It’s hard to think of another English provincial city with more literary associations than Bath. Geoffrey Chaucer chose a Bath citizen to recount one of his Canterbury Tales. Henry Fielding was a regular visitor to 18th-century Bath and transformed the English novel. Regency Bath was brought to life not only by Jane Austen but by her later admirer, Georgette Heyer. Charles Dickens set part of his first novel, The Pickwick Papers, in 19th-century Bath, delighting in the comic characters to be found here.
This walk, led by qualified Blue Badge tour guides, also considers other writers whose connections should be better known and who deserve to be more widely read. Isabel Colegate portrayed a very different Bath of faded splendour after the fashionable had gone. Feminist writer Angela Carter championed recognition of Mary Shelley’s stay in Bath in 1816, during which time Shelley wrote a substantial portion of her ground-breaking novel Frankenstein. Now a successful generation of new writers are emerging from Bath Spa University.
We encounter all these novelists and more, stopping at places that inspired them, from the grandeur of Great Pulteney Street to quiet corners, to discover Bath’s enduring appeal to writers. Organised by Fred Mawer Tours (www.fredmawertours.co.uk).
Start: Outside Bath World Heritage Centre, York Street (BA1 1NH) Finish: The Royal Crescent (BA1 2LR)
Distance: around 1.5 miles
Gentle-paced walking on pavements, with frequent stops
Suitable for wheelchair users
This walk will be repeated several times throughout the festival. When booking you will be asked to select the date and time of the walk you wish to book.
Fred Mawer Tours offers entertaining and informative guided tours of Bath and the South West of England, for individuals and groups. The tours are led by Fred, a Bath resident and award-winning, professional Blue Badge-qualified tour guide, or by another expert local guide. In Bath, tours range from introductory explorations that are ideal for first-timers to the city, to off-the-beaten-track itineraries, and thematic tours such as looking at the city’s all-important spa history, its royal links and TV and film locations.
