Did you know there were other crescents in Bath as well as the most famous Royal Crescent? It wasn’t until I was sat overlooking Bath from the viewpoint in Alexandra Park that I could see more sweeping crescents. Following a bit of research I discovered there are 7 crescents in Bath. So I’ve linked them together as a city walk.
This is one of my favourite architectural discoveries though despite quite a bit of research I haven’t been able to find a huge amount written about the crescents, why crescent architecture became popular and why they’re built in those precise locations. So maybe at some point there will be a follow up article when I’ve discovered more.
What I do know is that they are architecturally stunning. The key architects, John Wood and his son, laid out many of the city’s present-day squares and crescents within a green valley and the surrounding hills, so it was a very different place at the time. According to UNESCO this provided… “an integration of architecture, urban design, and landscape setting, and the deliberate creation of a beautiful city”. Once you know where they are you can see the from viewpoints all across the city.
WALKING MAP & DIRECTIONS
I’ve linked the crescents in a walk on the map below. Follow it and you can scrutinise their differences and the beauty of each one, whilst pondering their history and previous inhabitants.
Several are atop a hilly climb which will get your heart going and Widcombe Crescent is across the city but I think worth the trip.
If you can’t face the hills maybe hop on a Voi electric scooter.
Walking Map & Directions – below is a fully interactive map with directions, elevation & distances. Download the plotaroute app to follow the route on your phone with a few simple steps.
Fascinating Facts
- The back of the buildings are all higgledy-piggledy. The front of the crescents were formally designed and are listed but the owners of each were given the freedom to design the rest of the building as they wished. So have a nosey, go round the back and see for yourself.
- A landslide demolished 9 houses at the east end of Camden Crescent, now the grand central houses no longer form it’s middle.
- Sheep graze the front of Lansdown Crescent to keep the grass down.
- A two bedroom flat in the Royal Crescent with a courtyard garden would set you back £850k and a 6 bedroom house in Somerset Place with views over the city is a cool £3.8million.
- The green in front of The Royal Crescent was turned into allotments during the war.
- The wisteria on camden crescent and the royal crescent are a sight to behold. So if you’re about in April/May time, it’s well worth a visit.
- According to the Bath Chronicle Bath has a newest crescent to add to its famous collection. Four curved town houses have been built overlooking the Widcombe Valley.
- Make sure to visit during the flowering season to witness the beauty of the wisteria, have a look around the back and remember to have a nose on RightMove to see the eye-watering prices.
Camden Crescent @clairstrong_bath 
Royal Crescent @kistography
The Royal Crescent
One of the most visited and photographed places in the world, the Royal Crescent consists of 30 terraced houses laid out in a 150 metre crescent, close to the centre of Bath. Designed by John Wood the Younger, and built between 1767 and 1774, it is among the finest examples of Georgian architecture in the UK, and listed Grade I. Particularly in combination with the Circus, designed by John Wood the Elder and accessed through Brock Street, the Royal Crescent is the jewel in Bath’s architectural crown.
The original purchasers of each house were provided with the specification for the frontage as designed, but then enjoyed freedom as to its internal layout, depth, and rear windows and elevation. Thus, with some easy to disregard minor variations inserted over the years (eg. window size, design, and accessories), the front of the Crescent appears monumentally consistent, while the back of the building shows massive variation. The facade has 114 Ionic columns on the first floor, with double columns at the centre (where 3 houses are wider, with 4 windows across), and a Palladian style embellishment above.
Camden Crescent
Camden Crescent in Bath, Somerset, England, was built by John Eveleigh in 1788; it was originally known as Upper Camden Place. The houses are of three storeys, with attics and basements.
At the southern end of the crescent the basements are at ground level because of the contours of the land. In 1789 a landslide demolished 9 houses at the east end of the crescent. The remains of the houses were demolished and removed to allow Hedgemead Park to be built. This means that the two paired doors of numbers 16 and 17, which stand beneath a pediment supported by five Corinthian columns at what would have been the centre of the crescent, no longer form its middle.
The arms of Charles Pratt, 1st Earl Camden, after whom the crescent was named, are on the doorway keystones along with an elephant’s head which was his symbol.
Lansdown Crescent
Designed by John Palmer completed in 1793
The buildings have a clear view over central Bath, being sited on Lansdown Hill. It forms the central part of a string of curved terraces, including Lansdown Place East and West, and Someset Place, which were the northernmost boundary of the development of Georgian Bath.
The crescent comprises 20 houses, each originally having four floors together with servants’ quarters in the basement. It is arranged as a concave crescent, and is flanked by Lansdown Place West and Lansdown Place East, both convex crescents.
The two central houses, numbers 10 and 11, have a paired entrance with four Tuscan columns with a cornice and frieze above them. The central point between the windows of the first floor has a blind niche.
Cavendish Crescent
A Georgian crescent built in the early 19th century to a design by the architect John Pinch the elder. At 11 houses, it is the shortest of the seven Georgian crescents in Bath. It also has one of the plainest facades, with no central feature, the only decoration being the consoles over the central first floor window of each house.
Cavendish crescent was undertaken by William Broom, a builder by trade. Broom leased the land on which the crescent is built and then engaged Pinch to design the facade. However all did not go according to Broom’s plans and he went bankrupt in 1825. The crescent was finished some 5 years later.
Sir William Holburne lived at No. 10 between 1829 and 1874. The house was home to his art collection, which was later formed into the Holburne Museum of Art, at the end of Great Pulteney Street.
Norfolk Crescent
Built between c.1793 and c.1822 the original design was by John Palmer, but minor alterations were later made by John Pinch.
The Georgian terrace includes numbers 1 to 7, which have been converted into flats known as Cumberland House, and numbers 8 to 18 consecutively. Each has five storeys (basement, ground floor, piano nobile, second floor and attic) and the central portion has 6 Ionic pilasters.
Norfolk Crescent overlooks the river rather than sitting atop a hill. There is a green area in front of the crescent that was originally a formal garden for the residents, surrounded by railings. A small circular building in the corner of the gardens is the old watchman’s hut, and is also Grade II listed.
Somerset Place
Somerset Place is a Georgian Grade I listed crescent in Bath, England. The facades were designed by the architect John Eveleigh who went bankrupt during the creation of the building, which started in 1790 but was not completed until the 1820s.
In 1784 Thomas Paine purchased an area of pasture including Great Lydes to build houses overlooking Bath, although there is evidence of Iron Age and Roman settlement on the area. 20 houses were originally planned but numbers 1 to 4 were not built.
Some of the crescent was destroyed during the Second World War and rebuilt as student accommodation in the 1950s and 1960s for Bath College of Domestic Science. It used to form part of the campus of Bath College, but has since been sold. It was used for student accommodation and the Bath Spa University English Language Programme.
In the 2010s a major redevelopment of the western end of the terrace took place, including the construction of No. 4
Widcombe Crescent
Widecombe is a terrace of 14 Georgian houses built in 1808 by Thomas Baldwin, and designated a Grade I listed building. The three-storey houses, which have mansard roofs, are stepped up from either side to central 2 houses which project slightly.
Widcombe Crescent is different to the others in that it’s the back of the houses that face the incredible view. You can stand on the elevated terrace to catch a glimpse of what the residents can see from their gardens and windows.
