Street Lighting
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By Mike Chapman
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The present layout of the High Street originated during the administration of the Bath Turnpike Trust which was authorised by Act of Parliament in 1707. Although it is not possible here to speculate on the appearance of the High Street when it was still under the control of the parish, from entries in the minute books of the Trust it appears to have been somewhat constricted. In 1757, when an extensive programme of improvements to the Lower Bristol Road was carried out, it was reported that the road in front of the George Inn was ‘too narrow for two carriages to pass’ and that the road ‘between the White Hart and the Lane to Mr.Sperrin’s [i.e. to his Mill, now Mill Lane]’ had been widened. Numerous gardens and orchards were set back, and several buildings, including ‘a little baker’s shop’ and (later) ‘a tenement of the Duke of Chandos’ (then a prominent landowner in Twerton) were demolished for road widening. At about this time, James Chilcott ‘of Twerton’ (presumably the builder of ‘Chilcott’s Buildings’ in the High Street) was appointed Surveyor of the Lower Bristol Road for the Trust. There was also a turnpike gate somewhere in the village at the time, but this appears to have become redundant in the 1760s after the Newbridge ‘Cross Post’ gate was installed at Newton St.Loe. 
From details of the road shown on C.Harcourt Master’s map, produced for the Trust in 1786, it can be seen that the street layout created by these works has broadly remained unaltered since then. Even the high pavement in front of the present Full Moon is included, where the main road continued steeply down the hill (now Connection Road, known locally as ‘Big Hill’) towards the Lower Mill and the level stretch beside the river then known as ‘Twerton Flat’. There was however one notable difference from today. At the top of the hill, the lane to Newton St.Loe branched away up the slope in front of the Full Moon through the site of the churchyard, where it passed between a complex of buildings before continuing on through the fields. These buildings, known as Church Row, have long since disappeared, except for a rank of cottages at the western end of the Row which still remain on the opposite side of How Hill, their front gardens now occupying the course of the old lane. At a point between the Church Rooms and the churchyard gate another lane turned off sharply left, passing the church below the eastern wall of the churchyard. This lane (‘Half-acre Lane’ or ‘Watery Lane’), led to the church gate and entrance porch (which stood on the south side before the 19th century), before continuing on up through the fields towards Haycombe and Englishcombe.
Connection Road, which runs through a deep cutting, probably originated as one of the many ancient ‘holloways’ commonly found in the Bath area, created by the combined erosion from downwash and traffic wear. Even today it can be appreciated that this gradient would have presented a daunting obstacle to 18th century traffic (even without the railway arch), and in the 1750s efforts were made to ‘ease the ascent and raise the bottom from the floods’. At the bottom, a slipway to the river was also provided to a watering-place next to the mill. The opinion was then already being expressed that this stretch of road should be diverted along an easier gradient. The next large-scale programme of improvements along the Lower Bristol Road was proposed in 1827, under the direction of John Loudon McAdam, who had been appointed Surveyor General of the Bath Turnpike Trust the previous year. This not only included further road widening, but also the deviation previously proposed at the western end of Twerton Village. The new diversion started at the fork between Connection Road and the old lane to Newton, and following the present course of the road towards How Hill, continued straight on towards Twerton Wood on a more gentle slope to rejoin the original line of the road along ‘Twerton Flat’.
In the process, the buildings on the north side of Newton Lane in Church Row (including a small malthouse) were demolished, all of which belonged to Charles Wilkins. Characteristically, Wilkins arranged to have the lane at the eastern end stopped up, so that he could build some new dwellings next to the houses that remained on the south side. In return, a new lane was opened up from the new road at the bottom of How Hill to maintain access into Newton Lane in front of the How Hill cottages. It also provided the opportunity to replace Watery Lane with a new route from this junction through the site of the western farm complex past the tower of the church. By this means, the west door now became the main entrance instead of the south porch, which was demolished. Although Connection Road was now made redundant, it was retained as a parish road for access to the Lower Mill and Wilkin’s residence next to it. The rest of the road at the bottom of the hill was then closed off and the space used by Wilkins for an ornamental riverside pleasure ground on the west side of his house.
These arrangements however proved to be temporary, as the act was passed in 1834 for the building of the Great Western Railway through the parish. This not only entailed the construction of the viaduct between the High Street and the river, but provision was also made for a new section of turnpike road to be built along the north side of the viaduct as a village ‘bypass’. Three arches were built under the viaduct to connect the High Street with this new road. The main entrance was at the eastern end, where the railway cut directly across the Street, and where Twerton station was built. Another was constructed over Mill Lane, leaving the tail end of the lane (still visible today) leading on to the river on the opposite side of the bypass. At the western end of the Street, ‘Big Hill’ was reconnected with the new road (hence the title ‘Connection Road’), under another arch. The new diversion through Twerton Wood, now redundant, was stopped up and mostly destroyed by the construction of the railway cutting at the approach to the eastern portal of Twerton tunnel. However, the short section leading towards How Hill was retained to maintain access into the lanes to Newton and Englishcombe. In 1838, when Charles Wilkins moved to his new residence in Wood House (his original house by the mill was demolished for the railway) and vacated the site of the western farm, the opportunity was taken to extend How Hill into the farm area in order to replace these lanes (yet again) with the roads which we see today. Newton Road was redirected around the back of the cottages in How Hill, past Hope Cottage, and Watery Lane removed to the west side of the farmyard area which was then sold to the church to extend the churchyard. In the 1870s the turnpike trusts gave way to local authority control, but since the completion of the railway in 1840, the High Street layout has remained unchanged except for alterations to the side roads. The junction with Shophouse Road was widened in 1932 and Dominion Road was opened up for the post-war housing development in 1951. In the early 1970s, the entrance to Clyde Gardens was built opposite.
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By Mike Chapman
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Although road surfaces in the 18th century still consisted of broken stone, the drainage and grading of main roads was already much improved by the turnpike trusts. After J.L.McAdam became General Surveyor to the Bath Turnpike Trust in 1826 the main road would certainly have been ‘macadamised’ with his self-compacting road surfacing (see below), and Twerton High Street could probably claim to be one of the best roadways in the country. Any hard stone material was suitable for this purpose, and Twerton was well endowed with Lias limestone quarries which supplied not only its own needs, but also Bath itself. In 1782, for example, the Trust acquired a half-acre of ground ‘for quarrying stones’ next to the road below Twerton Wood, which remained in use up to the 1830s. It is likely that some ‘foreign’ stone was imported at an early stage, particularly Pennant Sandstone brought up the river from the Hanham area, but this was more expensive and used only for high quality paving slabs, bollards, spur-stones and kerbs. However, the tithe map of 1840 shows two stone wharves belonging to the Trust by the river on the outskirts of the village; one next to Avon Bridge at the end of ‘Twerton Flat’, and another at the end of Feilding’s Road on the site of the later Loxbrook footbridge. This would suggest that larger importation had started of the harder ‘Black Rock’ Carboniferous Limestone from the Bristol Downs which became standard material for macadamised surfacing up to the 20th century.  Early photographs show that by WWI the road surface through the High Street remained much as it was in the 1840s, with macadamised surface and Lias stone gutters and kerbs. However, its relegation to a parish road from this time onward led to a considerable lowering of the standard of maintenance and cleaning. By the end of the 19th century, the village had acquired the unofficial title of ‘Twerton-on-Mud’, and muddy wheel-ruts are clearly evident on several of the old photographs. Even by the 1930s when tar macadam was already extensively in use in the Bath area, the High Street seems to have merely been treated with a coating of tar over the original macadamised surface. It was not until the end of WWII, when new sewers and service conduits were required for the post war housing around the village, that the High Street was completely remade (with the assistance of Italian prisoners of war) with a modern asphalt surface and concrete kerbs. 
'Twerton-on-Mud' 1900s About Macadamisation! John Loudon McAdam (1756-1836) introduced a new system of road surfacing which was universally adopted in this country during the 19th century, and is still used throughout the world today where conditions do not favour the use of tarmac. Later referred to as macadamizing, it consists of a layer of small standard-sized stones, about 2 in. diameter, laid onto a well drained sub-soil. Being the same dimension as the average tyre width of a horse-drawn vehicle, the stones automatically compact under the weight of the traffic, while any stone dust (introduced artificially or by vehicular attrition) is washed into the gaps, producing a mortar-like bond. Not only did this produce a flat and stable surface, but required little maintenance and material.
John Loudon McAdam did not have the opportunity to apply these principles (acquired from a lifetime of observation) until 1816 when he was appointed Surveyor General of the Bristol Turnpike Trust, but within a year the instant success of his system also led to an offer from the Bath Turnpike Trust. Although his report on the Bath roads was adopted, he did not become General Surveyor of the Bath Trust (in partnership with his grandson) until 1826, by which time the advice and services of the McAdam family were required all over the British Isles. J.L.McAdam himself died in 1836, but his grandson William continued to run the Bath Turnpike Trust until his death in 1861. Macadamizing remained the principal road surface until the early 20th century and the introduction of the motor car.
Any local stone was suitable for macadamised roads, but even in McAdam’s time it was already evident that the Carboniferous ‘Black Rock’ limestone found at Clifton (Hotwells) and on the Mendips (Cranmore, Whatley &c.) was more suitable than the local Lias. In 1851, for example, Bath Corporation was ordering ‘..50 barge loads of Black Rock stones from Hotwells, Bristol, to be delivered to the Corporation stone yard’ [City of Bath Act Committee].
The main disadvantage with macadamised surface was that quantities of dust or mud was produced by the attrition of passing traffic. In wet weather this meant that mud had to be scraped from the surface, and in hot weather the road had to be water sprayed or treated with calcium chloride to lay the dust. This became an increasing problem as cars with pneumatic tyres travelling at higher speeds made their appearance, only resolved by the introduction of tar-based surfacing.
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By Mike Chapman
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Pavements and crossings It was general practice in the 18th century for frontagers on a street or road to provide their own ‘pitched’ footwalks (usually constructed of stone blocks or ‘setts’) outside their doors, although the mention of ‘pitching’ in the High Street in the Turnpike Trust minute books for the 1750s may also refer to public ‘causeways’ maintained by the parish overseers. This was already an important feature in Batheaston, for instance, as early as the mid 17th century. However the raised footwalks which are a distinctive feature of the High Street today were evidently part of the road improvement works being introduced by the Trust at that time. A raised pavement has the obvious advantage of protecting pedestrians from spatter thrown up by passing traffic, but their absence in the centre of the village between Shophouse Lane and Mill Lane suggests that this was not the prime reason for their presence elsewhere. The high pavement in front of the Full Moon and Oriel Cottages probably originated as an old causeway built on a natural terrace, but the rest, which ran continuously along the north side between Mill Lane and Clyde House, may have been produced as a result of cutting back the verges during the regrading and widening of the roadway. A raised section which formerly existed between Shophouse Lane and the Station suggests that the paving possibly continued as far as Jew’s Lane before it was buried under the railway. Until this part of the roadway was regraded after WWII, the pavement at the end of this section fell very steeply in front of the arch to provide sufficient headroom through to the lower level of the main road. These high pavements were also provided with a series of flat stones projecting from the wall below the footwalk, most frequently near houses (i.e. towards Chilcott’s Buildings), which served as steps onto the road or as mounting blocks. These were all removed in the 1970s as a traffic hazard. 
The north side of the street seems to have been particularly favoured. By the mid 19th century, the entire length from the Station to Connection Road had a pitched footwalk of some kind, whereas the south side had only short sections outside specific premises, probably built privately. Indeed, until the end of WWII the section between Church Farm and Ivy House, near the pound, merely tapered off like any other country road into the roadside waste. The pitching on the north side was also distinguished by its own attractive pattern of paving, consisting of a central line of small pennant paving slabs supported each side by standard Lias setts. A good example of this can be seen today in the garden path of no.18 High Street. It is noticeable that later modifications to the pavement abandoned this pattern, such as in front of Whitehead’s Buildings, built in the late 1820s. Similarly, the sections of pavement on the south side, all installed at a late stage, i.e. at Church Farm (altered in about 1860), the George Inn and the Crown (rebuilt 1835), and the frontage of the White Hart (rebuilt probably in about 1870), had standard Lias setts only.
There was only one pitched crossing, at the top of Mill Lane, which appears very prominently on early photographs as a continuation of the footwalk between Nelson Place and Chilcott’s Buildings. This also linked up with a pitched footwalk which ran down the west side of Mill Lane. A gas lamp standard was erected in the middle of this junction of crossings, but such an arrangement would not then have presented much of an obstacle as there was little traffic in the Lane until after WWI. Part of the crossing, at the entrance to Twerton Farm Close, was not removed until the 1970s.
The use of asphalt for pavements instead of stone pitching came into use in this area from the 1880s, and several of the later sections seem to have been replaced or covered over by the 20th century. The pavement on the north side of the road between the station and Shophouse Lane, probably laid out with gravel in the 1830s, appears to have been one of the first, as also the path on the north side of How Hill which was probably not built until the 1860s. Other late developments, such as Fernley Terrace (c.1900) and Carlton Terrace (c.1880), which already had raised kerbs but only with only gravel surfaces, were almost certainly asphalted from the outset. The remainder of the pitched footwalks were either replaced or covered over during the 1930s, but several sections, such as in front of the Institute, did not disappear until the 1970s.
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By Mike Chapman
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Until the building of the railway and the new bypass, the High Street was a busy main road, particularly towards the end of the 18th century with the development of stage coaching and the increase in heavy haulage. It is probably for this reason that most of the properties in the High Street that did not front directly onto the road were hidden behind high walls. Nevertheless, this route was often preferred to the Upper Bristol Road, which was more likely to be congested with wagons from the Kingswood collieries. After 1840 however, when ‘through’ traffic ceased, Twerton Village seems to have become a ‘backwater’. Even up to WWII, cattle were still driven along the High Street from the fields in Shophouse Lane to the farm behind Mill Lane, or from the Pound Ground into Church Farm. Nevertheless, as a busy community it was well served with public transport, first by the railway station, followed in 1880 by the early horse buses. Neither of these services however operated from the High Street. The entrance to the Station was from the Lower Bristol Road (until a bridge was provided over the line to the down platform in the 1890s), and the buses (replaced by electric trams in 1904) terminated outside the Railway Hotel opposite the Station. The low railway arch is still an obstacle to high vehicles, but in the days when it conducted two-way traffic, its width was also a cause of traffic obstruction. 
Twerton Station This situation changed dramatically after WWII as a result of the post-war housing developments around the village, which required an extended and more flexible public transport facility. Instead of the railway (the station had already closed in 1917) or trams (replaced by motor buses in 1939), a bus service through the village was provided by single deck buses (No.5A) which could pass under the railway arch. It was therefore at about this time that the present one-way system through the High Street was adopted, using the Station arch as an entrance, and the Mill Lane arch as an exit. Besides the single-deck bus which terminated at Day Crescent, a double deck bus (No.5) continued to operate for a while on the Lower Bristol Road, terminating opposite the archway of Little Hill. Since then there has been virtually no change to the siting of bus-stops in the street.
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By Mike Chapman
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No record has been found relating to street cleaning, but it is likely from comparison with other areas that, until the formation of the District Councils, there was no system of cleaning other than the clearance of obstacles to the free flow of traffic. There is record of street watering being carried out in Twerton by Bath District Council in 1906, but early photographs show that although the macadamised surface of the High Street was scraped to remove surface mud and dust (together with horse and cattle droppings), this was only carried out between long intervals. It was not until the introduction of tar-spraying and tarmac after WWI that Twerton would have benefited from mechanised street sweeping.
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By Mike Chapman
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Although the Bristol Road which followed the river through Twerton was subject, like other parishes on the south side of Bath, to periodic flooding until the recent flood prevention scheme, the village itself was, as might be expected, sited on a terrace above the flood plane. Indeed, the High Street rises some 20 feet between the Station and the top of Connection Road, a total of about 32 feet above the river level (the church itself stands on a ‘knoll’ a further 27 feet above that). However, in the hillside behind the river is a spring-line extending westward from the top of Shophouse Road (in a field formerly known as ‘Springfield’) to the top of ‘Watery Lane’ (and ‘Poolemead’), which in extreme conditions could cause ‘flash floods’. Until the widening of Shophouse Lane and the Hollow in 1932, the torrent flowing down this narrow ‘holloway’ into the High Street could reach a depth of over 2 feet. Similarly, water flowing down into the opposite end from How Hill could make the road above Connection Hill impassable.
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By Mike Chapman
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In common with other villages, Twerton probably had some form of street lighting from oil lamps by the early 19th century. These however would only have been sited at particularly significant sites (e.g. the Church entrance, over front doors of Inns, &c.) and were generally provided privately - a situation which would not have altered when the parish was connected to the gas supply system in 1866. Indeed, when public lighting was first proposed for the principal roads in the parish in 1873 it was firmly rejected by the Select Vestry on account of the additional burden on the rates of the householders. When it was finally adopted in 1888, a series of conventional lantern lamps on standards was installed in the High Street, but only along the north side. There were also a few (probably private) bracket lamps attached to structures such as the Institute gatepost and over the Full Moon door, but none over any of the shops (as generally found in the urban commercial centres).
With the arrival of electricity, a more modern ‘swan-neck’ design was adopted in the 1930s, but there was little alteration in the layout, as the new electrical fittings were merely installed onto the original standards. With the increase in motor traffic, however, the standard at the top of Mill Lane was moved to the opposite side of the road, replacing the Institute lamp, and another by the station arch was moved to the south side by Fernley Terrace. Several standards of this design still remain in the churchyard. Since WWII the introduction of overhead sodium lamps has resulted in the complete reorganisation of the street standards, and the majority are now located on the south side of the road.
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By Mike Chapman
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The village had few street amenities, nor is it likely that the parish had a livery of its own. Street name-plates were introduced in the late 19th century, probably when the numbering system was altered in 1891. The old plates on the corners of Mill Lane and Waterloo Buildings appear to be survivors from this period. The only pre-WWII direction post, indicating ‘to Englishcombe’, was attached to the wall of the house (since demolished) on the west corner of Shophouse Lane. Other old signs include a cast-iron notice prohibiting cycling at the top of Little Hill, and the Turnpike Trust mile stone in the wall next to Rose Cottage. The latter had a distance plate (now missing) marked ‘Guildhall 2 Miles’, which was still marked on maps of the 1930s, but by 1952 is shown as ‘defaced’.
A post-office was established somewhere in the High Street as early as 1811, and in the 1840s and 1850s was run by the Kelson family who appear to have had a haberdasher’s shop in Fern House. After 1857 it was located at Newman’s drapers shop in Providence Place (11 and 12 High Street) until 1891 when it moved to No.1 Mill Lane, where there was a post-box in the front wall. After 1920 the post office disappeared altogether from the High Street when it was re-located to ‘Albany House’ on the corner of Jew’s Lane on the Lower Bristol Road. In the meantime the post-box was removed to the orchard wall next to Chilcott’s Buildings until nos. 26-41 High Street were built on the site in 1963 and it was moved again to its present site in the front wall of Clyde House. The post office returned from Jew’s Lane to the High Street in the 1990s (to the Spar store), together with a pillar box. Phone booths have always been installed away from the High Street, in the adjoining residential areas.
There have never been any fountains, troughs, memorials, or ornamental trees in the High Street, but the public conveniences near the Parade were installed in the early 1950s, and seats have been subsequently provided in front of the Parade and on the corner of Shophouse Lane.
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By Mike Chapman
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Although it is quite probable that the High Street was a scene of activity during the ‘Twerton Revels’ which took place in the 18th century, Twerton was never associated public events such as markets or fairs. In the late 19th century, Twerton had a high reputation for its flower shows, but these were held in the grounds of Wood House and elsewhere. However, popular events such as funfairs which begin to appear from about that time, were always held in the fields adjoining the High Street, on the Pound Ground, or the land on the west side of Ivy Villa. In the 1930s, a more permanent arena was provided in the field behind Ivy Villa when the Bath City Football Ground was established on the site (below Innox Park) in 1933. In the last 20 years the weekly ‘Twerton Market’ established on the car park in front of the football ground has also gained in popularity.
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By Mike Chapman
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- Thomas Thorpe, ‘Five Miles Around Bath’, published 1742, Bath Record Office [BRO]
- C.Harcourt Masters, Bath Turnpike Trust road map, surveyed 1786, Somerset Record Office [SRO] D/T/ba 24
- Jeremiah Cruse, Twerton parish map surveyed in 1807, BRO [with schedule 1825-1837 in SRO]
- Kennet & Avon Canal Extension, Deposited Plan, 1810, SRO Q/RUp 31
- I.K.Brunel, Deposited Plan of the Proposed Great Western Railway, 1833, SRO, RUp 120, with schedule. Note that the railway and new road, as built, takes a course several yards to the south of the proposed alignment shown on the deposited plan.
- Tithe map of Twerton, 1840, SRO D/D/Rt 324, with schedule
- OS 1:500 scale, Sheet XIII.8.15.Bath, surveyed 1884
- OS 1:2,500 scale (County Series), Sheet XIII.8.; editions 1888 (surveyed 1884), 1903, 1932
- OS ST7264 1:2,500 scale, 1952; OS ST7264NE 1:1,250 scale, 1973
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