United Kingdom-England 4
Bath Abbey
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The present Abbey church as we know it was started around 1499, but was not complete by the time King Henry VIII initiated the Dissolution of the Monasteries in 1539. At this time, the monastery was still occupied and the church which Bishop King had begun was being used daily for prayer and worship. But the monks knew their days were numbered; and on January 27th, 1539, the site was surrendered to the crown.
Similar to the fates suffered by many other great priories and churches during this time, all the valuable parts of the building were taken away, for example the beautiful stained glass windows were ripped out and the roof was stripped for the lead.
The Abbey lay in ruins for more than 70 years. It wasn’t until 1616, that much of the building we see today was repaired and in use as a parish church and over two hundred years later, in the 1830s, that local architect George Manners added new pinnacles and flying buttresses to the exterior and inside, built a new organ on a screen over the crossing, more galleries over the choir and installed extra seating.
The Abbey as we know it is the work of Sir George Gilbert Scott, who from 1864 to 1874, completely transformed the inside of the Abbey to conform with his vision of Victorian Gothic architecture. His most significant contribution must surely be the replacement of the ancient wooden ceiling over the nave with the spectacular stone fan vaulting we see today.
