Bear Flat

infobox UK place
country = England
latitude= 51.3738
longitude= -2.3666
official_name= Bear Flat
unitary_england=Bath and North East Somerset
lieutenancy_england= Somerset
region= South West England
constituency_westminster= Bath
post_town= BATH
postcode_district = BA2
postcode_area= BA
dial_code= 01225
os_grid_reference= ST745638

Bear Flat is an area of Bath, England, to the south of central Bath, sitting at the top of Beechen Cliff. The Wellsway, now the A367 road to Shepton Mallet, runs through Bear Flat. Originally this was the main pilgrimage route from Bath, with its abbey, and Wells with its cathedral.

'Flat' may be derived from the flatness of the land - most of Bath is very hilly. 'Bear' has nothing to do with the animal but is believed to be a corruption of the Anglo-Saxon name 'Berwick' - 'Ber' meaning Barley and 'Wick' being a settlement - a settlement near a barley field. [cite book|last=Elliott|first=Kirsten T.|coauthors=Andrew Thomas Swift |title=Bath Pubs|publisher=Akeman Press|date=2003|isbn=978-0954613808] This was later incorporated into a farm which in the 19th century was called 'Barrack' farm, then demolished to make way for housing.

Location

To reach Bear Flat from the centre of Bath, the original route was up Holloway ('Holy way'). This follows the mediaeval pilgrimage route and has a pilgrims church with 'Holy' well (fairly dilapidated and without water) opposite. Because of the steepness of Holloway a later road was built which climbs more gently. This is now called Wells Road but is named on some Georgian maps as the Wells-Exeter Road. Holloway is no longer open to traffic at the bottom but vehicles now take the Wells Road road out of Bath towards Radstock - the A367. Pedestrians and cyclists can follow across the river to the South of Bath city centre and then can follow Holloway up the hill.

At the top of the hill to the east of Bear Flat is Alexandra Park and Beechen Cliff School. To the south is the deep wooded valley of Lyncombe Vale, formerly the route of the Bath branch of the Somerset and Dorset Railway, with Combe Down Tunnel which was the longest unventilated rail tunnel in Britain. To the east runs the Widcombe valley with Georgian buildings. Central Bath is to the north.

Building and services

The Georgians built at either end of Bear Flat but the main estate of Poets Corner is late Victorian and Edwardian. Poets Corner comprises avenues (Shakespeare, Milton, Kipling, Longfellow and Shelley) with Chaucer Road running through the estate parallel to Wellsway.

Bear Flat has range of shops, including a Co-op, Smile (another convenience store), a couple of estate agents, Rolfeys Antique Shop, The Carphone Warehouse, Majestic Wine, Da Vinci's delicatessen, the Real Meat Company, a real green-grocer, a chemist, and a betting shop. For people who wish to eat in Bear Flat there is Da Vinci's Pizza take-away, a Bangladeshi restaurant and a bistro wine bar that used to be another deli and a pub, the Bear. 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 a post-war building.

A number of artists live in the area, ranging from painters to potters, sculptors, jewellers, photographers, etc. Every year they organise the Bear Flat Open Studios over the Spring Bank Holiday weekend, numerous homes are opened and work displayed, much of this work is also for sale. [cite web|url=http://glassimpression.myzen.co.uk/BearFlat/|title=Bear Flat Artists|work=Bear Flat Artists|accessdate=2008-07-02] It has also become home to the Royal Photographic Society who moved up to Bear Flat from their original home in the centre of Bath.

References