Bath Spa Station

Bath Spa Station

Railway station, circa 1840, designed by Isambard Kingdom Brunel but built under the superintendence of Mr Frere. The station is constructed in limestone ashlar with a later wing in yellow brick and slate roofs.

The station is planned as a high-level through station with divided platforms, served by pedestrian and vehicle underpasses. The main entrance and facilities face north towards the city centre.

The exterior is two storeys. The entrance front comprises a central range with three shaped Flemish gables (possibly later alterations), swept by a shallow quadrant to a projecting square wing on the left, and stepped back to a later wing at an angle on the right. All windows are small-pane casements in double ovolo moulded stone mullions and transoms. The upper level features four three-light windows with central transom, a central bay brought forward with a four-light oriel under an open decorative balustrade, flanked by single lights, and a single light to the right. The left wing has a pair of loading doors, a single light and three-light (centre recessed), a part-concealed three-light on the return, and at the right-hand end two small single lights on the return. The brick wing has three and four-light windows to flush surrounds. The ground floor has a series of eight arched openings with decorative radial fanlights above late twentieth-century pairs of glazed doors, formerly an open arcade, with a blind arched panel in the quadrant. The centre opening sits under the oriel, flanked by two-light casements. The wing has central doors flanked by two-lights and recessed arched panels. A glazed gabled canopy spans the main entrance section, with a central tall fluted cast-iron column carrying bowed cantilever trusses and the oriel carried by two similar columns. At each end of the ground floor, brought forward in a slight bow, walls terminate in lofty square piers with finials. A moulded mid-string runs across, and the windows below the central gables have strapwork aprons. A full entablature runs across the complete frontage, including the wings, under a blocking course with parapet. The central gable houses a clock face. To the left of the wing are two arches, one vaulted in engineering brick, beneath the platforms.

The south side has a straight stepped frontage, mainly in ashlar but with yellow brick to the upper level on the left. The upper level has various two, three, and four-light casements with transoms, and the ground floor has various lights, some to shallow recessed arched panels and some with doors. A bold moulded mid-band and continuous entablature with blocking and parapet run the length. The left section is set back and has two through arched passages; to the right, the main platform canopy is exposed at upper level above arched throughways.

The interior has been substantially modified by late twentieth-century fitting. The platform canopies are carried on pairs of square cast-iron standards with cantilevered trusses each side carrying trussed purlins. Standards carry through to upper trusses with continuous glazed double-sided clerestory, each main bay having six four-pane lights on each side. The up platform is approached by a flight of three steps of thirteen risers each, with a painted wooden balustrade to the upper level. A nineteen-bay canopy with a V-edged valance runs beneath slated roofs. The two platforms were originally joined by a hammerbeam roof of similar type to that at Bristol Temple Meads, illustrated in Bourne's Description of the Great Western Railway, but it was removed in 1897. The rear wall has various two and three-light casements with stone mullions and doors, some with transom lights; each main bay has three windows or doors. A central recess runs back to a curved outer wall with a large cambered truss across the opening. Platform risers are in engineering brick with stone nosing, and where there is no back wall, there are iron railings. The down platform is approached by a flight of two steps of nineteen risers each, with a top balustrade similar to that opposite. Twelve canopied bays have a valance cut square; at the London end the roof is returned to a hipped end over a larger loading area, with fluted standards to enclosing railings. The rear wall has windows and doors similar to the other side; at the Bristol end the rear of the platform is enclosed by a parapeted wall.

The station forms an important episode in the outstandingly important Great Western Railway line to Bristol, and is designed in the same Tudorbethan idiom as Bristol Temple Meads station. The railway lines run through the station on a long curve, crossing the river in two places, set at an angle to the grid of the town. The station faces north along the approach way formed by Manvers Street and has a significant townscape setting, being flanked by two buildings—the Argyll and Royal Hotels—which serve to create a dignified entry to the city. This approach was laid out in accordance with the Great Western Railway Act of 1835. The railways thus had a positive impact on the appearance of the city and its urban amenities.