How Public Spaces Changed In Bath In The Early Modern Period
Look at the ways in which public spaces changed in Bath in the Early Modern Period
In my essay today, I am going to be accounting for the ways in which public spaces changed in Bath from the Restoration in 1660 (English, Scottish and Irish monarchies restored under Charles II). So how that initial change took place, and what shape it took. This was a period marked by agricultural productivity and surpluses, expanding trade, both overseas and inland, the diversification of England’s industrial base, and a buoyant home market of rising national incomes. It was a period of relative prosperity which allowed towns throughout England to generate and attract new resources of wealth. Indeed, some of these found their way into the physical fabric of these towns, transforming them, particularly their wealthier commercial and residential areas.
In Bath, but also in cities throughout England, traditional vernacular urban landscapes were slowly being filtered out and replaced by a more modern, fashionable, classical one. …show more content…
Such as after the Great Fire of London in 1666. But in most cases, classicism arrived bit by bit. Slowly, the vernacular street disappeared and a relatively unified classical one took shape. In some rapidly expanding centres whole new streets and even squares were built, but these were most likely exceptions.
So how do we account for this gradual change? Well, in pre-industrial societies, the great majority of incomes were largely paid out to provide necessities. But, in the later 17th Century the new economic context meant that there was an increasingly large number of prosperous townsmen who, in many cases for the first time, had money to spare. They looked to the gentry society and used their surpluses to try and pursue the culture, status and power of which they were so
In my essay today, I am going to be accounting for the ways in which public spaces changed in Bath from the Restoration in 1660 (English, Scottish and Irish monarchies restored under Charles II). So how that initial change took place, and what shape it took. This was a period marked by agricultural productivity and surpluses, expanding trade, both overseas and inland, the diversification of England’s industrial base, and a buoyant home market of rising national incomes. It was a period of relative prosperity which allowed towns throughout England to generate and attract new resources of wealth. Indeed, some of these found their way into the physical fabric of these towns, transforming them, particularly their wealthier commercial and residential areas.
In Bath, but also in cities throughout England, traditional vernacular urban landscapes were slowly being filtered out and replaced by a more modern, fashionable, classical one. …show more content…
Such as after the Great Fire of London in 1666. But in most cases, classicism arrived bit by bit. Slowly, the vernacular street disappeared and a relatively unified classical one took shape. In some rapidly expanding centres whole new streets and even squares were built, but these were most likely exceptions.
So how do we account for this gradual change? Well, in pre-industrial societies, the great majority of incomes were largely paid out to provide necessities. But, in the later 17th Century the new economic context meant that there was an increasingly large number of prosperous townsmen who, in many cases for the first time, had money to spare. They looked to the gentry society and used their surpluses to try and pursue the culture, status and power of which they were so