• OUR MUSEUMS >
No1 Royal Crescent
  • Home
  • Visiting
  • Explore
  • History
  • What’s On
  • Get Involved
  • Learning & Engagement
  • Weddings
  • Shop
  • Contact Us
  • Covid-19 Safety Guidelines
Product was added to your cart
Museum closed for filming of a period costume drama on Tuesday 19, Wednesday 20 and Thursday 21 November. Also closed for Christmas decorating between Monday 25 and Friday 29 November. We apologise for any inconvenience or disappointment caused.

History

Overview
Henry Sandford
Becoming a Museum
Resources
Chinese introduction
Bath and the Slave Trade
Overview

When the house was built

No.1 Royal Crescent, Bath (Grade I) was built to the designs of John Wood the Younger in 1767 – 1774 as the first house in the Royal Crescent, a Bath stone crescent of thirty houses with a uniform Palladian design to the principal facade.  The Royal Crescent is the culmination of the 18th century development of Bath by the elder and younger John Woods, the latter part-owning No.1.  The open view in front of the Royal Crescent, a key element to the design, has been altered by the subsequent development of Bath but partly preserved in the form of what is now Royal Victoria Park and a small semi-circular lawn in the ownership of the Royal Crescent residents.

The construction of No.1a was carried out in three phases:

(1)  1767:  a 2-storey east range was built over cellars;

(2)  1769:  an extension of No.1 was built by John Wood the Younger, and

(3)  a post-1769 link section was constructed between the two.

The eastern range became the service wing of No.1 and later developments integrated it more fully with No.1.

The house’s occupants over time have altered the original design

The occupation of the house reflects the changing social make-up of Bath with a decline in the status of the occupants from a wealthy landowner (Mr Henry Sandford) who rented the house 1776-1796 to clerics and minor gentry.  In the 1840s the house was a seminary for young ladies and later became a lodging-house. There were alterations to the plan and features of the house in the 19th century including the removal of the back stairs and the lowering of all first-floor window sills.

The buildings were first formally separated in 1968, when No. 1 was bought by Mr. Bernard Cayzer who supported its restoration to become both a historic house and the headquarters for the Bath Preservation Trust.

In 2006 No.1a (Grade II) was acquired by the Brownsword Charitable Foundation specifically with the intention of making it available to the Bath Preservation Trust on a long term lease.  Preserved within the building are some rare and important kitchen fittings.  Reuniting it with No.1 allows the Trust to conserve its significant architecture and fittings, tell the whole story of the house for the first time and improve access.

Henry Sandford
Henry Sandford was the first resident of No. 1 Royal Crescent. He lived at the house from 1776 until his death in Bath in 1796. Recent research has greatly improved our understanding of who Henry Sandford was and how he might have lived in No.1  Royal Crescent and the interpretation of the museum has used these details to bring the house to life.

Henry Sandford was born on 30th December 1719 in Castlerea, County Roscommon, the eldest son of Robert Sandford Esq. and his wife Henrietta who went on to have 6 more children, one son and five daughters. The Sandford family had settled in Ireland after being granted lands in the county in 1666 for services to the crown during the Civil War and had become highly respected and wealthy landowners. They established themselves through making important connections with local noble families; Henry’s mother was the daughter of the 3rdEarl of Inchiquin and Henry himself married the daughter of the 1st Viscount Mountcashel, Sarah Moore, in 1750. Henry was clearly educated with a view to politics. He attended Trinity College, Dublin, from 1736-37 and in 1741  became an MP for County Roscommon, a post which he held for the next 19 years. In 1761 he was returned for the county of Kildare and in 1768 for the county of Carrick (which no longer exists). He held this post until 1776.

Henry and Sarah had 5 children: Henry Moore (‘Harry’), William, Harti, George and Louisa.

Sarah died in 1764 and Henry, after increasingly poor health forced him to take a back seat in political affairs, moved to Bath in 1776, presumably because of his health and took up residence at No.1 Royal Crescent. By this time his eldest son was 25 and old enough to assume the responsibility of managing his father’s estate.

Henry Sandford’s real wealth and yearly income can only be guessed at, but we know that he was wealthy enough to lease a house in Bath’s most prestigious location. Fellow residents included the Duke of York and Elizabeth Montagu, one of England’s richest women. It appears that his primary income came from land rentals rather than from agriculture itself. A marriage settlement given to him by his father in 1750 contained the rent rolls of roughly 60 tenants, with the net rent for one year being 760 pounds,10 shillings and 6 pence, (roughly £68,000 in today’s money, and this presumably was not the total value of the estates). When the second Baron Mount Sandford died in 1828 the entirety of the estates was estimated at £15,000 (roughly £750,000 in today’s money). This suggests that the Sandfords were comfortably off rather than excessively wealthy.

Henry Moore presumably took over the running of his father’s estates after the latter’s move to Bath, and he wascreated first Baron Mount Sandford in 1800. He and his wife Catherine died childless, so the title passed to his nephew Henry, son of his brother the Reverend William. Henry, the second Baron, was killed in a riot at Windsor in 1828 and the title moved back a generation to his uncle George Sandford, who was the third and last Baron Mount Sandford.

The Will

Sandford’s will primarily divided his estate outside Castlerea between his second son William and his third son George. Little mention is made of Henry Moore at all, other than a settlement of £3,000 for his own personal use, suggesting that he had either already taken charge of the Castlerea estate or had been left lands by other family members, or that by default the remainder of the lands not mentioned in Sandford’s will passed to Henry. A rift is unlikely, as he mentions Catherine Sandford in two codicils as caring for him in his ‘late and present illness.’  Sandford also seems to take his responsibility as head of his family seriously, and leaves money to his (presumably) surviving sisters Rachel and Henrietta, his daughter Louisa, as well as two of his nieces Mary Fortescue and Harriet Douglas (daughters of his sisters Anne and Henrietta respectively).  He also leaves a list of annuities to be paid, presumably to servants, including the ‘wood ranger’ and ‘gatekeeper’ (seemingly for his Castlerea estate).

The Will shows us how much land he owned at the time of his death and where it was. He had land in ‘baronies of Roscommon and Ballintobber’ as well as ‘400 acres of profitable land situated in the County of West Meath’ and also ‘several houses and premises in the city of Dublin.’

Bath and the Commonplace Book

We know that Sandford began paying city rates from 1776 for No.1 Royal Crescent and we know that he died at No.1 in 1796, but other than this we know very little about Sandford’s time in Bath.

Minutes of the AGMs of the Bath and West Agricultural society show that he attended meetings from 1778 to 1780.

Sandford’s Commonplace Book has provided us with some clues as to his interests and how he passed his time in Bath. Commonplace books were used almost as a scrapbook, compiling interesting facts and figures, newspaper cuttings of current events, but hardly any personal information.

Bath Scandal and Gossip

As he became an established resident Sandford clearly made friends – and enemies! The second volume in particular has lots of references to local scandals, a doctor’s liason with a wealthy widow, the dispute over who would become the next Master of Ceremonies in the lower assembly rooms, an uproarious party thrown at the Crescent… Many of these take the form of newspaper cuttings, supposedly anonymous, in which Sandford has annotated the blank spaces with the names of the people involved! Sandford also features several local characters in a collection of rather rude poems and appeared to enjoy making fun of his neighbours. His references to conversations with other Bath residents seem to centre on Captains, Colonels, Doctors etc., showing that he moved very much in a middle class, professional gentleman’s circle.

Agriculture

This is probably the largest topic mentioned in the commonplace book. Bath was an important centre for agriculture as it was so close to the countryside, and the formation and popularity of the Bath and West Agricultural society shows the fascination that was growing around agricultural production as the agricultural revolution began to increase production and revolutionise farming methods.

Sandford’s observations on agriculture often centre around livestock – the size of animals, how many were owned by a particular farmer etc., but are not limited to this. He was interested in transport and through his observations we can see that produce was moving much more quickly around the country than it had done so previously. At a time when crop yields began to grow and different types of produce were being planted, Sandford’s numerous observations on crop production, which may seem mundane to us today, demonstrate a topic that was at the forefront of agricultural developments and that farmers were beginning to experiment :‘a field of Barley and Oats in the parish of Wishaw belonging to farmer Walker was sown the 2nd June 1782 and reap’d the 21st Dec following. The Barley was remarkably good, the oats indifferent.’ (Vol.2, p157)

Travel

From certain accounts written as a first-hand experience, we can glean from the commonplace book that Henry travelled widely in Scotland and the North of England, as well as in Northern Europe, in Holland, Germany and Belgium. He clearly missed out on the ‘Grand Tour’, whether this was due to a lack of funds or a disinclination to travel further into France and Spain is not clear, but it is clear from his observations on a number of popes ‘leading the most scandalous and profligate lives’ that he had a sincere dislike for the Catholic church, so this could possibly account for it. He does, however, make a lot of references to the industries of both countries throughout both volumes.

Science and learning

In some ways it seems that Sandford was very much a gentleman of the enlightenment. This was a time when knowledge was being pursued, collated and quantified, publications detailing the latest advances in science, agriculture, industry appeared everywhere, one of the most popular being the Gentleman’s Magazine (founded 1731). The opening of the British Museum in 1753 followed by the expeditions of Captain Cook and Joseph Banks in the late 1760s/early 1770s, patronised by the Royal Society, served to expand people’s knowledge of the world and of different peoples and places across the globe. There are references to articles in theGentleman’s Magazine throughout the commonplace book so we can assume that Sandford was a regular reader. He also appeared to follow the publications of the Royal Society and makes frequent references to the voyages of Captain Cook as well as the geological publications of Sir William Hamilton during his travels in the bay of Naples. ‘During the Eruption of Mount Vesuvius in August 1779 stones of 2 ounces weight were carred to several places…Sir William Hamilton’s Account.’ (Vol II, p116)

History, Art and Warfare

Sandford was clearly interested in Classical history and the commonplace book is full of accounts of Roman emperors, Greek philosophers, ancient Egyptian rulers and so on, although he was primarily concerned with what they built and how much it cost! Reference to warfare in any form is extremely limited. Although Roman influences had been around for years Greek Art and sculpture were only really re-discovered in the late 18thcentury, but it receives scant attention here. Clearly Sandford was not much interested in the arts.

Law

Sandford’s position as landlord of a number of different estates seems to have influence his interest in law and politics. References to poor rates, number of houses in certain areas, incomes of the nobility of France and England etc show that he was a man responsible for a number of tenants and property maintenance.  Volume II contains some accounts of differences in the laws between England and Scotland, and also some newspaper accounts of court martials and other trials.

Links

Tom Wills-Sandford, Henry’s five times great grandson and the only direct male descendant, and Tom’s cousin Michael Sandford have given us considerable help in researching Henry’s life. This research, including information about Theophilus Sandford, Henry’s Great Grandfather, who established the family in Ireland, can be found here

Becoming a Museum

In 1968 the house was separated from its service wing (which became known as No.1a) and No.1 was put up for sale.  It was bought by Mr. Bernard Cayzer and later given to the Bath Preservation Trust, established in 1934.  Mr. Cayzer provided funds for its restoration so it could be opened as a Georgian townhouse museum and also provide office space for The Bath Preservation Trust.

Work to the house for this purpose was extensive and of its time.  The furnishing of the house was undertaken by a distinguished committee including the Keeper of Furniture and Woodwork at the Victoria and Albert Museum and the interior designer, Jean Munro.  The collections were selected and the rooms arranged to reflect the distinction between male and female domains and were influenced by what was known about the occupants of the house and by historic figures associated with Bath.  Collections included period fittings to replace some that had been lost or replaced, the first floor window sills were raised to their original height, joinery was copied and installed and a new back stair was constructed.

Another major redevelopment project was completed recently when the main house was reconnected to its original service wing at No. 1a. We took this opportunity to carry out some major restoration and conservation and the extended museum reopened to the public on 21 June 2013. The project was called The Whole Story Project.

The Trust’s library and archives are now accessible. Some relate to No.1 but others tell the story of campaigns to save Bath’s built heritage.

ACE Museum Accreditation Scheme

This is a scheme administered by Arts Council England (ACE) which assigns accredited status

to UK museums meeting the standards set out in its publication The Accreditation Standard.

No.1 Royal Crescent is an Accredited museum – as are all BPT museums.

s leo.

Resources

The National Library of Ireland have digitised the two volumes of Henry Sandford’s Commonplace Book.

  • Volume 1
  • Volume 2

Chinese introduction
The best address in Bath… The London Times

巴斯最好的地段…《伦敦泰晤士报》

No. 1 Royal Crescent was the first house to be built in Bath’s finest crescent, in the UK’s only city designated as a World Heritage Site. It was built during the Qing Dynasty, at the end of Emperor Qianlong’s reign. In 2017 it celebrates being 250 years old. The house is restored and furnished with items from that period. You can experience what life was like for the rich and fashionable residents of Bath, and their servants. The Dining Room is laid with fruit and puddings made from sugar sculptures and the Withdrawing Room is set for the ladies to drink tea. The servants’ quarters include the original kitchen, wash-house and Housekeeper’s Room. In the Servants’ Hall is a Turnspit Dog in a dog wheel showing how they used the animals to turn the roast meat in front of the fire! Photography is permitted. There is a shop full of souvenirs and gifts from the period. Your visit begins with a short video introduction before you are greeted at the front door by servants dressed in costume. There is a translation in Mandarin and Cantonese. You can dress up in costume for your photographs!

皇家新月楼No.1博物馆即巴斯新月形建筑之最—皇家新月楼的1号,位于英国唯一拥有世界文化遗产遗址之称的巴斯市。修建时间约同于清朝乾隆末年期间,于2017年将迎来其落成250周年。馆内陈设建立初期时的物件器具。踏足入内,您便可感受当时居住于巴斯的时髦上流社会富人们以及仆人的生活。馆内餐厅摆放用糖霜雕刻的水果和布丁,会客厅则是专为淑女们安排的品茶场所。仆人的展区包括原始厨房,洗衣间和管家小屋。仆人大厅里的滚轮上转叉狗,展示了当时利用动物来带转烤肉架的情形!馆内允许拍照,同时设有零售纪念品和礼物的商店。在您进入前门和“仆人”问候并开始正式参观前,将会为您播放一小段简介视频。我们有中文和粤语版的房间介绍。您还可以试穿礼服拍照。

The Royal Crescent is one of the finest pieces of eighteenth century architecture in Europe, and has featured in many films and documentaries.

皇家新月楼是18世纪欧洲最杰出的建筑之一,为诸多电影和纪录片的拍摄取景场所。

 

Bath and the Slave Trade

Georgian Bath was built largely due to the British Slave Trade. We know that our building and collections have strong connections with this awful period in history and we do not hide it. It is a crucial part of our narrative when people visit and contributes to the wider context of the World Heritage City of Bath.

We have listed some suggestions for further reading and research about the history of slavery and its legacies in Bath below

Our publications:

  • Elegance and pleasure in Georgian England owed much to the British slave trade. Read more about how this links to objects from our collections here – Elegance and Exploitation: Luxury Goods and the Slave Trade 
  • The history of the Beckford family is a tale of social ambition, political manoeuvrings and inexhaustible collecting all made possible by a huge family fortune built on the back of the slave trade. Read more about it here – Beckford and the Slave Trade: The Legacy of the Beckford Family and the Slave Trade 

Further research:

  • Anuradha Gobin (2011). Constructing a Picturesque Landscape: Picturing Sugar Plantations in the Eighteenth-Century British West Indies. https://digitalrepository.unm.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?referer=https://www.google.com/&httpsredir=1&article=1014&context=hemisphere
  • B&NES (2018). A View from the Crescent. https://no1royalcrescent.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/A-View-from-the-Crescent-Exhibition-panels.pdf
  • BBC1 (2018). The Remains of Slavery. https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x6knkfo
  • BBC2 (2005). The Slavery Business – Programme 1: Sugar Dynasty. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RTReDD0RaPs
  • Bristol, Africa, and the Eighteenth-Century Slave Trade to America: Vol. 4 The Final Years 1770-1807. http://www.bris.ac.uk/Depts/History/bristolrecordsociety/publications/brs47.pdf
  • Bristol Libraries (2009). Slavery, Abolition and Emancipation: A Reading List. https://www.bristol.gov.uk/documents/20182/34312/Slavery,%20abolition%20and%20emancipation%20reading%20list_0.pdf/8afcb9c7-e118-4a80-86cb-faeb2a410408
  • David Richardson (1985). The Bristol Slave Traders: A Collective Portrait. http://www.bris.ac.uk/Depts/History/bristolrecordsociety/publications/bha060.pdf
  • Dr Amy Frost (2007). Big Spenders: The Beckford’s and Slavery. http://www.bbc.co.uk/wiltshire/content/articles/2007/03/06/abolition_fonthill_abbey_feature.shtml#:~:text=The%20tale%20of%20the%20Beckford,educated%2C%20cultured%20and%20civilised%20Gentleman.
  • Dr Amy Frost (2018). The Beckford Era. https://www.jstor.org/stable/pdf/j.ctv1xz0t0.8.pdf
  • Historic England (2013). Slavery and the British Country House. https://historicengland.org.uk/images-books/publications/slavery-and-british-country-house/slavery-british-country-house-web/
  • Jaqueline Burrows (2016). Bath and the Slave Trade. https://slaverybathhistory.wordpress.com/
  • John R. Tyson (2011). Lady Huntingdon, Religion and Race. https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/c213/8bbd2a2064bdf5d7621ceff0f4a98ce4c57d.pdf
  • Pip Jones & Rita Youseph (1994). The Black Population of Bristol in the 18th Century. http://www.bris.ac.uk/Depts/History/bristolrecordsociety/publications/bha084.pdf
  • Roger Holly (2016). The Anti Slavery Movement in Bath. http://historyofbath.org/images/BathHistory/Vol%2014%20-%2006.%20Holly%20-%20The%20Anti%20Slavery%20Movement%20in%20Bath.pdf

Email this to someonePin on PinterestShare on FacebookShare on Google+Tweet about this on TwitterShare on LinkedIn
  • Donate or Get Involved
  • About Bath Preservation Trust
  • Accessibility
  • Privacy policy
  • Terms and conditions
  • Contact Us

Latest tweets

  • RT @BathLifeMag: In our brand new issue, with the help of location manager Paul Tomlinson, we reveal the city's secret @bridgerton filming… 07:12:26 PM January 30, 2021 from Twitter for iPhone ReplyRetweetFavorite
  • RT @theGreatWestWay: From the streets of Bath to Hampton Court Palace, here are the @bridgerton filming locations on the #GreatWestWay ➡️ h… 06:49:26 PM January 23, 2021 from Twitter for iPhone ReplyRetweetFavorite
  • RT @GeorgianGroup: There's still time to book your ticket for Monday's lecture, 'The London Town House of Mary, Duchess of Norfolk'! Visit… 02:54:58 PM January 22, 2021 from Twitter for iPhone ReplyRetweetFavorite

On Social Media

Facebook
Twitter
Instagram
Pinterest
Tripadvisor
  • TripAdvisor

Contact Us

1 Royal Crescent, Bath, Avon BA1 2LR
01225 428126
no1royalcrescent@bptrust.org.uk
Registered in England No. 294789. Charity No. 203048

Opening Times

Opening Times >

© No1 Royal Crescent, 2016 | Website by The Web Foundry