Jane Austen's Bath

Bath was Austen's home from 1801 to 1806. She partially set Northanger Abbey and Persuasion there, but she never liked the city. Perhaps she agreed with cartoonist Thomas Rowlandson, who suggested that most people coming to Bath were decrepit?

The Circus (up top) is a famous and representative example of the Georgian architecture the city is known for. It was begun in 1754 and completed in 1768 during the city's heyday, when the portrait and landscape painter Thomas Gainsborough lived here and completed The Blue Boy. Shown in the cartoon above and in the photo below is The Royal Crescent, which was built slightly later.

The house that the Austens lived in for the longest while in Bath (1801-1804) was 4 Sydney Place (below).

The Austens lived briefly after Jane's father died in 1805 on Gay Street (below). It branches off from The Circus and runs down to Queen Square. The Jane Austen Centre is at 40 Gay Street.