By Harry Mottram: Looking back it is hard to believe there was a near contempt by many people, councillors and developers for the architecture of the past.
Georgian, Victorian and Edwardian antiques and bric-à-brac didn’t have the same value as they do today while some of the nation’s most famous buildings were levelled in the name of progress.
Euston Arch in London and the Royal Arch in Dundee together with many buildings the Luftwaffe somehow missed during the war were reduced to rubble while in our own city the destruction was chartered in a book: The Sack of Bath. In it Adam Fergusson and Tim Mowl described what they called ‘the collective cultural blindness of those who ran the city’ when ‘artisan Bath’, the buildings in Charles Street and Ballance Street together with the home of the author of Tom Jones – Henry Fielding – all destroyed and replaced with new constructions – some good some not so good but all didn’t have to be knocked down.
Now it is the general rule that historic buildings can be repurposed and renovated to keep their outward appearance and much of their period detail but encompassing the standards of 21st century regulations such as drainage, electricity and other essentials.
The Sack of Bath – And After, shows what has been lost and why we need to retain buildings that chronicle our changing history – and in my view that should also include the 20th and 21st centuries.
Whether it is the pre-war Fire Station or the so-called Brutallist Catholic Church of the Good Shepherd at Batheaston there needs to be more reflection and an attempt to create a new use of the building. Like antiques, architecture comes and goes in fashion and at some stage the buildings of the 60s and 70s which are seen as eyestores will be appreciated by future generations.
It’s difficult to believe that a riverside motorway along the River Avon was proposed taking out places like Chatham Row without any thought for the pedestrian, cyclist or wheelchair or mobility scooter user. The book opens with some lines by the poet John Betjeman who was to save more buildings through his campaigning and his Nooks and Crannies column in Private Eye. He penned:
“Goodbye to old Bath. We who loved you are sorry,
They’ve carted you off by developer’s lorry.”
The Sack of Bath – And After, by Adam Fergusson and Tim Mowl is available from the Central Library (a late 1980s complex which includes Waitrose.) The photo is from the book.
Bath Voice Monthly Newspaper is distributed free to thousands of homes and some supermarkets – distributed from the first of the month. Harry Mottram is the News Editor
Email him at news@bathvoice.co.uk Bath website: https://bathvoice.co.uk/news/
Bath Facebook: https://tinyurl.com/bdtf2kep Also on Twitter: https://twitter.com/bath_voice And Bluesky @bathvoicenews.bsky.social And also on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/harrymottram6/
Read the newspaper online at :https://issuu.com/bathvoice
To advertise to thousands of Bathonians call Shaun on 07540 383870 or email him on sales@bathvoice.co.uk