William Vertue, Robert Vertue, George Gilbert Scott, George Phillips Manners
Architectural type
Parish church
Style
Perpendicular Gothic
Years built
1499–1611
Groundbreaking
675
Completed
1611
Specifications
Capacity
1,200
Length
220 feet (67 m)[3]
Width
22 feet (6.7 m)[3]
Number of towers
1
Tower height
160 feet (49 m)[4]
Materials
Bath stone
Bells
10
Administration
Diocese
Bath and Wells
Parish
Bath Abbey with St James
Clergy
Bishop(s)
Michael Beasley
Rector
Revd Prebendary Guy Bridgewater
Canon Missioner
Revd Stephen Girling
Curate(s)
Revd Cath Candish
Minister(s)
Revd Dr Nigel Rawlinson
Laity
Organist/Director of music
Huw Williams[5]
Business manager
Frank Mowat
Looking west from the choir, the fan vaulting is mostly 19th-century
The Abbey Church of Saint Peter and Saint Paul, commonly known as Bath Abbey,[6] is a parish church of the Church of England and former Benedictine monastery in Bath, Somerset, England.[7] Founded in the 7th century, it was reorganised in the 10th century and rebuilt in the 12th and 16th centuries; major restoration work was carried out by Sir George Gilbert Scott in the 1860s. It is one of the largest examples of Perpendicular Gothic architecture in the West Country. The medieval abbey church served as a sometime cathedral of a bishop. After long contention between churchmen in Bath and Wells the seat of the Diocese of Bath and Wells was later consolidated at Wells Cathedral. The Benedictine community was dissolved in 1539 during the Dissolution of the Monasteries.[8]
The church architecture is cruciform in plan[9] and can seat up to 1,200 patrons.[10][11] An active place of worship, it also hosts civic ceremonies, concerts and lectures. There is a heritage museum in the cellars.
The abbey is a Grade I listed building,[9][12] particularly noted for its fan vaulting. It contains war memorials for the local population and monuments to several notable people, in the form of wall and floor plaques and commemorative stained glass. The church has two organs and a peal of ten bells. The west front includes sculptures of angels climbing to heaven on two stone ladders, representing Jacob's Ladder.
^"Parnham Voices — Par.4 Line 1". Alfx.com. Archived from the original on 2 April 2012. Retrieved 11 January 2014.
^"ABBEY CHURCH OF ST PETER AND ST PAUL". National Heritage List for England. Historic England. Retrieved 30 July 2022.
^ ab"Bath Abbey". Emporis. Retrieved 30 July 2022.[dead link]
^Hope, Jessica (16 September 2016). "A perfect panorama: Bath Abbey". The Bath Magazine. Archived from the original on 30 July 2022. Retrieved 30 July 2022.
^"Director – Huw Williams". www.cantemus.co.uk. Archived from the original on 1 April 2018. Retrieved 1 April 2018.
^"Bath Abbey (St Peter and St Paul) on World Anglican Clerical Directory". World Anglican Clerical Directory. Retrieved 28 June 2022.
^"Bath Abbey". University of Bath. Archived from the original on 25 April 2019. Retrieved 11 September 2018.
^"The historic battle of the Diocese of Bath and Wells title". BBC Somerset. 23 January 2009. Archived from the original on 2 August 2019. Retrieved 11 September 2018.
^ abHistoric England. "Abbey Church of St Peter and St Paul (1394015)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 7 July 2015.
^Gregson-Williams, Richard (1986). Festivals in Great Britain, Northern Ireland & Eire: A List with Forecast Dates and Policies. John Offord Publications. p. 9. ISBN 9780903931717.
^McNeill-Ritchie, Simon (15 September 2017). Historic England: Bath: Unique Images from the Archives of Historic England. Amberley Publishing Limited. ISBN 9781445676074.
^Cite error: The named reference pastscape was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
The Abbey Church of Saint Peter and Saint Paul, commonly known as BathAbbey, is a parish church of the Church of England and former Benedictine monastery...
Bridge, based on an unused design for the Rialto Bridge in Venice; and BathAbbey in the city centre, founded in 1499 on the site of an 8th-century church...
The Anglican BathAbbey Cemetery, officially dedicated as the Cemetery of St Peter and St Paul (the patron saints that BathAbbey is dedicated to), was...
founded Lacock Abbey. By the 15th century, Bath'sabbey church was badly dilapidated and in need of repairs. Oliver King, Bishop of Bath and Wells, decided...
"Rita", wrote A Grey Life, a novel set in Bath. She lived at Combe Down from about 1923 and is buried in BathAbbey Cemetery. Morag Joss (born 1955) – novelist...
College Chapel, Cambridge, the world's largest fan vault (1512–1515) BathAbbey, Somerset, nave and chancel (1860s restoration; originally by William...
An abbey is a type of monastery used by members of a religious order under the governance of an abbot or abbess. Abbeys provide a complex of buildings...
Retrieved 28 October 2023. "Westminster Abbey Organist Appointed at BathAbbey". BathAbbey. 9 March 2023. Archived from the original on 27 March 2023. Retrieved...
"Westminster Abbey: Abbey welcomes HRH The Prince of Wales to Bath service; Tuesday, 24th May 2022". Westminster-Abbey.org. Westminster Abbey. Risk, p. 40...
Bishop of Bath. The official episcopal title became Bishop of Bath and Wells under a Papal ruling of 3 January 1245. By the 15th century BathAbbey was badly...
Crematorium and an urn holding his ashes was buried in his parents' grave at BathAbbey Cemetery. His collection of theatrical memorabilia was left to the University...
Bath (now BathAbbey) and the other at Gloucester (now Gloucester Cathedral). In 676 Osric granted lands to Abbess Bertana to found a convent at Bath...
– 29 August 1503) was a Bishop of Exeter and Bishop of Bath and Wells who restored BathAbbey after 1500. King was educated at Eton, where he was a king's...
The Abbey Church of Saint Peter and Saint Paul, Bath, commonly known as BathAbbey, is an Anglican parish church and a former Benedictine monastery in...
in BathAbbey on 10 May 2014, at a concert in aid of the Royal British Legion. "Christopher Tin's Calling All Dawns wins two Grammy Awards". Abbey Road...
"Bath Aqua Theatre of Glass". Visitbath.co.uk. Retrieved 11 March 2012. "Meet The Team". Bath Aqua Glass. Retrieved 25 October 2016. "BathAbbey window...
Highest completed nave: St. Peter's Basilica, Vatican City, 46 m (151 ft) Abbey, with architectural discussion and ground plans Cathedral architecture Cathedral...
disease on 23 December 1834 at his father-in-law's house. He was buried in BathAbbey. His portrait, and descriptions by contemporaries, present him as tall...
Thermae Bath Spa is a combination of the historic spa and a contemporary building in the city of Bath, England, and reopened in 2006. Bath and North East...
funded an elaborate funeral for Nash, and he was buried in the nave of BathAbbey, not far from where a memorial was raised to him in 1790. Nash was a notorious...
Villula (1088–1122), moved the see to become the Diocese of Bath in 1090, using the Abbey Church of Ss Peter & Paul as his cathedral and in so doing he...
concert in the summer. Most take place at BathAbbey but other venues include Exeter Cathedral, The Forum, Bath the Michael Tippett Centre, the Wiltshire...
Monument in BathAbbey Cemetery c.1847, Samuel Maxwell Hinds Memorial in BathAbbey Cemetery c.1847, Joseph Chaning Pearce Memorial in BathAbbey Cemetery...
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