96).

At the Fan and Orange, Orange Grove Bath

Orange Grove, Bath, looking South 1737.

The Wicksteed’s shop is on the far right with the bay windows.

.................................

Orange Grove c. 1733 - 34.

Here is image of a fan leaf engraving by Jonathan Pinchbeck of 1737.

   Pinchbeck at The Fan and Crown, New-Round Court, Strand, London.

'June 3, 1738.

This day is Published on a Fan Mount (Fit for the Second Mourning or in colours) An accurate and lively Prospect of the celebrated Grove at Bath, whereon the rural Pleasures and exact Decorum of the company are curiously represented, with some cursory Observations on the Behaviour of Sundry Persons, particularly the famous B. N.

' Likewise the rural Harmony and delightful Pleasures of Vaux-Hall Gardens. Also the Royal Repository, or Merlin's Cave ; being an exact Emblem of that beautiful Structure erected by the late Queen in the Royal Gardens at Richmond.

'Sold wholesale or retail at Pinchbeck's Fan Warehouse, etc., by Mr. Crowbrow, at the India House on the Walk and at Mr. Dalassol's and Mr. Weakstead' Shops in the Grove at Bath.'

Image courtesy Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.

Marked No. 8 in series; inscribed "Published by I Pinchbeck according to Act of Parliament.

https://dn790002.ca.archive.org/0/items/historyoffan00rhea/historyoffan00rhea.pdf

.............................

Here is another image of a fan leaf engraving by Jonathan Pinchbeck of 1737. 

                                     The Fan and Crown, New-Round Court, Strand, London.

                                   View of Orange Grove looking East to Nassau House.

                                     The Wickstead's Shop is nearest to the viewer on the right

............................

From Ansteys New Bath Guide, first published in 1766.

This is written in rhymed epistles, and deals with the adventures of the B—r—d Family at Bath, with the Consultation of Physicians, the Gaming Rooms, the Balls, the Bathing, and the Public Breakfasts. 

Young “B—r—d,” who commences Man of Taste and Spirit,” describes his costume in the following lines :

 

“ I ride in a Chair with my Hands in a Muff,

And have bought a silk Coat, and embroidered the Cuff.

But the Weather was cold, and the Coat it was thin,

So the Taylor advised me to line it with Skin.

But what with my Nivernois Hat can compare,

Bag-wig and laced Ruffles, and black Solitaire

 And what can a Man of true Fashion denote.

Like an Ell of good Ribbon tyed under the Throat.

My Buckles and Box are in excellent Taste,

The one is of paper, the other of Paste,

And sure no Camayer (cameo) was ever yet seen,

 Like that which I purchased at Wickstead’s machine.

My Stockings of Silk arc just come from the Hozier,

For to-night I'm to dine with the charming Miss Tozer."

...............................

Thomas Robins at Bath.

Robins advertised in the Bath Journal on 30 October 1752 that he was a 'Painter' who taught at Mr Sperin's Toy-Shop in the Grove, Bath, gentlemen and ladies at reasonable rates 'The Art of Drawing and Painting in Watercolours: Where his Drawings and Paintings may be seen. Likewise Perspects and Prospective Views of Gentlemens Seats in the correctest Manner.

Thomas Warr Atwood (1733 - 1775) - the Monument in the Graveyard at Weston, Bath.

 

to be continued ...............

If an opinion is expressed here it is my own!

 The monument to the architect/builder/ Plumber, glazier and property developer, Thomas Warr Atwood, (Sometimes spelt Attwood) died 1775, in Weston churchyard, Bath, almost certainly designed by Thomas Baldwin and carved by The Parsons workshop of Widcombe.

Not dissimilar to the Weston monument is the Chest tomb at St Nicholas Church Winsley surmounted with a classical urn, c1810, ashlar, elongated hexagon plan with reeded strips at angles and oval south plaque with rosettes in spandrels. Husk drop in canted sections. High raised concave curved and fluted top with urn. 

South side is the inscription to Richard Atwood of Turleigh Manor, died 1808. T.W. Atwood was younger brother.

The Urn and therefore the monument were almost certainly carved in the Yard of the parsons at Claverton Street, Widcombe.

The Urn is no. 96 from the Parsons Book of Drawings - Bath Central Library, ref. B731.7 PAR 38:18

In the preface it is described as Baldwin along with 93, 94, 95, and 97.

 I am very grateful to the archivists at Bath Archives for allowing me access and to take the photograph here of this manuscript.

 I have posted previously at some length on the 18th Century stone carvers of Widcombe, Bath, Somerset - see my illustrated essay:

 https://english18thcenturyportraitsculpture.blogspot.com/2018/07/parsons-and-greenway-sculptors-of-bath.html

 For an article on the Journal of Thomas Parsons see:  An Artisan in Polite Culture: Thomas Parsons, Stone Carver, of Bath, 1744–1813 Lawrence E. Klein, Huntington Library Quarterly Vol. 75, No. 1 (March 2012), pp. 27-51 (see link above).

See my previous posts for the complete illustrated contents of Thomas Parsons illustrated manuscript-

https://bathartandarchitecture.blogspot.com/2019/07/the-parsons-of-bath-18th-century-stone.html

................................

Thomas Warr Atwood

Son of Thomas Atwood III 

Thomas Warr Atwood was first elected a Common Councillor at a meeting of the Corporation on 20th September 1760. 

 Councilman 1760 -75 - Constable 1762-63, 1772-73 - Bailiff 1764-65, 1773-74

The office of Mayor was held by a member of the Atwood family for twelve of the years between 1724 and 1769, twice by Thomas Warr Atwood. 

For many years four Atwoods were on the Council: Thomas Atwood, his son Thomas Warr, Henry and James. 

One or more Atwoods were usually Mayor, Chamberlain and a Justice at this period and if they worked together (which is the Bath way) they would have been a force to be reckoned with.

It is apparent that certain local families maintained a strong presence on the Council across several generations, a tradition sometimes stemming from well back in the troubled 17th century. 

From 1700 onwards 10 Chapmans, 8 Gibbses and 7 Atwoods thus served their turn in the Council chamber, together with 4 members each from the Bush, Hicks and Horton families, 3 each from the Biggs, Crook, Morgan, Phillott, Spry and Woolmer clans, and these on top of many cases of fathers followed by sons.

His career was terminated when he fell through the floor of a building in the Market Place which was in the process of being demolished for the development of the Guild Hall and Markets.

After his death, his assistant, the precocious Thomas Baldwin (c. 1750 - 1820), was chosen to be the new City Architect and City Surveyor.

............................

Some known Atwood Buildings in Bath

The Paragon (1768). 

It is one of the finest set pieces of Bath but tends to be ignored as it on a main road taking much through traffic through the city.

Twenty one houses on a slight curve but not a deliberate crescent following the lie of the land 1768-75 by Thomas Warr Atwood. They are three storey, with pediments to the middle first floor windows. The principal rooms within the row were to the rear of the properties, with the staircase at the front, as a result of the views from and orientation of the houses. 

They have large foundations built on three storey stone vaults at the back (south east side) which were used as stables and storage and into the hillside at the front and a steep drop to Walcot Street at the rear.

.....................

Oxford Row.

The two terraces on the West side of Lansdown Road broken by Alfred Street. (1773). The return from Oxford Row,  Lansdown Road into the terrace of 7 houses in Alfred St (Alfred Buildings) first mentioned in the rate books for 1774 is possibly an Atwood Project - the terrace (6 -19) on the North side of Alfred St returning from Oxford Row was perhaps also designed by Atwoods office - he owned the land called the Hand and Flower Ground from 1773 previously owned by a Mr Rogers.

.....................

The New Gaol, Bathwick (1772-3).

Built on the flood plane of the River Avon. The land was part of the Pulteney Estates.

A new prison was needed in order to accommodate prisoners previously incarcerated in the old church tower which was to be demolished in order to provide access and to build Pulteney Bridge so that the estate could be developed for housing prior to its building access was either by ferry or the long way around from the bridge at the end of Southgate Street.

The Ground floor entrance was originally entered by steps from Grove St. What an improvement if they were replaced.

It is now flats.

For an excellent history and overview see - Essay by Chris Noble.

https://historyofbath.org/images/BathHistory/Vol%2009%20-%2003.%20Noble%20-%20The%20New%20Gaol%20in%20Bathwick,%201772-1842.pdf

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Walcot Parade.

This terrace has been attributed to Atwood but it does not have a cohesive design - certainly Thomas Jelly was involved with some of the houses but it appears to be a piecemeal development albeit very picturesque and must have been a fine place to live, the pavement is built on vaults into the hillside and the terrace is elevated above the London Road. when it was built the views across the Avon valley must have been spectacular before the terraces of London street were built

The Guildhall, Bath.

There is a minute book containing a record of the activities of the Committee for finishing the Markets and rebuilding the Guildhall from 13 December 1774 to 13 March 1779, making it clear that Thomas Baldwin was supervising much of the work on the Markets and had designed the present Guildhall well before Atwood was killed on 15 November 1775.

Other works.

It appears that he was also in partnership with Thomas Jelly or with Wood the Younger, Milsom Street (west side), and was involved with Bladud Buildings, Rivers Street, and Axford Buildings (east end of the Paragon.

This needs to be checked.

The Atwood Family

HarryAtwood (1741 - 1814).

 Councilman Aug 1776.-.99 (resigned Sep 1779, made Freeman, re-elected) 

Constable 1777-78, 1787.-.88.

 Bailiff 1779-80, 1789.-.90.

 Alderman Nov 1799 -1814.

 Mayor 1800-01, 1807 -.08.

 J.P. Dec 1795-1800, 1801-07, 1808-14.

Baptised 11 May 1741, son of the master baker Henry Atwood (q.v.), he trained as a surgeon. He married the daughter of John Hickes I in 1770. By 1787 he had moved from Gay Street to the west side of Queen Square, but also leased properties outside the East Gate, in Walcot Street, Wade’s Passage, Cock Lane, Bell Tree Lane (next to the Bell Inn), Sawclose, and Barton Lane – partly inherited from his father. 

By 1794 he had acquired Cranhill near Weston Lane. He was a governor of Bath General Hospital from 1778 and a surgeon to that institution from 1781 to 1806. He was a member of the 1st Bath Philosophical Society. He died on 4 Dec 1814 – apparently at Cranhill House, Weston. [Peach].

.......................

Henry Atwood (1700 - 63)

 Councilman Mar 1725 - 1740.

 Constable 1725-26, 1739 - 40.

 Bailiff 1727 - 28.

 Alderman Oct 1740 - 63.

 Three times Mayor 1741-42, 1750-51, 1758-59.

 J.P. 1742-43, 1748-49, 1751-52, 1754-55, 1757-58, 1759-60.

Born c.1700, he was the son of the master baker Thomas Atwood I (q.v.) to whom he was apprenticed in 1715.

His wife was Elizabeth who bore his son Harry Atwood (q.v.) and daughter Elizabeth. He leased properties outside the East Gate and in Northgate Street, Wade’s Passage, Southgate Street, and Sawclose. Until 1752 he was a Surveyor of the City Lands. He died on 8 May 1763 aged 63. His oil portrait by J.B.Van Diest is in the Victoria Art Gallery collection.

...........................

Atwood, James, 1721-60.

 Councilman Oct 1721-36

 Constable 1722-23

 Bailiff 1724-25, Feb-Oct 1732

 Chamberlain 1733-36

 Alderman 1736-60

 Mayor 1737-38, 1748-49

 J.P. 1738-39, 1742-44, 1746-47, 1749-50, 1752-53

He was a plumber and glazier, occupying a property in Southgate Street, and may have been the brother of Thomas Atwood II (q.v.). He also leased a house in Stall Street and a brewery in Bimbery Lane. 

Esteemed, sociable and humane, he was a trustee of Bath Bluecoats School. One of the plumber-and-glazier Atwoods (James, Thomas II or Thomas III) seems to have had Turleigh House near Bradford-on-Avon, and on at least one occasion (in 1752) entertained the politician Edmund Burke there. James Atwood died on 19 Aug 1760 after a long illness. His oil portrait by J.B.Van Diest is in the VAG collection. [Peach].

.......................

Atwood, Thomas, I, 1706-32

 Councilman 1706-23

 Constable 1706-07, 1720-21

 Bailiff 1708-09, 1717-18

 Chamberlain 1722-23

 Alderman Jan 1723-32

 Mayor 1724-25

 J.P. 1725-26, 1729-30

A master baker, he held properties in Northgate Street, Wade’s Passage and upper Orange Grove, and outside

the East Gate. He died in Jun 1732. His oil portrait by J.B.Van Diest is in the VAG collection.

................................

Atwood, Thomas, II, 1717-53

 Councilman Dec 1717-33

 Constable 1718-19, 1725-26

 Bailiff 1720-21, 1730-31

 Chamberlain 1732-33

 Alderman Apr 1733-53

 Mayor 1735-36, 1746-47, 1752-53

 J.P. 1736-37, 1740-41, 1743-45, 1747-48, 1753-54

A master plumber and glazier, he was perhaps the brother of James Atwood (q.v.). In 1718 he and Walter

Chapman built a common sewer through Orange Grove. He leased properties in Stall Street and Southgate Street

(including the Full Moon – also called the Ship Inn). In his will of 1752 he left the Royal Oak at the corner of

Stall Street and Lower Borough Walls to Rachel, widow of his son James. He died by Dec 1753. His oil portrait

by J.B.Van Diest is in the VAG collection.

Atwood, Thomas, III (d1770).

 Councilman Aug 1732-51.

 Constable 1734-35.

 Bailiff 1736-37.

 Chamberlain 1750-52.

 Alderman Oct 1751-70.

 Mayor 1753-54, 1760-61, 1769-70 .

J.P. 1754-55, 1756-57, 1759-60, 1761-62, 1765-66, 1768-69, 1770.

He was probably the son of Thomas Atwood II (q.v.) and so, like him, a plumber and glazier and the lessee of the Full Moon inn. 

By 1756 he had a house in Bladud Buildings and by 1762 three newly-built tenements inSouthgate Street. He died on 2 Dec 1770. 

The 18th Century Monuments in All Saints Church Weston, Bath. No 8.

 

The Monument to William Hall (died 1753).

and his wife and Daughter.

Some more random notes regarding the Ford Family of Stone and Marble Masons - 18th Century Builders of Bath.

 

I have already metaphorically put pen to paper regarding the Careers of the Ford Family of stone and Marble Masons of Bath.

This post is a series of rough notes to act as an aide memoire.

John Ford I (1711 - 67) brother Stephen Ford (d.1785).

John Ford I was the son of William Ford mason of Colerne, who had married Mary Mullins 13 April 1710 at Colerne.

                                             

John Ford I - his will PROB 11/932/343 dated 31 May 1763 - his executors his son John Ford (II) and nephew William Ford, witnessed by Sarah Elkington, George Penny and William Hooper.

To son John Ford II his interests in the water pipes cisterns etc for the Kings Circus and Gay St.

The property in Charles St with the courtyard and gardens and workshops adjoining.

The plot or piece of ground in the Parish of St James, Bath which he used as workyards which he had purchased from Thomas Garrard and his wife.

Daughters Betty, Martha and Susannah and Mary (Plura) £250 and her children Joseph, John and Mary

He leaves his sisters ther property leased at Colerne where they lived with their mother.

Work yard and shops in John St. (Walcot, Bath) to the testators son John.

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  William Ford (d. 1786) Mason of Colerne and Bath.

Ref. land at the Vinyards and William Ford.

https://historyofbath.org/images/ProceedingsPDFs/PROCEEDINGS%2007%202018-19.pdf

Garden in Walcott, Winniard close, Great Kingsmead. (Hayne, Ford, Sainsbury, Omer, Jelly, Morris, Davey). 1755 - 62

https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/8e5cc821-c677-4b58-99c1-49819a6896af

On 26 February 1755 Charles Hayne, a descendant and heir of Thomas Hayne, sold to Thomas Omer, Gentleman, and Thomas Jelly, carpenter, "All that close of meadow or pasture ground called the Winniards containing by estimate 5 acres being in the parish of Walcot and adjoining to the city of Bath".  

The Winniards appears to be the triangular piece of land now bounded by Belmont, the Vinyards and Guinea Lane (the Fosse Way).

Omer was the financier and Jelly the architect and builder.

The plots on which 1 to 6 Vineyards stand were conveyed on 22 February 1764 by Omer and Jelly to a number of builders: including William Ford of Bath mason and Stephen Ford of Bath master builder.  For more details see below.

Winniards was the whole of the area now bounded by Belmont, Vineyards, Guinea Lane and Guinea Lane steps, excluding a building at the south end called The Fountain and a garden next to it belonging to the Corporation of Bath, which were replaced by the present Fountain Buildings in the 1770s. 

Just to the north was the pub and Hooper's stables, which are listed at the end of Vineyards in the 1766 Rate Book.

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The Death of William Ford - Bath Journal - Monday 25 September 1786.

Builder and Mason - Dwelling house at the Vinyards.

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The Will of William Ford - 23 July 1786.

Father of John Stephen and Charles.

Will - Ref. PROB 11/1147/198.

 He left his property in the Vinyards and contents to his wife wife Phoebe.

 Income from a premises and several plots for building close by in Hooper's Court (Hedgemead). the income to his son Charles - fee farm rents payable to James Hooper.

Two tenements in Gibbs Court ( behind Chatham Row) Walcot St),, for his son Charles.

Miles Court (now Miles Buildings) belonging to his wife and after her death to son Charles.

Property on the East side of Gay Street (home of his mother) - for her to continue living in until her death and ultimately devised to his son Stephen).

He was a partner in the Circus Water works which supplied the Circus and Gay Street left to his wife and ultimately his son Stephen.

He also had leasehold premises shop and yard near the road from Monmouth Street towards Bristol and the stock tools and implements of his trade as a mason to his son Stephen.

His messuage or tenement in Edgar Buildings, (George St.) coach house, stable, garden and vaults he leaves to his wife until her demise or remarriage) and then devised to his son John Ford I.

He appoints his kinsman? John Ford and John Ffoster as executors.

Witnessed by Daniel Brown, William Elkington and William Edwards.

note ref Hoopers - William Hooper had married Dioness, daughter of William Harrington, of Kelston, and his father had in 1699 purchased a large portion of Walcot parish, with land in Butt’s Lane. Mutcombe, Sidhill, part of Hedgemead—‘All that Rowles Tenement called by the - name of Chitters, containing 124 acres, with Kitt’s barn and the lower hall and garden leading to the river, as well as Pooke’s Tenement and the land above Sand Pits.

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Bath Records Office Ford Records.

Ref Water works.

1. Margaret Garrard of Hatton Garden, p. St. Andrew Holbourne, c. Middlesex, Widow.

2. John Wood of Queen Square, p. Walcot, and Jenney Wood of the same place, Widow.

3. Thomas Atwood, Plumber and Glazier, William Sainsbury, Carpenter, John Ford, Mason, Thomas Jelly, Carpenter, and Stephen Ford, Mason, all of the city of Bath.

 Whereas the parties of 3. have projected a design for supplying the owners and inhabitants of messuages in The Circus, Gay Street, Queen Square, and other Streets made or to be made on certain pieces of land part of the farm called Barton Farm, p. Walcot, with good and wholesome water.

 1. and 2. therefore grant to 3. power and liberty to the springs of water issuing and being in a piece of land called Little Butty Piece, or in another close (1/2a.) on the north side thereof, now in the possession of John Tagg, Pastry Cook.

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0091/1 - Deeds of the Circus Waterworks Company - Attested copy lease.26 March 1759.

1. John Hooper of Walcot Somerset, gent.

2. Thomas Atwood, plumber and glazier; William Sainsbury, carpenter; John Ford, mason, Thomas Jelly, carpenter and Stephen Ford, mason all of Bath.

Lease from 1 to 2 for 1000 years of a land in Walcot called Butty Piece. Rent: £4.

Butty Piece was on Lansdown below what is now Lansdown Crescent on land belongingto the Royal High School.

https://collections.batharchives.co.uk/0091.1.3

see also - ref springs on Lansdown  - https://historyofbath.org/images/documents/c6a200a9-ad00-41a6-be24-737afac4eca6.pdf

Plan showing mains from water sources in the centre of Bath 1950's - Shows mains from Beacon Hill Tank, Beacon Hill Springs, Butty Piece Tank and St. Winifred's Well. Undated but made after a main was relaid in 1949.

https://collections.batharchives.co.uk/bc.7.1.1.105.60

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                                                  Ref. land on (Upper) Bristol Rd   13 June 1797.

1. John Perry of Bath, brandy merchant surviving devisee and executor of Thomas Jelly, deceased.

2. John Ford of Bath, statuary.

Assignment from 1 to 2 of a plot of ground with sheds on the Bristol Road. Plan included. Consideration: £130.

https://collections.batharchives.co.uk/0575.23.1

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1 June 1769. Conveyance

1. Henry Fisher, mason; Thomas Jelly, carpenter and John Ford, statuary only son and heir of John Ford, mason, deceased, all of Bath.

2. Richard Packer of Bath, carpenter and Thomas Shipway of Bath, tiler and plasterer trustee for Richard Packer.

Conveyance from 1 to 2 subject to rent of a messuage in New King Street. Rent: £4:3:4.

https://collections.batharchives.co.uk/bc.6.2.9.2114.1

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15 September 1792 Conveyance Land North side of New King Street.

1. Thomas Lidiard and Robert Lidiard of Bath, masons.

2. Giles Fisher of Bath, tiler and plasterer.

3. John Perry of Bath, distiller.

4. John Ford of Bath, statuary.

5. William Matthews of Bath, gent.

6. Francis Falkner of Bath, wine and brandy merchant.

Conveyance from 1, 2, 3 and 4 to 6 in trust for 5 of a plot of ground in New King Street and a plot of ground in Brown's Garden on the North side of New King Street, King's Mead. Rent: £24:18:16.

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Ref Mary Plura (widow) and Gay Street.

21 Jun 1768-22 Jun 1768

1. John Ford of Bath, statuary and William Ford of Bath, mason devisees in fee of the will of John Ford of Bath, mason, deceased and Thomas Jelly of Bath, carpenter trustee for John Ford.

2. Mary Plura of Bath, widow.

Lease and release from 1 to 2 subject to rent of a messuage in Gay Street. Consideration  £1050. Rent: £6:6.

https://collections.batharchives.co.uk/bc.6.2.9.2526.2

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Joseph and Mary Plura.

 

It appears that he had already made separate arrangements for his daughter Mary and her husband the sculptor Joseph Plura and their children - Joseph (Giuseppi) Plura married Mary the 17 year old daughter of John Ford I in 1750 - he arrived in England and was settled in Bath by 1749 - he probably arrived from Italy with the bath sculptor Prince Hoare. He had set up his own workshop in Bath in 1763.

 In 1742 the surveyor Thomas Thorpe produced  a map - An Actual Survey of the city of Bath in the County of Somerset and of five miles round in nine sheets. Both John Ford and his brother Stephen were subscribers along with many of the great and good including Ralph Allan, the Earl of Chesterfield and Alexander Pope.

In his will (PROB 11/932/343) our John Ford II mentions his wife Martha (Elkington), his mother Mary Ford (nee Mullins), sisters Sarah and Alice (of Colerne), daughters Mary (m. Joseph Plura sculptor and assistant to Prince Hoare), Betty, Martha and Susanna. The Elkingtons were Bath merchants.

When John Ford died he had several properties including three in Pierrepoint St, St James Parish which he left to each of his daughters and a property in Duke St (off the Grand Parade - between North and South Parades) designed by John Wood), and property in Charles St (off Queen Square) including courtyard, garden and workshops, and property in John St. which he left to his son John Ford II.

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A View of Lower and Upper Charles Street in Bath. Ink drawing by William Blackamore. c. 1780.

A unique view of St Marys chapel, Queen Square in the distance. (Hunt Vol.3 Page 165) (Bath Record Office).

The buildings on the left (west side) survive - New King St is the opening half way along.

Those on the east survived until after WWII those closest were destroyed in the Blitz

Currently the best image I can find from -

https://www.freshford.com/William%20Blackamore%20Pictures%20of%20Bath.html

 ...........................

John Ford I was the master-mason responsible for building amongst many Bath properties, King Edward's Grammar School in Broad  Street in 1752. 

Rupert Gunnis noted that "almost certainly he executed" some of the earlier funeral monuments which had previously been listed under his son, John Ford II (1736 - 1803) but only one can be identified with any certainty.

 This should be treated with some caution - it is not implausible but it is most likely that the sculptural work was carried out in his workshops - on the other hand, his son John II describes himself as a statuary (in his will), whilst there is no documentary evidence it seems most likely that John Ford II worked with Prince Hoare and Joseph Plura (who married his sister Mary.

John Ford I was an executor of the will of Dr Bennett Stevenson (d. 1757) who was the minister from 1720 of the Presbyterian church in Frog Lane (later rebuilt as New Bond St). Stevenson was a founding governor and sat on the Mineral Water Hospital Committee.

...............................

The Death of  John Ford I at Weymouth.

Salisbury and Winchester Journal - 14 September 1767.

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The Monument to Winchcombe Howard Packer. 

after 1747.

Bucklebury - West Berkshire

inscribed Ford and Parsons.

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The Fords and the Buildings of Bath.

The following attributions of buildings by the Fords need to be checked - info from -https://julianorbach.weebly.com/uploads/2/3/7/5/23756946/wiltshire_architects.odt

 

 1765. Probably built a wing Burton Pynsent house, Curry Rivel, Som, for William Pitt, Earl of Chatham, which remains after the rest was demolished; RL2 63; Ford builder but Pitt may have designed it himself, SC notes;

 1765-7, mason, Burton Pynsent column, Curry Rivel, Somerset, for William Pitt to design by Capability Brown, cf Follies Journal 7, 2007 41-55;

 

1768 - Ford the Younger was involved in the building as Mason of 25 Royal Crescent Bath along with Charles Coles plasterer.

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 The Other John Fords of Bath.

 

There are several other John Fords of Bath which he shouldn't be confused with - John Ford, Mayor of Bath 1660, and John Ford, the apothecary - this John Ford was the son of an apothecary, Richard Ford Mayor of Bath in 1713 and again 1741 to whom he had been apprenticed. In 1741 a certain John Garden accused him of making ‘a sodomitical assault’ on his person. 

A further complaint of 1742 claimed he was neglecting his civic duties. He leased property in Stall Street (including the ‘Back House’), part of the White Swan in Cheap Street, the Boat Tavern in Walcot Street, and a lodging house at the Cross Bath.

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The Fords and the Building of Gay Street and the Circus

Very low resolution and almost unreadable image of a plan at Bath Record Office.

Showing the plots of the houses in Gay Street and the first houses to be built in the Circus.

I will hopefully be able to obtain better images in due course.

West side of Gay Street

1, Gay Street in trust Thomas Jelly

2 and 3, Gay Street - John Ford.

8. Gay St - Prince Hoare.

9. John Ford and Thomas Jelly.

17. Dr Oliver.

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The Circus.

1, The Circus John Ford and Thomas Jelly.

2. The Circus John Ford and Thomas Jelly.

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East side of Gay Street.

4. Gay St. John Ford and Thomas Jelly.

8 & 9. Gay St. John Ford

10 and 11 Gay St - John Mullins 

(It is probably no co incidence that John Ford had married Mary Mullins 13 April 1710 at Colerne. The Mullins were land and quarry owners at Box and Colerne - a few miles east of Bath - http://www.boxpeopleandplaces.co.uk/mullins-family-schoolmasters.html

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Popes Bath Chronicle 9 December 1762.

Bath Chronicle and Weekly Gazette - Thursday 18 April 1765.

The reference here is also to his brother Stephen Ford (mason) d. 1785.

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      The Fords and Edgar Buildings, George, St Bath.

1761,

Information from Pevsner (needs to be checked).

Edgar Buildings was a terrace of 9 houses built on Corporation land leases of 1761  by John Ford I and Samuel Sainsbury (tiler). It was part of the Milsom St development and is on a high pavement The centre house of the terrace with the pediment effectively terminates the view north from Milsom St.

William Hoare lived at 5-6 Edgar Blgs, where he died in 1791- a contemporary account of a visit to his residence comes from Dorothy Richardson (granddaughter of the physican and botanist Richard Richardsonin 1770

http://www.pastellists.com/Articles/Hoare.pdf

and the Countess of Huntingdon at No. 4.

No 2 was converted into Bartholomew's Turkish Bath in 1881 with the actual baths built on an extension in the the garden.

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William Ford, Stephen Ford. - Property at The Vinyards, Bath - sometimes called Harlequin Row. Belmont and Guinea Lane (Fosse Road/Way).

Adapted and improved from -

https://historyofbath.org/images/ProceedingsPDFs/PROCEEDINGS%2007%202018-19.pdf

On 26 February 1755 Charles Hayne, a descendant and heir of Thomas Hayne, sold to Thomas Omer, Gentleman, and Thomas Jelly, carpenter, "All that close of meadow or pasture ground called the Winniards (Vinyards) containing by estimate 5 acres being in the parish of Walcot and adjoining to the city of Bath". 

https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/8e5cc821-c677-4b58-99c1-49819a6896af

Omer and Jelly were among the leading developers of Georgian Bath, Omer as a financier and Thomas Jelly as the architect and builder.

In 1756 Omer and Jelly parcelled up Winniards into building plots. The Hayne family papers, now in Dorset Record Office, contain three examples of agreements made by Thomas Omer in April 1756 for the lease of plots for building. The plots were from 20 to 50 feet in breadth and ran from Lansdown Road down to the road from the city to Walcot Church (St. Swithin's), the present London Road. Each deed provides for one "good substantial messuage and dwelling house" to be built on the full breadth of each plot, fronting on to the Lansdown road. The purchasers were required to build a length of terrace 20 feet wide in front of their houses. The houses  were to be completed by 1759. These comprise the terrace now on Belmont.

Omer laid down strict requirements for the construction of the houses, which were "…to be full four stories high and the second and third stories to be nine feet high. The front thereof to be good free stone cleaned, the doors and windows to be handsomely decorated and full as ornamental in front as Mr Walter Taylor's houses in Bladud's Buildings, finished with cornices architrave window and sash lights and the battlement wall to be in such form as Bladud's Buildings." Bladud's Buildings had been constructed in 1755 to Jelly's design.

Other parts of Winniards (Vinyards) were being laid out for building at this time in a rather piecemeal fashion. To the south on the same day, 21 December 1756, Omer and Jelly conveyed to John Hutchins of Bath, plasterer, the plot on which now stand 10 Vineyards and the houses behind. Hutchins in turn conveyed the plot to John Hensley of Bath, carpenter, on 25 September 1760. 

Deeds dated 21 and 22 December 1756, recited in one of the deeds of 16 Vineyards, provided for Omer and Jelly to convey a plot, part of Winnyard, to William Biggs, mason of Bath, and Samuel Prynn, Gent. 

The plot was 38 feet in breadth, running from "the road leading from Lansdown to the city of Bath" down to the path from the city to Walcot church. As with the three deeds mentioned above, a terrace was to be laid out fronting on to the Lansdown road. The 38 foot frontage covers the width of the present 16 and 17 Vineyards, which were a single house until they were separated in 1761.

Other parts of Winniards were being laid out for building at this time in a rather piecemeal fashion. To the south on the same day, 21 December 1756, Omer and Jelly conveyed to John Hutchins of Bath, plasterer, the plot on which now stand 10 Vineyards and the houses behind. Hutchins in turn conveyed the plot to John Hensley of Bath, carpenter, on 25 September 1760. 

By that time the adjoining plot had been acquired by Selina, Countess of Huntingdon. The Huntingdon Chapel was completed in 1765 as the home for her strict Methodist sect, the Connexion. 

By a deed of 26 February 1761, Omer and Jelly conveyed the 20 Vineyards plot to William Sainsbury and John Mann.

Omer and Jelly conveyed the plot containing 18 and 19 Vineyards to Biggs and Prynn by deeds of 16 and 17 April 1765. By a deed of 19 April 1765, Biggs and Prynn conveyed a plot extending "123 feet backwards towards the west" to two other Bath builders, John Hensley (who had built No.10) and William Davis, who then built the houses which are now 18 and 19 Vineyards and sold them to the Reverend Edward Sheppard - this Shepherd was later living at Chatham Row Walcot St.

By that time the adjoining plot had been acquired by Selina, Countess of Huntingdon. The Huntingdon Chapel was completed in 1765 as the home for her strict Methodist sect, the Connexion. 

By a deed of 26 February 1761, Omer and Jelly conveyed the 20 Vineyards plot to William Sainsbury and John Mann.

Omer and Jelly conveyed the plot containing 18 and 19 Vineyards to Biggs and Prynn by deeds of 16 and 17 April 1765. By a deed of 19 April 1765, Biggs and Prynn conveyed a plot extending "123 feet backwards towards the west" to two other Bath builders, John Hensley (who had built No.10) and William Davis, who then built the houses which are now 18 and 19 Vineyards and sold them to the Reverend Edward Sheppard (is this Dr Shepherd of Chatham Row?).

The plots on which 1 to 6 Vineyards stand were conveyed on 22 February 1764 by Omer and Jelly to a number of builders:

• Henry Gibbs of Bath carpenter and James Allen of Bath baker

• John Latty of Bath carpenter and Richard Lingers of Bath mason.

• William Davis of Bath tyler and plasterer and Samuel Rundell of Bath barber.

• Jasper Davis of Bath painter and Samuel Rundell of Bath barber.

• William Ford of Bath mason and Stephen Ford of Bath master builder (5 & 6).

7 Vineyards must already have been built by then, as the builders were required to erect a 'good and substantial messuage in such a form as the tenement erected by Benjamin Chilton in the same row'. Chilton, a plumber, had the plot immediately to the north. 

The line dividing these plots from Belmont was marked by a trench cut in the ground.

These names and occupations speak of a great local entrepreneurial spirit. Everyone seems to have been getting in on the development act. We also see the same combination of artisan and financier as with Jelly and Omer.

13 and 15 Vineyards are similar in design. They were complete by about 1770, but curiously there was a 20' gap between them. In 1771 the Chronicle carried an advertisement by Mr Walter Bennett, who occupied No.13, offering his "well-built brick dwelling house" for sale together with a 20 foot plot "on which another house might be erected, having the walls on both sides, from the Roofing quite down to the Kitchen Floor, already built". The house and vacant plot were still being offered for sale in September 1774 but the space had been filled with a new house by 1779, cleverly linking the two earlier houses.

The Admirals House, at the East end  of the Vinyards was develped by Thomas Omer in 1765.

It is a large double fronted 5 bay house above the high pavement and must have had spectacular viws over the valley before the building of the Paragon and Axford's Buildings

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Thomas Jelly and Ralph Allen's Town House.

 The building is north - and behind North Parade Passage and Church St 

The land to the North was formerly the Bowling Green

In 1620 Thomas Cotterell obtained a lease to build against the orchard wall, and this may have been the foundation of 7 and 30, though the two properties shown on this present map are slightly larger than the dimensions given on his lease.

 In the Survey of the Manor before John Hall's death, and again in 1718, 7 is called the Post House, but by 1726 it is named the Old Post House.

 

In 1727 Ralph Allen held the site, having become a sub-tenant there as early as 1718. He also acquired part of the Bowling Green as a garden. The ornamental front designed for him in 1727 can still be seen on the north side of the property, facing east. There is no trace however of a further "northern wing", a misunderstanding. 

The 1762 development lease for the grounds of Abbey House leaves no room for such a wing, and there is no sign of it on later maps.

In I733 the Kingston rental lists 7 as "Mr Ralph Allen his Heirs''. By 1750 Philip Allen is listed for the property. In the 1760's it is given as being in the occupation of Prince Hoare.

Holland (2007) claims that the N wing on the opposite side was never built: she notes that the land on which it supposedly stood had been granted to Jelly and Fisher for development in 1762. Current stonework at the South corner of the Ralph Allen Town House and to the rear elevation of 2 North Parade Passage does suggest both these buildings were linked at some stage.

As suggested by Cotterell's map of Bath of 1852, Ralph Allen's town house had by then been subdivided into three properties: 1 and 2 North Parade Passage and what is now called the Ralph Allen Town House. The three properties are also shown on the 1:500 Ordnance Survey Town Map for Bath published in 1886.

The building was later occupied by the sculptor Prince Hoare - it is likely that his workshops were on the site of the Bowling Green which had earlier been the garden of Ralph Allen.

Bath Chronicle 19 April 1770, - Property: to let - house near North Parade, Bath lately in possession of Mr Prince Hoare. Details from Mr Edw. Parker, wine merchant in Westgate St, Bath. This refers to the house referred to as Ralph Allen's Town House the Old Post Office.

The map below shows the area before the building of Church Street which cut through from the Abbey Green to the Abbey via Kingston Parade.

Abbey house was demolished in 1755.

Anne Bushells House west of the Ralph Allen,s Post office

The house on the corner of Abbey Green and Church St was built by Thomas Jelly for the Duke of Kingston's Estate in 1762.

Jelly and Fisher also obtained permission to make vaults fifteen feet long stretching under Abbey Green.

The Kingston Estate Map. 1725 Copied 1882.

A Map of the Scite of the dissolved Priory of Bath called ye Bath Abby with the several Lands & Tenements within the Liberty & Precincts thereof adjoyning to the City of Bath . . . Copied Jan 7 1882 Original dated 1725.

KE 1725 Bath Library.

Anne Bushells House is to the West of Ralph Allen's and later his brothers Old Post House.

This property became the premises of the sculptor Prince Hoare.

Next door in what became Sally Lunns 1743 the Duke of Kingston, who had acquired all the land of John Hall, sold the property to William Robinson and the legal documents from this transaction can be seen today displayed on the walls. 

From 1781 to 1786 James Wicksteed operated here as a seal engraver. His father John had pioneered a water powered seal engraving machine, based for decades in Widcombe, where the Wicksteed Machine became one of the local sights. (this needs checking)

Lilliput Alley was previously called -

..............................

. A Map of the dissolved Priory or Abbey of Bath belonging to his Grace the Duke of Kingston 1750.

ref KE 1750

Peach Collection, Irvine Collection, Bath Library.

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Locating Fords workshops and the Jelly's Timber Yard.

Ranging along the north side of the Bristol Road (the continuation west of Monmouth St, from East to West are Sir Peter Rivers Gay’s Kitchen Gardens, a Coal Yard (intended site of a Farm House and Offices), and a large block of storage buildings and auction rooms (formerly Jelly & Sainsbury’s  and Jelly and Fishers Timber Yard) west of Queen Square in Stable Lane (now Palace Yard Mews).

Currently Davies Painters and Decorators supplies.

The yard of William Ford (and likely John Ford I and his son) as mentioned in his will was also located in the same area along the road to Bristol - a continuation of Monmouth St. - I suspect between the Coal Yard and 

Brett's Timber Yard was some meters further West.

Detail from Map of Bath dated 1795 by C. Harcourt Masters.

Stable Lane - now Palace Mews

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Jelly and Atwood in Broad St, Bath.

Walborough (St Werberghs) Meadow later called Cockey’s Gardens, the house of Edward Cockey is mentioned as standing there in 1709 and 1756.

In 1734 the Corporation issued a lease of the triangular corner site (corner of Broad St and Bladud's Blgs) to Edward Newman. By July 1757 it leased ‘two messuages’, i.e. Nos. 17 and 18, Broad St to Thomas Jelly. It seems likely that he built 17 and 18, though it is apparently uncertain whether

Thomas Jelly or Thomas Atwood designed Bladud’s Buildings to the north-east of 17 and 18 Broad St

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Jelly, Palmer and St James Parade.

St James's Parade, originally Thomas Street, was the centrepiece of a development from 1765 onwards by Richard Jones, Thomas Jelly and Henry Fisher who were granted liberty in September 1765 to 'pull down the Boro' walls next to the Ambry gardens in order to build new houses there'. 

The street was closed off with bollards at each end, and the houses fronted a broad paved walk in place of the road. The elevations, attributed to Thomas Jelly and John Palmer (c. 1738 – 19 July 1817) show the influence of John Wood the Younger's work elsewhere, as in Rivers Street. The houses were mainly built in c1768.

The  aim of making the Avon navigable as far as Bath was achieved in 1727 and a quay constructed just below the bridge on the Ambury meadows complete with warehouses. These early warehouses appear to have remained standing, although their use had changed over time, until at least the 1930s.

It was from the new town Quay, completed in 1729 with warehousing, timber yards and houses designed by John Strachan, that most of the imported materials for the Georgian building developments were supplied.

The Ambry: The most easterly of these grounds adjoined Southgate Street and St.Lawrence’s Bridge rebuilt as the Old Bridge in 1750 and was known (with a variety of spelling) as the Amery, Ambry or Ambury, a name perhaps derived from an isolated property in the north-east corner of the meadow by the South Gate (still marked by Amery Lane) which is thought to have been the site of the Almonry where alms were dispensed at the city’s entrance.

After the Dissolution of the monastery in 1539, the King’s Barton and the Manor of Walcot, together with the Ambry, passed through various hands, and from 1699 were all acquired by Robert Gay, a London surgeon. 

It was he who made the first agreements for the Georgian development of the upper part of the town with John Wood, but it was his daughter, Margaret Garrard who completed the agreement in 1765 for the development of the Ambry with Henry Fisher, Thomas Jelly and Walter Taylor. This led to the complete infill of the remaining open area with streets, including St.James’s Parade (initially called Thomas Street), Wine Street and Peter Street (initially Queen Street or Lower Queen Street) on the north side, and to the south, Somerset Street (initially Garrard Street), Corn Street (linked to the Quay by a narrow passage called The Ambury), Back Street, and Little Corn Street (initially Clarke’s Lane).

For the  Ambury estate: the Corporation gave ‘Messrs. Richard Jones, Thomas Jelly and Henry Fisher…liberty to pull down the Boro Wall next to the Ambury Gardens [for which Fisher and Jelly paid the rate - St. James’s Rate Book, 1765-66, Bath Record Office], in order to build new houses there…’(Council minutes, 30 September 1765); see also building leases for St. James’s Parade, etc., granted by Jelly, Fisher and Taylor (a grocer, and beneficiary under will of Richard Jones, deceased), BC 153/121a, 1to 4, Bath Record Office;

 For Kingsmead: the Lidiard papers, Box I, DD/CRM, Somerset Record Office, show, inter alia that in1785, Henry Fisher gave Giles Fisher (of the tiler & plasterer branch of the family) ‘our third of the Kingsmeads’ (the other two thirds having belonged to Thomas Jelly and John Ford, respectively), in trust for Robert and Thomas Lidiard, both masons, who had recently purchased it, and continued building there.

From A New and Correct Plan of the City of Bath and places adjacent, 

published by Taylor and Meyler, 1750-1751.

.

A New Plan of the City of Bath, 

published by Leake and Taylor, c.1770.

https://historyofbath.org/images/documents/8dd19670-1336-4a5e-8e5a-c777d3aea0ec.pdf

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St Swithin's Church Walcot, Bath.

Walcot Church (St Swithin’s) was located at the junction of today’s Paragon, Walcot Street and London Street and was rebuilt in 1777 - 80 by John Palmer and Thomas Jelly.

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Of Tangential Interest.

Deeds of  7, The Circus etc.

Deeds sold by Bonhams referring to Garrard and the development of the Kings Circus in particular 7 The Circus built for William Pitt Earl of Chatham - together with attested copies made in 1767 of the bargain and sale from Thomas Garrard to Jenny, widow of John Wood, and John Wood Jr of The Hayes, Walcot (just to the east of Bath above the London Road).

 “for the purpose of building the King’s Circus and Gay Street, Bath”, 1754, 

of the sale of No.7 by William Pitt to Robert and Charles Dingley, 1763, of the sale by the Dingleys and Thomas Nuthall to Charles Dingley, 1766, and of the sale by Charles Dingley to W.A. Ashhurst, 1767, and of the sale by Ashhurst to Lady Bradshaigh, 1771; plus later and related deeds and copies, the originals (from 1775) on vellum, the transcripts on paper, the first duty-stamped, some dust-staining etc., folio

https://www.bonhams.com/auction/15066/lot/883/bath-collection-of-deeds-relating-to-no7-the-kings-circus-bath-comprising-a-counterpart-release-from-dorothea-lady-bradshaigh-to-diana-molyneux-1775-a-conveyance-in-fee-of-the-same-property-from-lady-bradshaigh-to-john-taylor-a-conveyance-in-fee-of-the-property-from-taylor-to-david-ross-1783-and-from-his-son-colonel-robert-ross-to-mrs-sutherland-1810-together-with-attested-copies-made-in-1767-of-the-bargain-and-sale-from-thomas-garrard-to-jenny-widow-of-john-wood-and-john-wood-jr-of-the-hayes-walcot-just-outside-bath-for-the-purpose-of-building-the-kings-circus-and-gay-street-bath-1754-of-the-sale-of-no7-by-william-pitt-to-robert-and-charles-dingley-1763-of-the-sale-by-the-dingleys-and-thomas-nuthall-to-charles-dingley-1766-and-of-the-sale-by-charles-dingley-to-wa-ashhurst-1767-and-of-the-sale-by-ashhurst-to-lady-bradshaigh-1771-plus-later-and-related-deeds-and-copies/

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John Jelly and his Botanical Garden.

John Jelly son of Thomas Jelly.

Camden Bath.

https://www.historyofbath.org/images/documents/Survey%20of%20Old%20Bath%20No%2028.pdf

For Entrance tokens see -

https://sgbaldwins.com/auctions/baldwins-the-deane-collection-part-ii-0110/lot/810