Souvenirs: Flyer and Receipt from Bea’s Vintage Tea Rooms, Bath, 28/04/15.

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Assembly Rooms, Assembly Rooms Bath, bath, Bea's Vintage Tea Rooms, cream tea, dippy eggs, flyer, Food and Drink, Saville Row Bath, soft boiled eggs, Souvenirs, tea., Vintage

My sister and I sat at the very table featured on this leaflet for Bea’s Vintage Rea Rooms; my sister was the cream tea and I was the boiled egg on the receipt [we had a difference of opinion regarding the time of day, as we arrived between breakfast and elevenses]. I sat where the lady on the left of the photograph is sitting and from there I could see the end of Saville Row, a glimpse of Bennett Street and the corner of the famous Georgian Assembly Rooms; you can see all the fashionable comings and goings.

I can’t say I’ve seen soft boiled eggs on the menu anywhere else I have called in at for tea and I really enjoyed it, so if you have walked up Saville Row and you feel like you are in desperate need of a dippy egg and tea in a vintage china cup call in at Bea’s.  

Souvenirs: Penny Black Pin Badge, Bath Postal Museum, Bath, 28/04/15.

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badges, bath, Bath Postal Museum, Green Street Bath, John Palmer, letters, mail, Museums, Northgate Street Bath, Penny Black, Penny Black pin badge, postage stamps, poster, Ralph Allen, Souvenirs, Stamps, Thomas Moore Musgrave

You will find the Bath Postal Museum, if you find it at all, below stairs at the Post Office on the corner of Northgate Street and Green Street. I have mentioned this fact first because, when my sister and I arrived, I made a casual remark about having to make an effort to find the museum to one of the volunteers on duty and her reply gave me the impression that I wasn’t the first person to say that.

Three historic Bath residents revolutionised the British postal service through some significant firsts:

• Ralph Allen (born. 1693), a Cornish man who moved to Bath to take up the position of Postmaster at the age of 19, came up with the radical idea that sending all letters via London, which was what happened when the postal service was in its infancy, was a waste of time and effort. The museum guide describes the services Allen invented as the cross and bye posts, which allowed letters to travel between addresses on more direct routes.
• John Palmer, who was a native “Bathonian“, to quote from the museum guide, made the postal service even quicker by arranging the first ever mail coach run in 1784.
• Thomas More Musgrove, who became Postmaster of Bath in 1833, is thought to have been the first person to affix a stamp to a letter, The Penny Black, on the 2nd May 1840, making him the first ever person to use a postage stamp (4 days before they were officially issued).

Did you know?

The museum’s hands on displays included a stamp perforating machine [yes, believe it or not, there was a time when you had to perforate your own postage stamps] and the “Potholes and Pitfalls” mail coach board game, both of which my sister and I thoroughly enjoyed. Other interesting exhibits included a wall of post boxes and stamp machines, an educational film about the history of written communications (narrated by the late Richard Briers) and an interesting audio display about different post horns.

If you’re in the area, do call in at the Bath Postal Museum at 27 Northgate Street  or have a look at the museum’s website: http://www.bathpostalmuseum.co.uk/.

A Note Recommending The Hat Works in Stockport, The Fashion Museum, The Assembly Rooms, Bath, 28/04/15.

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bath, Fashion Museum, Fashion Museum Bath, hand writing, Hat Works, Hat Works Stockport, hats, love heart, Museums, note, Stockport, vintage fashion

The Behind the scenes section of The Fashion Museum in Bath has a notice board that visitors can use to recommend other fashionable places of interest. Amongst the numerous notes I found one with a distinctive, Northern, feel to it. In my youth I often found myself sat on the Transpennine Express, calling at Manchester Piccadilly, which passed through Stockport. From the train you use to be able to see a tall factory chimney with hat museum writing down the length of it in white capital letters and this always intrigued me and I often pointed it out to anyone I was travelling with; mainly my mother and younger sister. My sister and I finally visited the Hat Works about seven years now and I didn’t regret the expense. Our visit to Stockport coincided with an exhibition of swimming caps, I seem to remember. If you’re a hat lover, as I am, the Hat Works is a must.

Teddy Bears in Bathrobes, The Roman Baths, Bath, 28/04/15.

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bath, bathing, bathrobes, bears, gift shop, soft toys, Teddy Bears, The Roman Baths Bath, toys, window shopping.

Furled Union Flag Hanging Over Gieves and Hawkes, 20 Old Bond Street, Bath, 28/04/15.

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architecture, bath, British, flags, Gieves and Hawkes, Gieves and Hawkes Bath, Neo Classical Architecture, Neo-Classical, tayloring, taylors, Union Flag, Union Jack

The Prince of Wales Oak, Royal Victoria Park, Bath, 28/04/15.

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bath, Bath Mineral Water Hospital, Bath United Hospital, British Monarchy, King Edward VII, Maori Chiefs, New Zealand, oak trees, Parks, Prince Albert Edward, Princess Alexandra of Denmark, Reverend William Jenkins, Royal Family, Royal Victoria Park Bath, The Prince of Wales, The Prince of Wales Oak, The Prince of Wales Oak Bath, Thomas Barter esq, trees

I wouldn’t normally stop to photograph a tree, even one as lovely as this one, but I noticed a small commemorative plaque in front of it, which made me curious. It informed me that this wasn’t just any oak, this was “The Prince of Wales Oak“, planted by the then Mayor of Bath, Thomas Barter esq, on the 10th March 1863. The Prince of Wales in 1863 was Prince Albert Edward, who would later become King Edward VII, who married Princess Alexandra of Denmark on the 10th March 1863, so I think it is safe to say that the tree was planted to commemorate the Royal wedding. The wedding was also commemorated in a painting, now in the Royal Collection, by William Powell Frith, which wouldn’t have known about if I hadn’t been researching the history of this tree! One of the most interesting fact I’ve managed to unearth about Thomas Barter esq is that, on the 19th September 1863, still in his official capacity as Mayor of Bath, met a party of Maori Chiefs from New Zealand, who were touring the United Kingdom. We know this because The Reverend William Jenkins, who travelled with the Maori party, compiled a souvenir autograph book for them, which includes Thomas Barters name [the list of other signatories can be see at www.nzpictures.co.nz]. The book also contains the name of Randle Wilbraham Falconer MD, “Senior physician Bath United Hospital and physician to the Bath Mineral Water Hospital“, so perhaps they visited one or both of these institutions. Later entries, I’ve noticed, contain comments about the visit, but the residence of Bath simply left their names. What an interesting web of stories!

A Depiction of St. John in Stained Glass, Bath Abbey, Bath.

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bath, Bath Abbey, Biblical quotes, Church of England., Churches, Eagle, Ezekiel, Four Evangelists, Revelation, St John, St John's Gospel, stained glass., symbolism, The Bible

Note the ink well St. John is using.

To quote from Richard Taylor’s, “How To Read a Church“, one of my most thumbed through reference books, “St. Matthew, St. Mark, St. Luke and St. John, each a writer of the four Gospels, are known as the Four Evangelists. Their symbols are, respectively, a man (or angle), a lion (often with wings), a bull or ox (likewise), and an eagle“.

All four symbols are used by the Prophet Ezekiel in the Old Testament, “As for the likeness of their faces, they four had the face of a man, and the face of a lion, on the right side: and they four had the face of an ox on the left side; they four also had the face of an eagle” (Ezekiel 1:10) and The Book of Revelation, “ And the first beast was like a lion, and the second beast like a calf, and the third beast had a face as a man, and the fourth beast was like a flying eagle” (Revelation 4:7).

To quote from Taylor again, “St. John was ascribed the eagle because his Gospel is the most soaring and revelatory, and the eagle in mythology is the only bird able to look directly into the light of the sun“.

Allotment Gardens, Upper Bristol Road, Bath, 28/04/15.

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allotment gardens, allotments, bath, flowers, gardening, green house, Royal Victoria Park Bath, trees, Upper Bristol Road Bath

My sister and I were walking through Royal Victoria Park and I suddenly realised that, beyond the tree lined avenue, were these allotments. I like parks and gardens, but I think allotment gardens have a beauty all of there own.

Photo Archive: “Three Girls Called Jo”, Bath, c.2007.

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3 Girls named Jo, bath, Green Park Tavern Bath, Jazz, notice board, poster, Soul

I never attended this Jazz and Soul Night at “The Green Park Tavern” in Bath, but I’ve often thought about it; I suppose it represents all the things that might have been. After all, it is not very often you find a photograph that reminds you of something you decided not to do!

I wonder if 3 Girls Named Jo are still performing at “The Green Park Tavern“?

Photo Archive: Romano-British hairdo, The Roman Baths, Bath, October 2006.

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bath, British History, Hair and Beauty, Museums, Roman Baths, Roman Britain, Roman occupation, Romano-British, The Roman Baths, The Roman Baths Bath

This is probably my best and favourite photograph from my visit to The Roman Baths. To quote The Roman Baths on-line collection it shows a “Head of a woman, with curls at the front of her head and her hair twisted round in a tight bun at the back. This was a hairstyle very popular with ladies in Rome in Flavian times (69-96 A.D.) and shows that Roman fashionable styles came to Britain early in the Roman occupation” http://www.romanbaths.co.uk/explore/Object_Details.aspx?objectID=batrm_1986_5_14 (click on the link if you want the facts and figures). 

The above photograph might give you a better idea of the size of the thing; it certainly looks larger than life compared to the head of the chap in the foreground!

Bath struck me as a very fashionable place at the time of my visit and it is interesting to think that, even as early as the Roman Occupation of Britain, the people of Bath have been keeping up with the latest trends. It’s been eight years since my visit; have these fancy hairdos come back into fashion, I wonder?

If you would like to know more about The Roman Baths click here:  http://www.romanbaths.co.uk/