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found. It looked down the vista of its shady grounds, through 
the Glen of Widcombe, where a sheet of water is crossed by a 
Palladian bridge, and it provides beautiful views of Lansdown, 
Beckford’s Tower, and Solsbury Hill. 
The building of the mansion was begun in 1743, and finished 
in 1745. Its lofty situation, its magnificent portico, and the 
grandeur of its elevation render it a conspicuous and interesting 
feature from almost every open portion of the City. In Ralph 
Allen’s time Prior Park was a kind of Holland House, where 
many of the celebrities of the day were wont to meet. Pope 
laughingly called the terrace slope at the back and above the 
mansion Mars Hill, owing to the many wits who discussed 
current topics and disputed public questions on its heights. 
To Prior Park came the illustrious visitors staying in Bath, 
such visitors including King George IJ. and his daughter, 
the Princess Amelia. Allen’s constant guests were such men 
as Pitt, afterwards Lord Chatham, Dr. Johnson, Gainsborough, 
Smollett, Fielding, Bishops Warburton and Hurd, Richardson, 
Sterne, Garrick, and the Rev. Richard Graves, the Rector 
of Claverton, a well-known figure in the City. Ralph Allen, 
the owner of Prior Park, was Mayor of Bath in the year 1752. 
By intercepting some letters he rendered signal service 
to the military forces and gained the favour of Marshal Wade, 
the military commander of the Western District. Wade, 
who lived in Bath at the house now used by the British and 
Foreign Bible Society, gave him his daughter, Miss Earle, 
as wife, with a considerable fortune, and soon afterwards 
Allen was appointed Postmaster of Bath. It is also said that 
Marshal Wade had built at his own expense Ralph Allen’s 
first house, which was in Lilliput Lane, said to be a triumph 
of the elder Wood’s architecture, and sold in 1874 for £150 for 
tenant lodgings. The Post Office in Ralph Allen’s time was 
situated in Lilliput Lane. 
Ralph Allen married Elizabeth Holder as his second wife, 
by whom he came possessed of Bathampton Manor. The 
Manor House is still in possession of the Allen family. Having 
no direct issue Ralph Allen’s estates were divided at his death 
in 1764 amongst collaterals. 
Bishop Warburton, by reason of his marriage with Allen’s 
wife’s niece, first took up his abode at Prior Park, but he grew 
tired of the place and finally retired to his palace at Gloucester. 
Warburton, during his stay at Prior Park, erected the 
monument to Ralph Allen in the Monument Field. The 
