VISITING
Read the latest update (June 2023) about the Footprint Project here.
The Footprint vision has been brought to life because of generous donations from the Abbey’s congregation, The Friends of Bath Abbey, Bath Abbey Music Society, the local community, Trusts and Foundations, and Footprint’s principal funder, The National Lottery Heritage Fund.
Footprint will enable us to provide a more comfortable and accessible worshipping space.
There will be improved audio-visual provision and more flexible seating in the Abbey. This will bring worship closer to the congregation and give flexibility for concerts and other events.
Music is central to our life at the Abbey and Footprint will provide first-class facilities that will enable the Music Department to work with local choirs, schools, and hundreds of visiting children.
The new Song School, housed in Kingston Buildings, will include a purpose-built rehearsal room, changing facilities and a library for our choirs and visiting musicians.
Footprint has given us new rooms and facilities that are inclusive and provide excellent hospitality.
All areas of the Abbey are now more accessible, providing modern meeting, catering and toilet facilities.
Footprint has delivered a programme of activities that appeals to a wide cross-section of people. There is now a dedicated Learning Room and an education programme for visiting school groups. There are new tours and activity days for families and others to enjoy together.
The Abbey is committed to being a place for the city and the church to gather at moments of celebration, crisis and decision. The new spaces created provide a stunning venue for wider church, educational and civic events, as well as concerts, exhibitions and so much more. The development has helped to integrate the Abbey with the city and surrounding area.
The Footprint Project at Bath Abbey is about moving from past to future. This multi-year project conserved the Abbey building, innovated new spaces and underfloor heating system and now inspires visitors and future generations to learn and discover our Christian history.
Thanks to this pioneering multi-million-pound initiative, our historic floor has been saved from collapse and the building has been opened up in new ways – to be enjoyed in its full glory by future generations.
We are also far more energy-efficient with new LED lighting system and underfloor heating that is powered by renewable energy from Bath’s famous hot springs.
After so much of the Project being hidden behind the scenes, we have now completed our new Song School, meeting rooms and office space in Kingston Buildings, as well as a brand new Learning space which will transform what we are able to offer not just to our own Abbey congregation, but to the city we serve and its visitors. Our Abbey Shop has also had a complete transformation.
The final phase was the opening of the exciting new Discovery Centre which opened on 7 March 2023.
The aims of the Footprint Project are to conserve, innovate and inspire:
Our floor is saving the world by making use of Bath’s hot water springs. Discover how in this video:
When he Abbey floor was repaired, an eco-friendly underfloor heating system was installed.
The system is much more energy efficient than the current one and uses Bath’s greatest natural resource: its hot waters.
Every day 1.1 million litres of hot water flow through the Roman Baths from underground springs. Most of it travels straight past the Abbey and into the river. We worked with Bath and North East Somerset Council to use this hot water to produce enough energy to heat the Abbey and the Romans Baths & Pump Room complex.
We have become more energy efficient, reduced our carbon footprint and are now more responsible stewards of our planet’s resources.
Working in partnership with B&NES Council, we installed innovative heat exchange technology and new underfloor heating systems for the Abbey and Kingston Buildings using waste hot water from the nearby Roman Baths. This provides the potential to heat a number of other city centre buildings.
Kingston Buildings has received a long overdue modernisation. It used to be a draughty Georgian terrace whose remedial insulation work was insufficient to match contemporary environmental criteria.
The Abbey was even more of a gas guzzler. Victorian trench heating sent hot air up on a rapid trajectory into the soaring perpendicular vaulting, stimulating down draughts from the windows to create cold spots at ground level. A soaring fuel bill put the Abbey way out of line with the Church of England’s ‘Shrinking the Footprint’ national environmental campaign. The Church as a whole is committed to an 80% carbon reduction by 2050 with an interim 2020 target of 42%.
Footprint installed dispersed underfloor heating to create a low level cushion of heat that does not rise so fast. The most exciting part of this is that it is powered by the geologically heated water passing through a Roman drain by its front door.
In addition, the new entrances are insulated to modern standards, LED lighting is more energy-efficient and photovoltaic cells on the roof generate house electricity. All these new combined features enable us to do all we can to help the Church of England meet its ‘Shrinking the Footprint’ target.
The result is an innovative, energy-efficient exploitation of Bath’s famous hot springs at the centre of a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Footprint has helped us to tell the story of the Abbey as the centre of Christian life and worship in the city.
Three churches have stood on this site: a Saxon Monastery, a Norman Cathedral, and the present medieval Abbey. From the early activities of the monastic community, to those of the Abbey community today, we now have the opportunity to tell stories from this rich history which spans over 1,000 years.
Original objects from our collection combine with innovative technology to enable us to make connections between past, present and future. These are available to visitors both on the Abbey floor and in our new Discovery Centre, which allows people to explore this rich history for themselves through animation, guides and interactive displays.
Our exhibits help people to discover how worship, hospitality and seeking justice for the poor have always been central to our life here.
Parts of Bath Abbey’s floor were collapsing, reducing our capacity to serve the city. The floor was sinking where bodies buried beneath it were decomposing. This resulted in large gaps being created, which had made the floor unstable.
While the Abbey floor was being repaired, all 891 ledger stones that make up the floor were lifted, documented and repaired. The stories behind the people recorded on the ledger stones have been meticulously researched by volunteers and made available to visitors. You can discover their work on our new website here: https://www.bathabbeymemorials.org.uk/.
To repair the floor, all the Victorian pews were removed. The pews at the East end were reinstated while the pews in the nave have been replaced with chairs. This has created a much more flexible and accessible space, with moveable seating, allowing us to better serve and adapt to community needs.
As a result of this work, the Abbey now has a stable, level floor that is accessible to everyone, making the Abbey a more hospitable place. Completing the Footprint Project has preserved and improved a vital part of the city’s heritage for future generations.
The National Lottery Heritage Fund supports projects that connect people and communities with the UK’s heritage. The Footprint Project was made possible with The National Lottery Heritage Fund, and we are deeply grateful for their transformative support. Thanks to the Heritage Fund’s remarkable generosity, Bath Abbey has transformed its hospitality, accessibility, flexibility, and sustainability – and secured its future ministry for generations to come.
We are delighted that we have been able to support Bath Abbey to safeguard this remarkable Grade I listed building. Thanks to money raised by National Lottery players, a grant of nearly £11million has enabled extensive restoration of the Abbey, as well as the creation of a new Discovery Centre. Together with an ambitious outreach programme of learning and engagement, the renewal of the Abbey will ensure this important heritage site will resonate with the community and beyond for years to come.
Stuart McLeod, Director of England – London & South at The National Lottery Heritage Fund
With special thanks to Footprint’s anonymous donor for their extraordinarily generous support
We would like to extend heartfelt thanks to our local community and the Bath Abbey Family, whose gifts of time, talent, and generous donations made Footprint possible:
A Benefactors’ Roll is being produced, which will list individual donors to the Footprint Project and enable Bath Abbey to acknowledge and give thanks for the extraordinary support Footprint received from so many generous people.
Trusts and Foundations
Trusts, Foundations and grant-giving bodies have been instrumental in achieving the Footprint vision for Bath Abbey. We are sincerely grateful to the local, national, and family Trusts and Foundations that so generously supported Footprint and helped bring this remarkable project to life.
| The 29th May 1961 Charitable Trust |
| The Annett Charitable Trust |
| Bath Boules Charitable Trust |
| Bath World Heritage Site Enhancement Fund |
| Benefact Trust |
| The Brownsword Charitable Foundation |
| Coles-Medlock Foundation |
| Culture Recovery Fund for Heritage |
| The Fairfield Charitable Trust |
| Garfield Weston Foundation |
| The Gatliff Trust |
| Grace Dieu Charitable Trust |
| The Hobson Charity |
| J & P Benson Trust |
| Kirby Laing Foundation |
| The Layton Trust |
| The Linbury Trust |
| Lord Barnby’s Foundation |
| The Peter Stormonth Darling Charitable Trust |
| The Ray Harris Charitable Trust |
| Restore Our Planet |
| The Roper Family Charitable Trust |
| The Sandra Le Marchant Charitable Trust |
| Stephen Clark 1957 Charitable Trust |
| The Swire Charitable Trust |
| Trevor Osborne Charitable Trust |
| Wolfson Foundation |
With grateful thanks to the Trusts and Foundations that wish to remain anonymous.
Footprint’s Learning Programme Partners
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