The Bristol Railway Archive

Every time I pass through Bath, I can't help but notice a row of attractive, but totally derelict Bath stone houses alongside the railway line. They are at the end of Hampton Row, just off Beckford Gardens, where a footbridge crosses the line, and present a very sad sight to anyone heading into the city from the east by train, with their bricked-up windows, skeletal roofs, and "DANGEROUS BUILDING" signs.

You can see them here on Live Local:

Click

Does anyone know how or why these houses ended up in such a terrible state?

Here's a photo showing the last house in the row:

http://www.uktrains.fpic.co.uk/p23944419.html

It is quite a surpise to see decay in Bath given the rate of change in the house prices.

I was wondering where the Hampton Row Halt was in relation to this terrace.

From Bath and North Somerset Web Site (http://www.bathnes.gov.uk/Committee_Pap ... lindex.htm):


"Hampton Row is a terrace of early 19th century cottages on the north-east edge of the town centre running parallel with the river, canal and railway line. It is a terrace of 15 houses, the east end of which was blighted by the Buchanan proposals for an east-west relief road in the early 1960's, and remain derelict."

Interesting. Were they compulsory purchased and then left to rot? It's extremely unusual to see such dereliction in a highly-visible part of what is (architecturally at least) considered to be a well-off city.

I hope a rich landlord with a passion for restoration comes along before they crumble away. Until then, it's something else for the "when I win the lottery" list...

NOTE TO COUNCIL: To remove this "blight", sell-off or restore the houses. Demolition is not the answer. Experience has taught me that if people start talking about an eyesore, then the favourite response of those in charge is to quickly remove it with a wrecking ball...

Having first noticed them about 5 years ago on my regular trips to Warminster from Cheltenham they had interested me. A row of beautiful houses just left to rot away, after such a beautiful trip through Sydney Gardens and a footbridge that seeming went nowhere.

I have never been to the street itself but it is planned just to look at them closer, I would love to own one. Would be an absolute tragady should the wrecking ball come out on them one day because they have been left to rot and were no longer fit for habitation.