In the heart of the spa city of Bath, the abbey raises its façade adorned with angels climbing a ladder towards heaven. Begun in 1499, it is one of the last great Gothic churches built in England — a swan song of the Perpendicular style, completed at the very moment the Reformation was about to overturn everything.
A bishop's dream
At the end of the fifteenth century the old Norman abbey church of Bath was falling into ruin. Bishop Oliver King, it is said, had in a dream a vision of angels ascending and descending a ladder towards heaven, and a voice ordering him to rebuild the church. In 1499 he launched the rebuilding in the pure Perpendicular style, the last great English Gothic style: a soaring nave, immense windows filling almost the whole wall, a fan vault. The west front keeps the memory of the bishop's dream, with its carved angels climbing their ladders of stone. It was an ambitious enterprise, borne by faith and by the wealth of a city of pilgrimage and baths.
Completed on the eve of the break
The building was still in progress when the dissolution of the monasteries came. The abbey was suppressed in 1539, its monks dispersed, its goods seized; the works stopped, and the church, stripped, was nearly lost. It was happily saved: given to the town as a parish church, it was completed later, under Elizabeth I, thanks to gifts. Bath Abbey thus embodies the turning point of the English Renaissance: born as the last great Gothic and monastic dream, it was caught by the Reformation, then saved by the piety of a new England. Its fan vault, completed in the sixteenth century, is among the finest in the kingdom.
What to see
- The west front with its angels climbing the ladder of the bishop's dream.
- The fan vault of the nave, a summit of late Perpendicular Gothic.
- The immense windows that make the church a 'Lantern of the West'.
- The setting of the spa city of Bath, around the abbey.
Did you know?
The façade of Bath Abbey literally illustrates its founder's dream: Bishop Oliver King is said to have dreamed of angels ascending and descending a ladder (an image drawn from Jacob's dream in the Bible), and of a crown of olive — a pun on his own name, Oliver King. On the stone of the front, these angels can still be seen climbing towards heaven: a church born of a dream, and which carved it on its brow.
Practical information
Bath Abbey lies in the heart of Bath, in Somerset, in the south-west of England, a spa city and UNESCO World Heritage Site. It is a working parish church, open to visitors outside services. Hours are liable to change; it is best to check them against the official sources before visiting.
Quiz
- In which style was Bath Abbey rebuilt from 1499?
- Perpendicular Gothic
- Romanesque
- Baroque
- What is Bishop Oliver King said to have seen in a dream?
- Angels climbing a ladder towards heaven
- A red dragon
- The grave of King Arthur
- What nearly happened to the church at the Dissolution?
- It was nearly lost before being saved as a parish church
- It was turned into a fortress
- It was moved stone by stone