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The Great Terraces And Luxury Hotels Bath Saw Damaged In WW2
Undeniably one of our finest Roman towns, Bath is notable for its consistent prettiness. Where many British towns and cities have attractive quarters, they are usually let down by some monstrous piece of post war architecture. Despite being hit by 3 Luftwaffe raids from 27 of April 1942, the city retains much of its pre war glory. Luxury hotels in Bath, as well as the stunning centrepiece cathedral and many other buildings remain standing.
Unlike so many beautiful buildings that were destroyed by German aerial bombardment in the UK, the powers that be in Bath chose to rebuild damaged Georgian terraces, Assembly Rooms and luxury hotels. Bath enjoys the kind of buildings which could quite conceivably have been restored in London, Birmingham, Glasgow, Cardiff - and many of the other towns and cities that received bomb damage between 1939 and 1945.
The bombing of the noted Royal Crescent, Paragon and Circus as well as luxury hotels in Bath formed part of the Baedecker raids (or Baedecker Blitz). This was a set of raids mounted by the German Air Force in retaliation of the British Royal Air Force's bombing of historic German towns previously. The Royal Air Force wanted to experiment with a high intensity incendiary attack, and chose the historic and beautiful timbered town of Lubeck. 62 percent of the town was destroyed by the raid, which hit a corridor 300 metres wide. Rostock was also hit along with more high profile targets.
They were called the Baedeker Raids by the British because it is thought the raids were orchestrated by selecting picturesque British cities from the Baedeker tourist guide. The first city to be struck be these revenge bombings was Exeter, followed by Bath, then Norwich, York and finally Canterbury. All of these cities retain much of their original charm despite the bombardments. The human cost was high, however, with 1637 deaths and a similar number injured. 50,000 houses were put beyond use.
Bath, like many German cities, chose to rebuild this war damage. Dresden is a notable example of this rebuilding - focussing on the Frauenkirche, which was little more than a pile of rubble by the end of February 1945. Dresden rebuilt various buildings such as churches and luxury hotels. Bath might be considered to be one of cities in Britain that fared best out of the war, due to its forward thinking reconstruction policies.
Although British cities seem to be lacking the kind of archtiecture we might expect from such a ancient land, World War Two gave cities like London the excuse to experiment with architecture. You could not erect structures like the 'Gherkin' or Tower 42 in the old centre of Paris or Rome - but due to the Blitz - new buildings have been given more scope in London.
Today we can all enjoy cities such as old Bath, and its seamless joining between old architecture and that which looks pretty old, be it Georgian terraced houses in majestic crescents or luxury hotels. Bath has a great deal of history stretching back to the days of the Romans, who thought it would be nice to put some warm indoor baths here. How lucky we all are that they did.
About the Author Anna Stenning is an expert on luxury hotels in Bath having written about fine hotels in cities across Britain.
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