Bath Abbey is an Anglican parish church and former Benedictine monastery. It was founded in the 7th century and was reorganised in the 10th century being rebuilt in the 12th and 16th centuries. Major restoration was carried out during the 19th century.

The Abbey was one of the last English buildings to built in the Perpendicular style and is the largest located in the West Country. This can be seen by the fact that 80% of the exterior wall space is taken up by windows – 52 of them! The church is also cruciform in plan and can seat up to 1200 people. The crossing tower is unusual for a Perpendicular building as it is oblong in shape and not square. This was due to it being set on the piers of the original Norman building.

The Abbey is noted for it’s fan vaulting in the nave. However, this dates from Sir George Gilbert’s Scott’s restoration of the 1860s which echoes the vault at the east end designed by Henry VII’s master masons, William and Robert Vertue.