“Space in a townhouse was limited,” proclaims a handout sheet in the scullery. As a curator of a museum accommodated within a 1730s London townhouse I can identify with that. It seems that 40 years later even the most fashionable new-builds in Bath were still lacking in adequate back-room facilities.
A visit to No. 1 Royal Crescent, which reopened in the summer, is all about experiencing additional space. The historic house, a museum since 1970, and its original servants’ wing (No 1A, purchased by the Bath Preservation Trust in 2006) have been reunited, allowing “The Whole Story” to be told.
Ticket facilities and visitor services, including a much-needed lift, have been squeezed into the former open court separating the two properties.
Mrs Hale
A large external sign invites visitors to “step into the past at one of England’s finest Georgian houses”. The recommended route requires you to step right out again to head for the main front door where Mrs Hale, the housekeeper, greets every visitor. At least we are not relegated to the tradesman’s entrance.
With only limited seating in the former Coach House, I recommend you view the introductory film online before you travel. Cartoonist Adrian Teal has exploited the local tradition of silhouettes, known at the time as “profiles” or “shades”, to present characters from the house in the time of its first resident, Henry Sandford, who lived here from 1776-1796.
Chamber pot
Such houses in Bath were generally leased on a short-term basis for the season. No 1, the last house in the Crescent to be completed, was therefore unusual for being occupied for longer periods.
In this sense, the decision to concentrate on Sandford’s life at home risks distracting visitors from the building’s central place in John Wood the Younger’s grand architectural scheme.
Approaching the ticket office on the corner means some people will enter the property before even seeing his Crescent’s magnificent Palladian sweep.
Fortunately, there are opportunities to see this from vantage points along the tour. I recommend the view of the Crescent from the Gentleman’s Bedroom and also the vista across the lawn from the Gentleman’s Retreat – visitors can even look at this through an antique telescope.
The 10 rooms are staffed by keen stewards although their enthusiasm sometimes seemed excessively scatological during my visit. In the Parlour, the first room on the tour, the steward was anxious to draw attention to the chamber pot.
Across the hallway in the Dining Room the steward wanted to tell me what bodily functions went on behind the leather screen.
Engaging interpreters
This Horrible Histories approach to interpretation (and yes, the Gorgeous Georgians volume in that series is for sale) does reveal another, dirtier, side to life in the city of hot springs. Using each room to deliver short demonstrations in, for example, the use of the penknife, is effective because of the engaging first-person interpreters.
But I was surprised that, after such an expensive makeover, much of the additional interpretation, such as the satirical prints showing ridiculous wigs, was in the form of dog-eared colour photocopies. The Scullery has a blank wall space that could be used for a text panel to present information on the life of the maidservants.
As little of the original contents of the house survives, the rooms contain many period loan items from the Victoria and Albert Museum, the National Portrait Gallery and, closer to home, Bath’s Holburne Museum.
The most successful example of this, on the ground floor, is the portrayal of the amateur scientific interests of a late-18th century gentleman in the Retreat.
This theme is carried further in the staircase hall where a modern re-creation of a cabinet of curiosities showcases loans from the Bath Royal Literary and Scientific Society, which is surely one of Bath’s least appreciated collections.
The newly configured space is put to best use in the basement. The Servants’ Hall, now a learning space for schools, used to be the museum for the Sir Hugh Roberts Kitchen Collection, purchased in 1984.
It is far better that this topic can now be interpreted in the actual kitchen space, part of No 1A, although that kitchen is early 19th century and thus the conceit of visiting in Sandford’s time is overlooked for this part of the tour.
It effectively conveys the simple point that a townhouse had a kitchen much more cramped than country houses. It is also remarkable that some of the original fittings survived in this room despite subsequent changes of use.
Commercial opportunity
Returning upstairs to the Andrew Brownsword temporary exhibition gallery, I enjoyed the displays on the restoration project and other former residents. Changing shows in this space are intended to attract repeat visitors.
However, I think it would be a pity if these topics do not find some permanent coverage, although the few items to be found here associated with the Sandford family itself are clearly only available for short-term loan.
The most disappointing aspect is the Georgian Shop where, despite a concentration on sympathetic shelf-design, suitable product selection appears to have been overlooked. There are very few exclusive gifts, other than mugs, and much memorabilia connected to the period of Jane Austen’s stay in Bath (which was not a golden period for No. 1).
I heard people complaining at the lack of any postcards of the rooms and of any guidebook, although all visitors do receive a mini-guide as part of their ticket.
An indiscreet steward explained that the shop lacked a stock room. It seems that the 21st-century space planners in Bath have overlooked a golden opportunity to clean up.
Neil Handley is the museum curator at the College of Optometrists, London
A visit to No. 1 Royal Crescent, which reopened in the summer, is all about experiencing additional space. The historic house, a museum since 1970, and its original servants’ wing (No 1A, purchased by the Bath Preservation Trust in 2006) have been reunited, allowing “The Whole Story” to be told.
Ticket facilities and visitor services, including a much-needed lift, have been squeezed into the former open court separating the two properties.
Mrs Hale
A large external sign invites visitors to “step into the past at one of England’s finest Georgian houses”. The recommended route requires you to step right out again to head for the main front door where Mrs Hale, the housekeeper, greets every visitor. At least we are not relegated to the tradesman’s entrance.
With only limited seating in the former Coach House, I recommend you view the introductory film online before you travel. Cartoonist Adrian Teal has exploited the local tradition of silhouettes, known at the time as “profiles” or “shades”, to present characters from the house in the time of its first resident, Henry Sandford, who lived here from 1776-1796.
Chamber pot
Such houses in Bath were generally leased on a short-term basis for the season. No 1, the last house in the Crescent to be completed, was therefore unusual for being occupied for longer periods.
In this sense, the decision to concentrate on Sandford’s life at home risks distracting visitors from the building’s central place in John Wood the Younger’s grand architectural scheme.
Approaching the ticket office on the corner means some people will enter the property before even seeing his Crescent’s magnificent Palladian sweep.
Fortunately, there are opportunities to see this from vantage points along the tour. I recommend the view of the Crescent from the Gentleman’s Bedroom and also the vista across the lawn from the Gentleman’s Retreat – visitors can even look at this through an antique telescope.
The 10 rooms are staffed by keen stewards although their enthusiasm sometimes seemed excessively scatological during my visit. In the Parlour, the first room on the tour, the steward was anxious to draw attention to the chamber pot.
Across the hallway in the Dining Room the steward wanted to tell me what bodily functions went on behind the leather screen.
Engaging interpreters
This Horrible Histories approach to interpretation (and yes, the Gorgeous Georgians volume in that series is for sale) does reveal another, dirtier, side to life in the city of hot springs. Using each room to deliver short demonstrations in, for example, the use of the penknife, is effective because of the engaging first-person interpreters.
But I was surprised that, after such an expensive makeover, much of the additional interpretation, such as the satirical prints showing ridiculous wigs, was in the form of dog-eared colour photocopies. The Scullery has a blank wall space that could be used for a text panel to present information on the life of the maidservants.
As little of the original contents of the house survives, the rooms contain many period loan items from the Victoria and Albert Museum, the National Portrait Gallery and, closer to home, Bath’s Holburne Museum.
The most successful example of this, on the ground floor, is the portrayal of the amateur scientific interests of a late-18th century gentleman in the Retreat.
This theme is carried further in the staircase hall where a modern re-creation of a cabinet of curiosities showcases loans from the Bath Royal Literary and Scientific Society, which is surely one of Bath’s least appreciated collections.
The newly configured space is put to best use in the basement. The Servants’ Hall, now a learning space for schools, used to be the museum for the Sir Hugh Roberts Kitchen Collection, purchased in 1984.
It is far better that this topic can now be interpreted in the actual kitchen space, part of No 1A, although that kitchen is early 19th century and thus the conceit of visiting in Sandford’s time is overlooked for this part of the tour.
It effectively conveys the simple point that a townhouse had a kitchen much more cramped than country houses. It is also remarkable that some of the original fittings survived in this room despite subsequent changes of use.
Commercial opportunity
Returning upstairs to the Andrew Brownsword temporary exhibition gallery, I enjoyed the displays on the restoration project and other former residents. Changing shows in this space are intended to attract repeat visitors.
However, I think it would be a pity if these topics do not find some permanent coverage, although the few items to be found here associated with the Sandford family itself are clearly only available for short-term loan.
The most disappointing aspect is the Georgian Shop where, despite a concentration on sympathetic shelf-design, suitable product selection appears to have been overlooked. There are very few exclusive gifts, other than mugs, and much memorabilia connected to the period of Jane Austen’s stay in Bath (which was not a golden period for No. 1).
I heard people complaining at the lack of any postcards of the rooms and of any guidebook, although all visitors do receive a mini-guide as part of their ticket.
An indiscreet steward explained that the shop lacked a stock room. It seems that the 21st-century space planners in Bath have overlooked a golden opportunity to clean up.
Neil Handley is the museum curator at the College of Optometrists, London
Project data
- Cost £5m
- Main funders Brownsword Charitable Foundation £2.1m; Heritage Lottery Fund £1.4m; Foyle Foundation; The Wolfson Foundation; Medlock Charitable Trust; Elizabeth Cayzer Trust; Garfield Weston Foundation; Bath and North East Somerset Council; Bath Preservation Trust Members, other individuals, charitable trusts and organisations.
- Project coordinator Nicola Watt
- Interpretation and exhibition designer David McCabe
- Architect (lead consultant) Simon Morray Jones
- Contractor Ken Biggs
- Interpretation lighting Simon Knight, Lux Lucis
- Display cases Armour Systems
- Specialist joinery Realm Projects
- Audiovisual Simolab
- Graphics Jackie Baines Studio
- Archaeologist Peter Davenport
- Heritage consultant Ainslie Ensom
- Paint researcher Lisa Oestreicher
- Kitchen historian Peter Brears
- Mechanical and electrical engineer Martin Thomas Associates
- Structural engineer Mann Williams
- CDM coordinator LHC
- Cost and contract adviser Stenning & Co
- Building control service Buckley-Lewis Partnership
- Specialist security adviser Gough Consultants
- Website design Ice House Design
- No. 1 Royal Crescent, Bath, offers free entry to members of the Museums Association
