{{Short description|Circular Georgian street in Bath, England}} {{Use dmy dates|date=May 2024}} {{Use British English|date=May 2024}} {{Infobox street | name = The Circus | native_name = | marker_image = | image = the.circus.bath.arp.jpg | caption = View of the townhouses | other_name = | former_names = King's Circus | postal_code = BA1 2 | addresses = 1-30 The Circus | location = | client = | maint = Bath and North East Somerset Council | coordinates = {{coord|51.386|N|2.364|W|display=title,inline}} | direction_a = orbital | terminus_a = | direction_b = | terminus_b = | junction = | north = | south = | east = | west = | commissioning_date = | construction_start_date = 1754 | completion_date = 1768 | inauguration_date = <!-- {{Start date|YYYY|MM|DD}} --> | demolition_date = | designer = John Wood, the Elder | status = {{Designation list | embed = yes | designation1 = Grade I Listed Building | designation1_offname = 1-30 The Circus including Circus House, Bennett Street | designation1_type = | designation1_criteria = | designation1_date = 12 June 1950 | delisted1_date = | designation1_partof = | designation1_number = {{NHLE|num=1394142|short=yes}} }} }}
'''The Circus''' is a historic ring of large townhouses in the city of Bath, Somerset, England, forming a circle with three entrances. Designed by architect John Wood, the Elder, it was built between 1754 and 1768,{{sfn |Manco |2004 |page=6}} and is regarded as a pre-eminent example of Georgian architecture. "Circus" (Latin) means a ring, oval or circle in English. The construction has been designated as a Grade I listed building.<ref>{{cite web |title=1-30 The Circus including Circus House, Bennett Street |url=https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1394142?section=official-list-entry |website=National Heritage List for England |publisher=Historic England |access-date=27 July 2022}}</ref>
The Circus is divided into three segments of equal length, with a lawn in the centre. Each segment faces one of the three entrances, ensuring a classical façade is always presented straight ahead.
==History== [[File:John Robert Cozens - Bath, The Circus - B1985.36.1322 - Yale Center for British Art.jpg|thumb|left|Bath: The Circus – hand-coloured etching by John Robert Cozens, 1773]] The Circus, originally called the '''King's Circus''', was designed by the architect John Wood, the Elder. Convinced that Bath had been the principal centre of Druid activity in Britain,<ref>{{cite book|last1=Elliot|first1=Kirsten|title=The Myth-Maker: John Wood 1704–1754|date=2004|publisher=Akeman|isbn=978-0954613822|pages=24–25}}</ref> Wood surveyed Stonehenge, which has a diameter of {{convert|325|ft}} at the outer earth bank, and designed the Circus with a {{convert|318|ft|m|adj=on}} diameter to mimic this.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=aEN4mhC8v1cC&pg=PA35|page=35|title=Understanding Architecture: An Introduction to Architecture and Architectural History|year=2006|author1=Conway, Hazel |author2=Roenisch, Rowan |publisher=Routledge |isbn=1134360533}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last1=Elliot|first1=Kirsten|title=The Myth-Maker: John Wood 1704–1754|date=2004|publisher=Akeman|isbn=978-0954613822|page=64}}</ref>
Wood died less than three months after the first stone was laid; his son, John Wood, the Younger, completed the project to his father's design. The initial leases for the south west segment were granted in 1755–1767, for the south east segment in 1762–1766, and for the north segment in 1764–1766.
The Circus was part of John Wood the Elder's grand vision to recreate a classical Palladian architectural landscape for the city. Other projects included nearby Queen Square and the never-built Forum. The culmination of Wood's career, the Circus is considered his masterpiece.<ref>Gadd, David, ''Georgian Summer'', Countryside Books, updated edition 1987.</ref>
The painter Thomas Gainsborough lived in number 17 between 1758 and 1774, using part of its space as his portrait studio.<ref>{{cite book|last=Greenwood|first=Charles|title=Famous houses of the West Country|year=1977|publisher=Kingsmead Press|location=Bath|isbn=978-0-901571-87-8|pages=74–76}}</ref> Number 15 was home to Admiral Sir Richard Bickerton and his family in the first half of the 19th century.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/20144d82-23e7-402c-a9c9-f1e167f80b74|title=Dame Anne Hussey Bickerton, 15 Circus, Bath, widow of Sir Richard Hussey Bickerton late of Upwood, Hampshire, bt|publisher=National Archives|accessdate=5 August 2017}}</ref>
During the Bath Blitz of 25/26 April 1942, one of the Baedeker Blitz retaliatory raids on England following the Royal Air Force's raid on Lübeck, Germany, a bomb fell into the Circus, demolishing several of the houses. These have since been reconstructed in the original style.
Architectural historian Dan Cruickshank selected the Circus as one of his five choices for the 2002 BBC television documentary series ''Britain's Best Buildings''.<ref name="bbc">{{cite web | url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/bbcfour/documentaries/features/bbb-circus.shtml | title=Britain's Best Buildings | accessdate=June 3, 2008 | last=Cruickshank | first=Dan | publisher=BBC Four | archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20040626041452/http://www.bbc.co.uk/bbcfour/documentaries/features/bbb-circus.shtml| archivedate=2004-06-26| url-status=dead }}</ref>
==Design== Three Classical orders (Greek Doric, Roman/Composite and Corinthian) are used, one above the other, in the elegant curved façades. The frieze of the Doric entablature is decorated with alternating triglyphs and 525 pictorial emblems, including serpents, nautical symbols, devices representing the arts and sciences, and Masonic symbols. The parapet is adorned with stone acorn finials.
When viewed from the air, the Circus, along with Queen Square and the adjoining Gay Street, form a key shape, which is a masonic symbol similar to those that adorn many of Wood's buildings.<ref>{{cite web|last=Thomas|first=Ceri|title=The Royal Crescent in Bath|url=http://www.picturesofengland.com/England/Somerset/Bath/article/1044|publisher=Pictures of England|accessdate=10 June 2012}}</ref>
The central area was originally paved with stone setts, covering a reservoir in the centre that supplied water to the houses. In 1800 the Circus residents enclosed the central part of the open space as a garden. Now, the central area is grassed over and is home to a group of five large plane trees, which are believed to date to around 1820.<ref>{{Cite web |title=The Circus {{!}} Bath and North East Somerset Council |url=https://beta.bathnes.gov.uk/circus |access-date=2024-06-12 |website=beta.bathnes.gov.uk}}</ref> They are contributing factors to the Grade I listing of the Circus.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Central Green, The Circus, City Centre |url=https://www.bath-preservation-trust.org.uk/planning-applications/central-green-the-circus-city-centre/ |access-date=2024-06-12 |website=Bath Preservation Trust |language=en-GB}}</ref>
==Gallery== <gallery mode="packed" heights="200"> File:Assembly Rooms and The Circus from a balloon-geograph-2042508-by-Roger-Beale.jpg|Aerial view File:the circus in bath england arp.jpg|Windows vary in size, and details by Classical order File:Decorative emblems The Circus Bath.jpg|Part of the frieze showing the alternating triglyphs and decorative emblems </gallery>
==References== {{Reflist}}
==Bibliography== * {{cite book |last=Manco |first=Jean |date=2004 |title=The Hub of the Circus: A history of the streetscape of the Circus, Bath |publisher=Bath and North East Somerset Council}} * Michael Forsyth, ''Bath'', Pevsner Architectural Guides, Yale University Press, 2003.
==External links== * {{commons category-inline|The Circus, Bath}} * [http://www.buildinghistory.org/bath/georgian/circus.shtml Bath Past: The Circus] — an article by Jean Manco.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Circus, The, Bath}} Category:Houses completed in 1768 Category:Grade I listed buildings in Bath, Somerset Category:Crescents (architecture) Category:Parks and open spaces in Bath, Somerset Category:Streets in Bath, Somerset Category:18th century in Bath, Somerset Category:Grade I listed residential buildings Category:Grade I listed houses in Somerset Category:1768 establishments in England