Chasing Jane, Chapter Seven: Putting Bath On The Map

After Laura Place, I wind my way through town back toward where I started. Along the way I am introduced to various buildings of importance during Georgian England.

One such place is the Royal Mineral Water Hospital. During Jane Austen's time, it was more or less a boarding house of sorts, though they called it a hospital. Those sick too poor to pay for lodgings in Bath could stay at the Hospital for as long as needed to drink the waters in hopes of being healed.

English patients paid £1 and Scottish patients £2. This wasn't to cover the cost of their stay, as the Hospital was supported by other means, the money was to pay for their return trip home. One way or the other.

The Royal Mineral Water Hospital is still a hospital today. Only the healing work that goes on inside is much more successful. Today's Hospital is renowned for it's work with rheumatic diseases.

Just beyond the hospital, basking in the sun, is the house of Beau Nash, Master of Ceremonies for Bath during Jane Austen's time. He was the man most responsible for putting Bath on the map. His home is a glorious example of Georgian architecture in creamy Bath stone.

Immediately to the left of Beau Nash's home is the Theatre Royal. The cream of Bath society would often attend the theatre in the evenings to watch whatever play was being performed. Plays are still performed at the Theatre Royal. Many of them premier in Bath before being moved to London's West End.

The narrator informs me we are about to talk a stroll up the Gravel Walk, written about by Jane in the novel Persuasion. He leads me back up the hill. The day is getting quite warm, so I pause to shrug off my jacket and stuff it in my bag. A quick look around and I realize my hope of Bath remaining a peaceful, sleepy town have been sadly dashed. The streets aren't just teeming with tourists, they're crammed, squished, squeezed and packed. Ook.

Feeling somewhat better with my jacket off and a cool breeze teasing at my hair, I continue up the hill, past Queen's Square with its Egyptian Obelisk. Just past the Jane Austen Centre, I turn left and cross the street. Strangely enough, it is also jammed with tourist, these in cars and not particularly careful about who they run over.

A short way down the street is a set of wide stairs to my right. The narrator assures me they lead to the Gravel Walk. As he begins to read a section from Persuasion, I slowly walk up the steps and place my right foot onto the gravel path....