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History
of Bath Abbey
Bath Abbey
stands at the heart of the city of Bath; during the past twelve and a
half centuries, three different churches have occupied this site:
An
Anglo-Saxon Abbey Church dating from 757, destroyed by the Norman
conquerors of England soon after 1066;
A massive
Norman cathedral began about 1090. It was larger than the
monastery could afford to maintain and by the end of the 15th century
was in ruins;
The
present Abbey church founded in 1499, ruined after the dissolution of
the monasteries in 1539 by order of Henry VIII.
It was
restored and has been supported ever since by successive generations of parishioners
and by other benefactors. The Bath
Abbey 2000 Campaign of Restoration and Conservation has continued that
tradition. Bath Abbey is now an active parish church in the Church
of England. In 1999 it celebrated its five hundredth anniversary.
Inside
the Abbey
The Bath
Abbey 2000 cleaning and conservation program has revealed the contours
and the true color of the Bath stone of which the Abbey is constructed.
Overhead, a fan-vaulted ceiling, designed in the early 16th century,
runs the full length of the building. At the East end, above the
altar, stained glass in the huge window illustrates the Bible story of
the life of Jesus Christ.
The West
Front
Begun in 1499, Bath Abbey is the last of the
great medieval churches of England. The West Front is unique.
It depicts the dream that inspired the Abbey's founder, Bishop Oliver
King, to pull down the ruined Norman cathedral and raise the present
building on its foundations. The cleaning of the West Front was
the first of the Bath Abbey 2000 projects to be completed.
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