36 



which he had changed into a priory, and under these circum- 

 stances Bath sank into comparative obscurity and insignifi- 

 cance. The prior left behind, took no pride in his position ; 

 he did nothing but let the buildings go down. Perhaps he 

 had not much more than enough to support Ms house with the 

 necessaries of life, and so he confined himself to promoting 

 the cloth business here, in which he was successful. The 

 Cathedral he let fall into a state of dilapidation, though had 

 there been sufficient revenue probably the old Norman church 

 would have been preserved. Probably it would have been, 

 because we cannot look upon the great spread of Norman 

 architecture in the country places around, except as a reflec- 

 tion of what was doing in Bath — as a consequence and imita- 

 tion of what was doing here. 



In the sixteenth centurj' we come down to times when the 

 Abbey Church was partially restored. In the following — that 

 is, the seventeenth century — there was in Bath and its neigh- 

 bourhood a great architectural era. It does not seem to have 

 spread very widely in church architecture. I am not aware 

 of much of the latter being done in that century, with the 

 exception of the Abbey Church ; and also Swanswick Church, 

 where some windows were put in ; but in country houses, 

 farmhouses, and gentlemen's houses in the neighbourhood, 

 it was a very prolific period of architecture. In fact, the pre- 

 valence of sixteenth and seventeenth century manor houses 

 is the most distinguishing feature of the domestic architecture 

 of this district. They are to be found in Batheaston, St. 

 Catherine, Swanswick, and Englishcombe. We cannot drive 

 in any direction round the country, without coming across 

 these old Elizabethan and Jacobean manor houses. In Bath, at 

 the same date, there was the Guildhall, built by Inigo Jones ; 

 and without doubt there was also here a class of houses equal 

 to any that we now see in the country, if not superior to 

 them. There is now only one remaining, and that is Hetling 



