Venue Type & Location
Performance Spaces
Overview
The medieval guildhall is known to have existed in Boatstall Lane near the East Gate by the mid-14th c.
The hall was on the ground floor with the dais at the S end. The kitchen was located at the N end of the hall with a council chamber on the floor above beside a small armoury. By the later 16th c. the building exterior was whitewashed and the roof tiled.
Performance History
As the seat of civic government and centre for festive occasions, Bath's guildhall was probably the venue for most performances by touring entertainers before the mayor and city officials before 1625.
Current Status
History of the Venue
1355 Guildhall first mentioned in a deed.
1625 Guildhall relocated to the market house in High Street. The old hall converted for use as a shambles, its single gable dismantled and replaced by a double-gabled upper storey.
Record Source
REED Somers 1.10--26
Patrons who owned this venue
[No data found.]
Bibliographic Sources
- Bird, Stephen. 'The Earliest Map of Bath.'. Bath History 1 (1986): 128--49.
- Davenport, Peter. Medieval Bath Uncovered. Stroud: Tempus, 2002
- Guidott, Thomas. A Discourse of Bathe and the Hot Waters There. London: Henry Brome, 1676
- Holland, Elizabeth. 'The Earliest Bath Guildhall.'. Bath History 2 (1988): 163--79.
- Holland, Elizabeth, and Mike Chapman. Bath Guildhall and its Neighbourhood: 800 Years of Local Government. Bath: Survey of Old Bath, 2000
- Page, William, and R.W. Dunning, eds. The Victoria History of the County of Somerset. 4 vols. London; Oxford: Constable [vols 1--2]; Oxford UP [vols 3--8], 1906--12 [vols 1--2]; 1974--2004 [vols 3--8]
- Pevsner, Nikolaus. North Somerset and Bristol. Harmondsworth, Midd: Penguin Books, 1973
- Tittler, Robert. Architecture and Power: The Town Hall and the English Urban Community c. 1500–1640. Oxford: Clarendon P, 1991
- Wroughton, John. Stuart Bath: Life in a Forgotten City 1603–1714. Bath: The Lansdown P, 2004