Why a Booktrail?
Destination: Bath Departure Time: 1850s
Interested in Bath and historical Bath in particular? This is the book for you.
Avon Street
What you need to know before your trail
“A tale of Murder in Victorian Bath”
Avon Street is an historical adventure story that takes the reader on a journey behind the Georgian façades of the city to expose the darker side of Victorian Bath in 1850
We see a side of the city that many did not see – those who lived in the Irish slums, or were members of the local crime gangs.
Travel Guide
At the end of the novel, the author explains about the history of Bath in 1850 and mentions the real life Thomas Hunt and his daughter.
Most of the street now is home to the city’s Bath Spa university, shops and other premises.
He explains that the city was “a mixture of opulence and poverty and that Avon Street at the time was “a sprawling disease ridden slum” It was also the place where in 1850 was home to 20 per cent of the city’s population and provided a source of cheap labour for the nearby factories.
The Westgate buildings mentioned a few times in the novel were also those referred to in Jane Austen’s Persuasion.
Streetview Maps
A) Bath - Avon Street
D) Bath - Pulteney Bridge
Where Next?
