St Mary's Church, Bathwick (also called Bathwick Old Church) was a parish church in

Bathwick Bathwick is an area and electoral ward in the city of Bath, in the Bath and North East Somerset district, in the ceremonial county of Somerset, England, on the opposite bank of the River Avon to the historic city centre. The district became pa ...

in the city of

Bath Bath may refer to: * Bathing, immersion in a fluid ** Bathtub, a large open container for water, in which a person may wash their body ** Public bathing, a public place where people bathe * Thermae, ancient Roman public bathing facilities Plac ...

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

. The church was demolished in 1818. Its parish was succeeded by St Mary the Virgin's Church, Bathwick on Church Road at the base of Bathwick Hill. Its churchyard is currently contained in that of St John the Baptist's Church, Bathwick. Medieval in origin, it was recorded in May 1815 as being merely 64 feet long, 17 feet wide with room for 130 people seated. It featured a dominant Early English tower, a

nave The nave () is the central part of a church, stretching from the (normally western) main entrance or rear wall, to the transepts, or in a church without transepts, to the chancel. When a church contains side aisles, as in a basilica-type ...

and

chancel In church architecture, the chancel is the space around the altar, including the Choir (architecture), choir and the sanctuary (sometimes called the presbytery), at the liturgical east end of a traditional Christian church building. It may termi ...

and large nearly triangular

buttress A buttress is an architectural structure built against or projecting from a wall which serves to support or reinforce the wall. Buttresses are fairly common on more ancient (typically Gothic) buildings, as a means of providing support to act ...

es. By the

Georgian era The Georgian era was a period in British history from 1714 to , named after the House of Hanover, Hanoverian kings George I of Great Britain, George I, George II of Great Britain, George II, George III and George IV. The definition of the Geor ...

, it was fast becoming a ruin. With William Pulteney's purchase of the Manor of Bathwick estate in 1727, the Pulteneys wished to relieve themselves of the small ruin on their estate, but waited until they had developed the property. By 1814, the new parish church of St Mary the Virgin, Bathwick at the base of Bathwick Hill was completed. The designer of that church, John Pinch the Elder, was shortly employed by the Pulteney family to demolish the medieval Mary's, then called Bathwick Old Church, which he carried out in January 1818. Many of the stones, as well as the altar, pulpit and roof timbers, were recycled to construct St Mary the Virgin Parish Church's new mortuary chapel, which was also designed by Pinch the Elder. However, this new chapel never was licensed to perform marriages and only occasionally performed funerals and baptisms. It is now bricked in, abandoned, and thoroughly decrepit. The churchyard and many of the burial plots of Bathwick Old Church still exists in St John the Baptist, Bathwick Churchyard. The east end of the Victorian church of St John's now occupies the west end tower location of Bathwick Old Church. The entirety of St. John's was designed to fit in the old church's space.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Saint Mary's Church, Bathwick Bathwick, St Mary's Church History of Bath, Somerset Churches in Bath, Somerset 1818 disestablishments Former Church of England church buildings Buildings and structures demolished in 1818 Demolished buildings and structures in Somerset