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Writer's pictureJennifer Abella

Literary Bath

Think Jane Austen was the only author of note with connections to Bath? Think again. We’ve got the lowdown on a few authors with ties to the once-fashionable resort city. To see the map in detail, click here.

Jane Austen

Famous for: Novels such as “Pride & Prejudice.” (But I don’t have to tell you that!)

Bath addresses:  13 Queens Square, 4 Sydney Place, 27 Green Park Buildings, 25 Gay Street.

Connection to Bath: “Northanger Abbey’s” Catherine Morland may have loved back ,but Austen herself didn’t enjoy it. From a letter to sister Cassandra: “Our first view of Bath has been just as gloomy as it was last November twelvemonth.”


Henry Fielding

Famous for: Wrote “Tom Jones.”

Bath address: Lived in Twerton, now part of Bath.

Connection to Bath: He’s said to have written part of “Tom Jones” there. His lodgings have since been demolished.


Sarah Fielding

Famous for: Wrote “The Adventures of David Simple” as well as children’s novels. She’s also Henry Fielding’s sister.

Bath address: She lived at Widcombe Lodge for a time.

Connection to Bath: She was also known to have visited Prior Park.


Charles Dickens

Famous for: Many classic works, including “Great Expectations.”

Bath addresses: Saracen’s Head in Broad Street, 35 St. James’s Square

Connection to Bath: He visited the resort city often and satirized the resort city in “Pickwick Papers.”


Edmund Burke

Famous for: The 18th-century statesman was a great political philosopher.

Bath addresses: Circus House, Bennett Street and the Circus; 11 North Parade.

Connection to Bath: He met his wife while staying at Circus House.


Fanny Burney

Famous for: “Evelina” and other works.

Bath addresses: 14 South Parade, 23 Great Stanhope Street, buried at St Swithin’s Walcot

Connection to Bath: She visited often and, after living in France, lived here for a few years.


Mary and Percy Shelley

Famous for: “Frankenstein” (Mary Shelley), “Ozmandias” (Percy Shelley)

Bath addresses: 5 Abbey Churchyard

Connection to Bath: The two stayed in Bath in 1816. It no longer exists.


Source: Bath.co.uk, Romantic Circles

 

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