Bus Challenge No 89!!

Camden Crescent, Bath

Camden Crescent was built by John Eveleigh in 1788, but as you can see, the central feature of the crescent is no longer in the middle. In trying to find out why, I’ve come across two explanations from two different sources. One explanation is that the crescent was originally planned as 32 houses but the developers ran out of money before the crescent was complete, whilst the second source states that in 1889 a landslide demolished 9 houses at the east end of the crescent. I’m afraid I’ll have to leave you to decide which explanation is true as I cannot find a definitive answer… But what I can tell you is that in Jane Austen’s novel ‘Persuasion’, the Elliot family rent lodgings on Camden Place as the Crescent was then known.


So finally back on the bus trail, after over a month! But as I still wasn’t bursting with energy, I went for a gentle option. I let my Bus Challenge friend, who knows Bath like the back of her hand, lead me on a walk around the Camden and Walcot areas of the city, and more importantly I let a bus take me to the top of the hills above Bath so that the 3 mile walk was all downhill!!

I discovered lots of corners of Bath that I never knew existed, including St Swithins Church where Jane Austen’s parents were married, and where her father, Rev George Austen, is buried. But the most interesting snippet of the city’s history was told to us by a lady we met walking her dog in a park near the church. Last Summer her dog was digging and unearthed a bone, which after a full-blown Police investigation turned out to be one of many human bones buried under the park as the dog had discovered the site of a mass burial of bubonic plague victims! It all happens in Bath!!

Total bus journey times = 1 hr 15 mins
Total waiting in between buses time = 15 mins
Total journey time = 1 hour 30 mins