Keynsham treasures see the light – briefly!

Posted on May 25, 2013 by Richard Wyatt • Posted in Breaking news....... • Leave a comment

The ‘museum store’ is next to where you drive your garden waste and household rubbish in Pixash Lane.

Next door to the Recycling Centre in Pixash Lane – where the A4 through Saltford reaches its border with Keynsham – is an old printing factory which has been called into service to help B&NES out with a problem.

Here’s where you go in!

It’s become the temporary repository for the Roman and Mediaeval treasures that used to be stored in two basement rooms beneath Keynsham’s old town hall.

A well-attended viewing too!

They include objects from Keynsham Abbey – excavated in the 1960′s prior to the building of the Keynsham by-pass which subsequently ran through it – and Romano-British material from the Cadbury’s Somerdale Museum which closed in the 1980′s.

Elsewhere in the Virtual Museum archives you will find stories about Romano-British villas excavated in the area and the need – according to the Director of this Cyber Museum – for a proper Keynsham Institution to house all the heritage that so rightly belongs to this ancient market town.

The Pixash Lane store was briefly opened to the public today and was quite busy during the time l was there taking photographs. Apparently the Keynsham Voice – a local and very informative magazine – had run a story about the event.

Carved head from Keynsham Abbey Chapter House.

According to the ‘blurb’ on display today at the temporary stores, Bath and North East Somerset’s Roman Baths Museum is recognised by English Heritage as the repository of archaeological material for the whole of the authority district.

The ‘collections’ are looked after by a small team of professionals with a background in archaeology .

With the demolition of the old town hall – prior to redevelopment – the contents of those two basement rooms were moved to this empty factory store.

I quote from one of the display boards: ‘ Having worked with local people, particularly the Keynsham Heritage Trust, to explore ways to display and interpret these exciting finds, we are now pleased to be working with the Council’s Major Projects Team to put displays in the new Community Centre.

This will be built as part of the new development on the site of the old Town Hall, and is due to open in 2014.

Another Abbey relic.

Objects that are not displayed in the Centre will be available for people to see in an accessible store and at occasional events in and around Keynsham.’

Some of the fabulous mosaics on display.

On display today were objects from the two Roman villas discovered in the Keynsham area. A smaller one on the Somerdale factory site – which was partially reconstructed just inside the gates of the main factory entrance – and the larger – mosaic rich – Roman House excavated in 1922 in a corner of the town’s new public cemetery.

The Romano-British stone coffins

Two large stone coffins with lead linings were also found on the Somerdale site and are also stored in Pixash Lane – along with a 2nd century pedestal base for a statue, whose inscription dates it to AD 155.

There is evidence – amongst the finds – for a Roman temple in the area.

The inscribed pedestal base.

The Virtual Museum has already covered the discovery of the lost Roman town of Trajectus lying under the playing fields at Somerdale. Ground radar located a circular structure amongst many buildings outlined. This could be the temple. There are no plans to excavate the site.

It is understood some of the mosaics on display today will be set in the floor on the new Community Centre – under transparent protective covers – and other objects displayed in sealed cases.

Remains from Keynsham’s remarkable Abbey, which dates from around 1170 and survived until 1539, are also on display in the temporary store.

Samson and the lion on a decorated ceiling boss from Keynsham Abbey.

They include some of the most beautiful carved ceiling bosses l have ever seen at such close quarters and an exquisite collection of decorated floor tiles with floral and animal designs.

Medieval decorated floor tiles from Keynsham Abbey.

Mediavel decorated floor tiles from Keynsham Abbey.

The next opportunity people will have of seeing these treasures will be during the Heritage Days this coming autumn.

There is also a collection of semi-carved objects from the Combe Down Bath stone mines.

Examples of stonemasons working on site and discarding carvings that were declared faulty before being transports to the vast Georgian building sites of the city.

They obviously make good door stops!

Door stop?!

Hopefully – at some point in the future – this amazing collection can form part of a real Keynsham Museum and also contribute to what still remains a distant dream and that is a physical Museum of Bath – set in stone!

Bath’s Albert Hall

Posted on May 9, 2013 by Richard Wyatt • Posted in Breaking news......., history • Tagged Austria, Bath, Bath and North East Somerset Council, Bath Somerset, Carlton, Dublin, Gas holder, gasometer, Vienna, Western Riverside •

Shame on you Bath if you let your last remaining gasometer disappear from the skyline without even an attempt at a fight for funding to give it a new lease of life and save for posterity – in some form – this last major symbol of Bath’s industrial past.

The four converted gasometers in Vienna.

Vienna in Austria managed to find new uses for a line up of four brick-encased gasometers which were turned into apartments, offices and shopping malls.

While in Dublin – a gasometer very much like the one in Bath – was transformed into apartments with reflective glass making the whole massive structure both light and delicate.

The converted gasometer in Dublin.

There is an internal light well built into all the conversions illustrated here.

I still think Bath could transform its gasometer into a much-needed Concert Hall and add something very special to the city’s bank of architectural treasures.

The internal courtyard within the converted gasometer in Dublin.

This is a city of curves and circles. The gasometer is an industrial version of The Circus! It could be Bath’s Albert Hall.

Obviously no lessons have been learned. Back in 2002 in the television series l did for Carlton called Set in Stone:The building of Bath – produced and directed by Howard Perks – l suggested the city needed an iconic building on the Western Riverside development.

Concern grows for future of the “Min”.

Posted on November 13, 2012 by Richard Wyatt • Posted in Heritage • 1 Comment

One of Bath’s best-loved Georgian buildings could be about to shut up shop.

With a personal view of developments, Professor George Odam, who was Patient Governor of the RNHRD for nine years until his resignation in August last year, raises his concerns for the building’s future and has his own ideas about how the Min could still play a useful role to enhance the city’s reputation as a health spa.

In 1988 there was a move to relocate The Min to the RUH site in Combe Park and the plans and rationale can be viewed at the Guildhall Archive. Merging the administration of the two hospitals makes good sense, but the identity and mission of both are very different and both need preservation so that they can continue to function. This has been achieved in many other English cities.

However, in 1988 the proposal was to sell The Min and make it into a shopping mall, with a Plan B of a hotel. Since the rebuild of Southgate, the loss of The Podium and the new hotel development in Beau Street, the most likely outcome of the sale of The Min would be a boarded up site that would deteriorate and be subject to vandalism.

But money is a central issue and a new campaign to save, recondition and modernise the interior of The Min and restore the Grade 2 exterior would have to be found. There are local, national and private funds for this sort of thing once a case has been well made, and I am certain that many patients, families and friends would wish to support such a venture.

Bath is the only significant and active European Spa City without its own Spa Hospital. In the 1960s and 70s The Min’s hydrotherapy pool was fed by the Roman Spring until the amoeba stopped it all. The conduits still lie beneath the streets.”

’DISEASED, DOUCHED AND DOCTORED’

EDITOR Professor Odam mentioned the launch of Dr Roger Roll’s new book describing the rise of mineral water as a therapy and how treatments in Rheumatology have changed. It will be launched in the Chapel at The Min on Monday, November 26th. It’s a ticket only presentation which is complemented by an exhibition of original 18th century patient records and historical medical artefacts.

<a href=”http://virtualmuseumofbath.com/virtual-museum-of-bath-2012/chapel/#main” rel=”attachment wp-att-481″><img title=”chapel” alt=”" src=”http://richardwyattblog.files.wordpress.com/2012/09/chapel.jpg?w=280″ height=”168″ width=”224″ /></a> The chapel at The Min

Kate Lane and her helpers at the hospital have been putting it together and l know she wants to develop the display further and hopefully be able to let school groups in to visit. I have asked her to do her own Virtual Museum piece on the subject in the not too distant future!

However, l have been lucky enough to have a sneak preview of some of the exhibits. I love signatures and have had the fantastic opportunity of gazing down at the names of some of the city’s historical ‘greats’ in their own hand writing – including Richard Nash, William Oliver, Ralph Allen and John Wood the Elder. Also some of the earliest patients records in very clear handwriting.

<a href=”http://virtualmuseumofbath.com/virtual-museum-of-bath-2012/ralph-allen-signature/#main” rel=”attachment wp-att-485″><img title=”ralph allen signature” alt=”" src=”http://richardwyattblog.files.wordpress.com/2012/09/ralph-allen-signature.jpg?w=280″ height=”210″ width=”280″ /></a> Clearly ‘Ralph Allen’

<a href=”http://virtualmuseumofbath.com/virtual-museum-of-bath-2012/richard-nash/#main” rel=”attachment wp-att-486″><img title=”richard nash” alt=”" src=”http://richardwyattblog.files.wordpress.com/2012/09/richard-nash.jpg?w=280″ height=”168″ width=”224″ /></a> Look down the list for ‘Jo Wood’

<a href=”http://virtualmuseumofbath.com/virtual-museum-of-bath-2012/patients-report/#main” rel=”attachment wp-att-483″><img title=”patients report” alt=”" src=”http://richardwyattblog.files.wordpress.com/2012/09/patients-report.jpg?w=195″ height=”260″ width=”195″ /></a> Patient records from 1749!

Remember this was a hospital serving the poor of all England and many of them stayed here for many weeks. At the bottom of each entry is a clear indication of whether they had benefitted from their treatment or died!

I loved the collection of badges which had to be worn by patients to identify them as such. One entry records the fact that a patient was turned out for being caught in a local public house. Landlords could be fined for serving patients from the hospital.

<a href=”http://virtualmuseumofbath.com/virtual-museum-of-bath-2012/hospital-badges/#main” rel=”attachment wp-att-482″><img title=”hospital badges” alt=”" src=”http://richardwyattblog.files.wordpress.com/2012/09/hospital-badges.jpg?w=195″ height=”260″ width=”195″ /></a> Collection of ward and patient badges

There is much here that truly deserves to be seen by a wider audience. This ancient institution – England’s first national hospital – is an important part of this city’s history.

virtualmuseumofbath.com 2012.

Community Alphabet Unveiled!

Posted on May 23, 2013 by Richard Wyatt • Posted in Breaking news....... • Tagged American Broadcasting Company, Bath, Bath At Work Museum, Bath Somerset, Bath Spa University, Moravian Church, Stuart Burroughs, Weston • Leave a comment

Museum of Bath at Work

Students from Bath Spa University and The Museum of Bath at Work have worked with residents of Weston, in Bath to create a pictorial alphabet featuring all the locally distinctive features of their village, past and present. The alphabet of images includes historically important local figures, famous buildings and the ordinary,work-a-day features of this interesting Bath suburb – all of which have been suggested by local people.

On Saturday June 1^st the finished alphabet of twenty six images will be unveiled at the Moravian Church in Weston at 12 noon. On that afternoon there will also be refreshments, a children’s drawing competition, a display by children at Weston All Saints School and presentations by Director of the Museum of Bath at Work – Stuart Burroughs and from students and staff from Bath Spa University.

All are welcome to this community event and admission is free.

Director Stuart Burroughs who had conceived the projects said ‘We have for a long time sought to involve local people in the creation of exhibitions with a focus on the areas in which they live. The idea of the alphabet – encouraging local people to suggest what matters most to them in their area- seemed an appropriate instrument to do this. We have been delighted by the response- and the ingenuity-of the suggestions for this pictorial alphabet. I was afraid suggestions for the letters X, Y, and Z might be absent but there is a complete ABC!’

For more details about the exhibition or the project please contact Stuart Burroughs at mobaw@hotmail.com or 01225 318348 at the Museum of Bath at Work.

A flood of memories

Posted on May 22, 2013 by Richard Wyatt • Posted in Heritage & History • Tagged Avon, Avon Regeneration Trust, Bath, Bath Somerset, Bridge, Cotswold, floods, Halfpenny Bridge, pulteney bridge, River, River Avon • Leave a comment

Putting Bath‘s three thermal springs to one side, the main water feature in this city is the river that runs through it. Once the Avon played a pivotal role in supplying the energy required for local industry and it also served as a waterway to transport materials and produce in and out of this bustling community at one end of the Cotswold Hills.

The Avon flooding its water meadows

It’s a river that behaves like any other river. It tends to flood. Something that happened more frequently as the area to the west of Bath became industrialised and the Avon’s water meadows – its natural overflow system – was built over.

Unable to release its swollen waters as nature intended the river poured instead through streets, factories and houses.

One of the worst floods in living memory occurred in 1960 when swans were able to glide up Southgate Street towards the city centre. It was also the final nail in the coffin of Bath’s Old Bridge which was fatally damaged and replaced by the present Churchill Bridge.

A radical programme was also brought in to rebuild and reshape the weir by Pulteney Bridge to increase river flow and also dredge and insert sheet piling walls along much of the central river bank to increase the volume of flood water the Avon could carry within its natural course.

The path under the Halfpenny Bridge

One more great flood was to come in 1968 and you can see to what height the river rose that year by walking or cycling along the path which runs beside the Avon and under the Halfpenny pedestrian bridge – linking Widcombe and the city centre – which is currently being refurbished.

On the bank-side wall is recorded the dates and levels of floodwater levels going way back into the 19th century and 1968 is duly recorded too.

Flood levels recorded on the stone

Our attention is being turned towards the River Avon again – but this time not only to try and keep flood waters under control.

Bath is being encouraged to see the river as a social and economic asset and to embrace and regenerate all of the environment it passes through.

More flood levels recorded

A picture of Pulteney Bridge and – in the hoped-for summer – its sparkling weir, has normally been the only time anyone actually looks at the Avon. It is time to look again.

Reflecting on its future?

Posted on May 21, 2013 by Richard Wyatt • Posted in The Gallery • Tagged Bath, Bath Somerset, Britain, Cleveland Pools, Georgian architecture, River Avon, Somerset, Virtual Museum • Leave a comment

Cleveland Pools.

The image is of Britain’s first open-air lido and a Georgian one to boot! It’s Cleveland Pools – opened in Bath in 1815 – within a city famous for all its waters. Will this particular piece of living, crumbling history be saved for the future? Or be lost to the past? The Virtual Museum hopes to bring you more on the subject – soon.

A lesson in local history.

Posted on May 21, 2013 by Richard Wyatt • Posted in Heritage & History • Tagged Bath, Bath and North East Somerset, Bath Somerset, Bristol, John, Pump Room, roman bath, Royal Pump Rooms • Leave a comment

St John’s Local History Store.

Hidden away inside an old school on Bath‘s Upper Bristol Road is a collection of fascinating artefacts that, hopefully, one day will form part of the permanent collection of a real Museum of Bath. It’s now known as the St Johns local history stores and sits at the junction where the main road out-of-town meets Locksbrook Road.

Judging by how empty it was of visitors, very few people may have realised its been open today to the public – until 3pm this afternoon. Those who miss it will have to wait until 12-15th of September when the stores will be one of many venues generally unseen that will be open for Heritage Days.

Model of Roman Baths complex.

I wandered amongst wooden models of the Roman Baths and the Pump Rooms and pieces of equipment rescued from the city’s old spa water treatment centres.

Needle douche devices.

A couple of examples of needle douche – used in treatments available from the 1870′s through to 1976 – which provided an all round shower produced from fine needle-like jets of spring water.

Also an aeration deep bath which worked like a modern jacuzzi. A series of pipes at the bottom supplied the spring water at high pressure.

Aeration bath

There was a photograph of youngsters receiving spa therapy, the old Beau Street baths demolished to make way for the Thermae Spa ‘Cube’

Ewardians enjoying tea!

and a picture of Edwardians enjoying tea in the old terrace cafe beside the Great Bath.

Silver for Roman Baths!

Posted on May 21, 2013 by Richard Wyatt • Posted in Breaking news....... • Tagged Bath Somerset, Ben Stevens, Blenheim Palace, Cutty Sark, National Motor Museum, North East Somerset, roman bath, Sustainable Development • Leave a comment

The Roman Baths – which is managed by Bath & North East Somerset Council – has been crowned one of the country’s best Large Visitor Attractions in the prestigious VisitEngland Awards for Excellence

Caption (left to right): Cllr Cherry Beath, Cabinet Member for Sustainable Development during 2012-13; Katie Smith, Visitor Services Manager; Stephen Clews, Manger of the Roman Baths; Lady Cobham, presenting the Silver Award; and Stephen Bird, Head of Heritage Services for Bath & North East Somerset Council.

Members of the Roman Baths team were officially presented with a Silver Award at the glittering awards ceremony held in Manchester last night (20

The Roman Baths.

The Roman Baths was the only attraction in the South West to make it into the national final of the awards category for Large Visitor Attraction of the Year. It competed against the National Motor Museum at Beaulieu in Hampshire (Gold), The Cutty Sark (Bronze) and Blenheim Palace (Highly

Commenting on the finalists James Berresford, VisitEngland’s Chief Executive, said: “I would like to congratulate all those finalists in this year’s VisitEngland Awards for Excellence. We received 320 applications and the quality of submissions was higher than ever. It is therefore no small achievement for the Roman Baths to be a finalist and it can justifiably take credit and pride in earning a coveted place in the top four in its category in

Councillor Ben Stevens (Lib-Dem, Widcombe), Cabinet Member for Sustainable Development, said: “We’re delighted that the Roman Baths has been recognised with a Silver Award at the prestigious VisitEngland Awards for Excellence

“This achievement builds on the Roman Baths winning Gold in the South West Tourism Excellence Awards earlier this year and reflects the success of the team’s incredibly hard work. It shows Bath & North East Somerset Council’s continuing commitment to making this nationally important visitor attraction accessible and exciting for everyone to enjoy. I congratulate our Roman Baths team for all their dedication and devotion in going the extra mile to ensure visitors have a really enjoyable.

The Roman Baths made it into the national finals by achieving the highest scores in the South West awards for its “commitment to excellence in customer experience”, “sustainability” and “commitment to excellence in improvements”. The official report – based on the recommendations of the category judges and mystery shoppers – highlighted a number of positive aspects of the Roman Baths visitor experience,

It is an iconic building in a memorable setting.
Following several years of major investment, the museum and baths are very well presented and interpreted. Audio guides with a range of commentaries for different age groups, interests and languages are easy to use and informative.
Video presentations bring the various areas to life as they would have been in Roman times, with great effect.
There are regular free guided tours with knowledgeable staff; and costumed characters entertain around the main bath.
The new Roman Baths Kitchen café, opened in May 2012, offers a good range of food throughout the day, with good service, quality furniture and a changing menu.

For more information about Bath & North East Somerset Council’s Roman Baths visit www.romanbaths.co.uk or call 01225 477774.

Fashion Museum’s tribute to Laura Ashley

Posted on May 20, 2013 by Richard Wyatt • Posted in Breaking news....... • Tagged Ben Stevens, Bowes Museum, County Durham, Culture of England, Daily Mirror, Dress of the Year, Laura Ashley, Thomas Hardy • Leave a comment

The first major retrospective celebration of the designer Laura Ashley will be held at Bath & North East Somerset Council’s Fashion Museum – with fans being asked to share their memories of the much-loved fashion label.

The Fashion Museum will showcase over 70 Laura Ashley dresses in a special summer exhibition on display from 13 July to 26 August. The display will capture the Laura Ashley look that in the 1960s and 1970s inspired a generation of women to dress as though they were the milkmaid Tess of the d’Urbervilles from Thomas Hardy’s novel, or perhaps Cathy from Emily Bronte’s Wuthering Heights.

Exhib at Fashion Museum & Bowes Museum Copyright Laura Ashley Ltd

To coincide with the exhibition, Laura Ashley is inviting people to share their treasured photographs and memories of the designer for a competition running on its Facebookpage from early June. A selection of these will also be shared by the Fashion Museum through its Twitter feed (follow @Fashion_Museum #LauraAshley60) and Facebookpage (search for “Fashion Museum”).

Rosemary Harden, the Manager of Bath & North East Somerset Council’s Fashion Museum, said: “We’re celebrating the vision of the romantic heroine that Laura Ashley gave to fashion in the late 1960s and 1970s. A classic example was the chaste cotton print maxi-dress in earth-hewn natural colours – whisking us away with the notion of life in a golden age; a pastoral idyll far from the mad city life.”

By the tail end of the swinging sixties the bright and shiny bubble of optimism had burst and so designers found inspiration, and comfort, in nostalgia for times gone by. There was an appetite for escapism in the general populace and a move back to nature, with top TV hits such as Upstairs Downstairs and The Good Life. The Laura Ashley look was described by The Daily Mirror’s fashion editor Felicity Green on 1 January 1970 as ‘soft-core femininity’ and ‘Victorian-type demureness’.

Exhib at Fashion Museum & Bowes Museum Copyright Laura Ashley Ltd

Rosemary Harden, Fashion Museum Manager, commented: “The Fashion Museum is thrilled to be able to stage this exhibition in such a landmark year for both Laura Ashley, and for the museum. It has been exciting to work directly with the Archive team at Laura Ashley in London and mid-Wales, and an honour to have the opportunity to display a selection of their iconic dresses alongside examples from the Fashion Museum’s own collection.”

Councillor Ben Stevens (Lib-Dem, Widcombe), Cabinet Member for Sustainable Development, said: “Bath became home to one of the first Laura Ashley stores in 1971, and now the city houses one of the world’s great museum collections of historic and fashionable dress, that includes a fine collection of signature Laura Ashley dresses. Bath & North East Somerset Council is therefore proud to host this celebration at the Fashion Museum to offer a wide variety of culture and creativity to everyone.

“Ahead of the exhibition we hope that people will enjoy sharing their own Laura Ashley photos and memories – maybe they had a favourite outfit in their teenage years or they decorated their first home with Laura Ashley furnishings. We’d love to hear from them, whatever the tale may be.”

The Fashion Museum occupies the basement at The Assembly Rooms.

Angela Jeffery, Archivist at Laura Ashley Ltd, said: “We’re very excited to be working with the Fashion Museum on the occasion of Laura Ashley’s 60^th anniversary and we can’t wait to see the end results in July and August.

“Laura Ashley: The Romantic Heroine will then travel to The Bowes Museum in County Durham for its only other UK showing. We are also delighted to be working with our colleagues in the North East at the wonderful Bowes Museum.”

The Fashion Museum has been designated as a collection of outstanding national significance, as well as being listed as one of the world’s top 10 fashion museums by the international broadcaster CNN.

The Fashion Museum, on Bennett Street, Bath, is open daily from 10.30am to 4pm (exit 5pm). It currently features the Dress of the Year and the museum’s 50^th anniversary exhibition “50 Fabulous Frocks”. For more information visit www.fashionmuseum.co.uk or call 01225 477789.

VIRTUAL MUSEUM OF BATH