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Bishop Baines added collegiate buildings and heightened 
the wings, and called the whole “ The College of St. Peter 
and St. Paul.” After referring to the disastrous fire which 
broke out in the mansion on.May aogth, 1836, Mr. 
Richardson said that the property was insured for £5,000, 
but this did not nearly cover the loss. Bishop Baines 
befcre his death in 1843, succeeded in repairing the damage 
and in re-furnishing the mansion, but the many debts 
contracted made it a very difficult task to keep the estab- 
lishment going, and in 1855 the mortgagee took possession 
and the park was then let to a Mr. Thompson, of Bath, who 
took a great interest in the social side of Nonconformity in 
Bath, and entertained large pleasure parties at Prior Park, 
which he addressed himself from the steps of the portico. 
In 1865 the liabilities of the property were paid off by Bishop 
Clifford, and Monsignor Williams (whose portrait with that 
of Canon Williams now adorns the hall of the mansion) was 
made head of the new collegiate establishment, with Canon 
Williams as Vice-President. 
When the lamented death of Monsignor Williams took place 
in 1890 the office of Principal fell to Canon Williams, who 
carried on the work of the establishment with great success 
until 1905, when, owing to certain educational changes, it was 
relinquished. This was during the episcopacy of Bishop 
Brownlow. The mansion has since been used as a temporary 
residence of the present Bishop of Clifton, and later still as 
the temporary abode of the fathers of ‘‘ The Holy Ghost,” a 
French Missionary congregation. The buildings are now 
unoccupied and placed under the care and supervision of Canon 
Williams, who resides at Combe Down. Canon Williams 
says Masses at the Chapel on Sundays. Visitor can obtain 
tickets to visit the college from Mr. Austin King, 13, Queen 
Square, Bath. 
The quarries on Combe Down are said to be the largest 
in the world, and in order to bring the stone to Bath Ralph 
Allen made a double truck rail to his wharf at Claverton 
Street, down Prior Park Avenue. In former days the first 
gate of Prior Park Avenue was placed at the bottom of Prior 
Park Road, opposite Carey’s Post Office, near the White Hart 
Inn. Bishop Baines, owing to the falling in of a long lease 
from the Bennetts, of Widcombe, to Ralph Allen for the use 
of Prior Park Road, took this gate up and made the gate 
attached to the Toll Cottage, when a small charge was made for 
