Bear Flat
Bear Flat is an area of Bath, England, to the south of the city centre and to the west of Beechen Cliff (a hill and beauty spot featuring in Jane Austen's Northanger Abbey. The Wellsway (A367) to Shepton Mallet, runs through Bear Flat. Originally this was a main pilgrimage route from Bath, with its abbey, towards Wells and Glastonbury.
'Flat' may be derived from the flatness of the land, contrasting with most of Bath, which is very hilly. 'Bear' has nothing to do with the animal but is believed to be a contraction of an Anglo-Saxon name 'Berwick' - 'Ber' meaning Barley and 'Wick' being a settlement - a settlement near a barley field.[1] Such a field would have been part of Barrack farm, demolished in the 19th century to make way for housing.
Location
To reach Bear Flat from the centre of Bath, the original route was up the steep street of Holloway (either the 'holy way', or a way hollowed out as it climbs around the shoulder of Beechen Cliff), which bears a 14th century pilgrims' church and holy well (recently restored but without water). In the 19th century another road was built with a gentler slope, now called Wells Road but named on some early maps simply as the Wells-Exeter Road. Holloway is no longer open to traffic at the north end: vehicles now take the Wells Road road out of Bath towards Radstock, while pedestrians and cyclists can still follow Holloway up the hill.
At the top of the hill to the east of Bear Flat is Alexandra Park, which affords stunning views over the city. Further to the east runs the Widcombe valley with Georgian buildings. To the south is the deep wooded valley of Lyncombe Vale, formerly the route of the Bath branch of the Somerset and Dorset Railway, and Combe Down Tunnel which was for long the longest unventilated rail tunnel in Britain. This tunnel, together with the shorter Devonshire Tunnel, are to be reopened as part of the Two Tunnels Greenway forming part of the National Cycle Network. Central Bath is to the north.
Buildings and Services
The Georgians built at either end of Bear Flat: at Devonshire Buildings to the south, and Beechen Cliff to the north. The main estate of Poets Corner is a late Victorian and Edwardian district of large terraced houses and forms a part of the wider City of Bath conservation area. Poets Corner comprises four avenues (Shakespeare, Milton, Kipling and Longfellow), which all lead directly perpendicular from the Wellsway) with Chaucer Road running through the estate parallel to Wellsway. Other 'Poet' locations include Byron Road and Shelley Road. Other streets include Devonshire Place, Attewell Place (formerly Cross's Yard) and Greenway Court.
The area at the top of the hill where the Wells Road meets Holloway and becomes the Wellsway has been a local commercial centre for some time. Before the Second World War it included various shops including a bank and a chemist. During the Second World War, Bear Flat was targeted in the 'Baedeker' raids on the city of Bath, and damage was done to the area near the junction of the Wellsway and Holloway, images of which can be seen at The Bath Blitz Memorial Site. Some of the modern shops are in premises that have been rebuilt since the war.
Bear Flat still has a range of shops, including a small Co-operative supermarket, another local convenience store which includes a sub post office, Andrews and Mark Naylor estate agents, Rolfeys Antique Shop, a mobile phone shop, a branch of Majestic Wine, Da Vinci's delicatessen, the Real Meat Company butcher's shop, a chemist, a florist and a charity shop. For people who wish to eat in Bear Flat there is a pizza take-away, a Bangladeshi restaurant and a restaurant, Da Vinci who provides coffee and lunch in his shop, Menu Gordon Jones, whose owner/chef is gaining both local and national accolades. Finally, there are two pubs, the Bear (now a gastro-pub) and the Devonshire Arms which also serves food. The Bear pub was formerly a brewery and public house but was severely damaged by a bomb in the Second World War and subsequently demolished - the current pub is post-war and features a large polar bear on its front roof. The Beechen Cliff Methodist Church is at the bottom of Shakespeare Avenue, with Bruton Community Hall and the Bear Flat Pre-school to the rear in Bruton Avenue. There are a number of bed and breakfast businesses attracted by the area's easy access to the city centre, together with a double glazing showroom and building company on the east side of the Wellsway. The Royal Photographic Society, which had imposing national headquarters at Milsom Street in the city centre, moved in 2006 to the fringe of the Bear Flat shopping area.
Artists and Crafts People Living in Bear Flat
In the area live a number of artists and crafts people, including painters, potters/ceramicists, sculptors, jewellers and photographers. Every year they organise an Open Studios event over the Spring Bank Holiday weekend, in the course of which numerous homes are opened and work displayed; much of this work is also for sale - see Bear Flat Artists.
Bear Flat 1911 Census
A study is currently being undertaken of Bear Flat and its inhabitants 100 years ago. For more information see Bear Flat 1911 Census Survey
Bear Flat Community Association
On the 22nd of June 2012 a meeting was held to launch a new Bear Flat Association. For more information contact Bear Flat Association
References
- ^ Elliott, Kirsten T. (2003). Bath Pubs. Akeman Press. ISBN 978-0-9546138-0-8.
{{cite book}}: Unknown parameter|coauthors=ignored (|author=suggested) (help)