National Gazetteer (1868) - Bathwick

"BATHWICK, a parish in the hundred of Bath Forum, in the county of Somerset, forming the eastern suburb of the city of Bath. It lies on the east side of the river Avon, which is crossed by two fine bridges, one of stone, the other of iron-connecting the parish with Bath. The Great Western railway, the Kennet and Avon canal, and the Warminster turnpike road pass through it. Bathwick is believed to have formed an important part of the old city, and it contains now some of the best streets and most elegant buildings of the modern city, including Sydney-place and Gardens, Laura-place, and Pulteney-street. One hundred and fifty years ago the district near the river was little more than a marsh, often flooded, and with a few houses scattered over it.

The living is a rectory in the diocese of Bath and Wells, of the value with the rectory of Woolley annexed to it, of £209, in the patronage of Lord W. Paulet. The church, a large and beautiful structure in the decorated style, was finished in 1820, and is dedicated to St. Mary. It contains a handsome altar-piece. A new church, dedicated to St. John the Baptist, with a handsome stained glass east window, has lately been built as a chapel of ease to the parish church. There is a Proprietary college in Bathwick parish, numbering about 100 pupils, under a principal, vice-principal, and under masters, graduates of the Universities of Oxford, Cambridge, and Durham. Laura Chapel was built by subscription in 1796. The living is in the patronage of the trustees of the late Rev. E. Tottenham. Some Roman remains have been found here, among which is a pig of lead stamped with the name of the Emperor Hadrian, supposed to have come from the lead mines in the Mendip hills. Many stone coffins have been dug up, and the tombstone of a priest of the presiding goddess of the ancient city, Sul Minerva."