68 



gutters, water courses, and stone bridges between the city of I3ath 

 and the town of Bristol, which by constant flux and reflux of 

 the sea, and inundations and encroachments of the water, and 

 neglect of reparation were greatly damaged and broken.* 

 Beyond the above facts there is, however, no further special 

 allusion to Bath. 



These notes clear the way for understanding the early maps. 

 With a little imagination, a little filling-in of domestic habits and 

 domestic events, a fairly clear image of the city is seen, including 

 " The " bath, for the first time back to the Conquest. Whatever 

 the condition in which the walls and the city were left after 

 the damage of 1088, both were perfect in 1138, in the time of 

 Stephen. After this there seems to have been a general easy 

 neglect, until during the absence of Henry III., say after 1235, 

 heavy damage was actually done, as declared in 1273, when the 

 walls appeared waste and the stones the common property of any 

 who chose to take them. So all remained yet another ninety odd 

 years, until 1369, when the great reparation was ordered and the 

 ditches cleared. To this date, 1369, we may feel inclined to 

 assign the using up of the Eoman stones, recorded by Leland 

 some 250 years later, as seen by him in the walls ; and, after 

 another repairing, these would be the walls seen by "The Most 

 Illustrious Lord the Lord Richard " when he was in Bath in July, 

 1658. Thus the mediaeval period passes, and we come to a time 

 with which we are more in touch, a time more readily under- 

 standed of aU men, the time of the view or plan now to be 

 considered. 



Giving this plan a glance, it is seen not to be exact, as it shows 

 the Abbey church without the Abbey or Priory house. The 

 grounds around the church are represented as all grass, unfor- 

 tunately so, as Leland writing some thirty-five years earlier, 

 records that " a great square tower with other ruins " of the once 



* Pat. 5 Hem-y V., m. 34, dors. 



