The Parade occupies what was originally a triangular piece of glebe pasture ground or orchard, hidden behind a high wall, which extended from Church Farm to the site of Dominion Road where there was a farm gate leading into the fields. On the upper side, adjoining a large field called the ‘Pound Ground’, it was bounded by a small stream which ran down to the field gate and disappeared under the road. Some time between 1807 and 1840 the ground became a market garden, with a cottage built in the middle towards the eastern end.

At the extreme eastern end also there was a small walled enclosure which served as the village pound. This does not seem to have been the original site, as there is record in 1802 of consent being given by the Vestry for the pound to be removed from the ‘corner of Twerton [Upper] Mills Garden’ to some ‘other convenient place’ provided agreement was obtained from the Lord of the Manor. However, in front of the pound, next to the gate, was a small windowless lock-up building known as the ‘Blind House’ which is already referred to as ‘old’ in 1840. There are references to this building in the 18th century, but its arched entrance, studded plank door, and angled corners, suggest an even earlier origin. In the 1890s the lock-up was enlarged on the west side for a cart shed, and provided with a new roof and east-west gables, probably at the time when the pound was taken over by the Bath District Council for a contractor’s yard.

The glebe garden together with the cottage, pound and lock-up was cleared in 1951 for the Quebec housing development. The field entrance was replaced by Dominion Road and the area now occupied by the Parade was also excavated and walled, although it remained an empty building plot until construction began in 1958.