- Royal Crescent
The Royal Crescent is a notable residential road of 30 houses, laid out in a crescent, in the city of Bath,
England . It was designed by the architectJohn Wood the Younger and built between1767 and1774 . It is amongst the greatest examples ofGeorgian architecture to be found in theUnited Kingdom and is a grade Ilisted building . [cite web | title=Royal Crescent | work=Images of England | url=http://www.imagesofengland.org.uk/search/details.aspx?id=447275 | accessdate=2006-11-14] Together with his fatherJohn Wood, the Elder , John Wood the Younger was interested in occult and masonic symbolism; perhaps their creation of largest scale was their joint design of the Royal Crescent and the nearby Circus (originally called "the King's Circus"), which from the air can be observed to be a giant circle and crescent, symbolising the soleil-lune, the sun and moon. The Circus, along with Gay Street and Queens Square, forms a key shape which is also a masonic symbol.The houses in the Crescent are a mixture of tenures — most are privately owned but a substantial minority of the property is owned by a housing association. Many of the houses in the Crescent have been split into flats.
Number 1 Royal Crescent is a museum, maintained by the
Bath Preservation Trust , which illustrates how wealthy owners of the period might have furnished such a house. [cite web | title=No 1 Royal Crescent | work=Images of England | url=http://www.imagesofengland.org.uk/search/details.aspx?id=443488 | accessdate=2006-11-14]"The Royal Crescent Hotel" occupies the central properties of the Crescent, numbers 15 and 16.
Royal Victoria Park near the Crescent is a location for the launch of hot air balloons. Launches take place in summer, typically early morning or late evening.
For many years residents had to put up with tour buses passing their houses every few minutes during the summer. However, the road has now been closed to coaches and buses.
In 1965 the black comedy
The Wrong Box (1966) used the Royal Crescent extensively as a location. The 1965 film Catch Us If You Can also had a sequence filmed outside the crescent and in one of its houses. It was thought by some that Oliver! (1968) used the Crescent for the 'Who Will Buy' sequence - this was, however, filmed on a massive set built for the production atShepperton Studios .In 2003,
Time Team (series 10, episode 7) dug the Royal Crescent in search of a Roman cemetery and theFosse Way .Gallery
References
External links
* [http://www.royalcrescentbath.com/ The Royal Crescent Society]
* [http://www.minervaconservation.com/projects/royalcrescent.html View of the Royal Crescent]
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