At first named the New Bath Road, and enabled by an Act of Parliament in 1813, this was originally a turnpike, or toll road. It had numerous side gates leading off and by 1819 it had been partially built up as far south as the Exmouth Arms. The road ran from Cambray via Bath Street to Leckhampton, and then via Shurdington and Painswick to Bath and it wasn’t fully open until 1823.
In fact the final connection of today’s Bath Road, from Bath Street to the High Street, was not made until 1854, requiring the demolition of some of the buildings in the High Street. In the upper Bath Road commercial area some of the streets, houses and shops were built in the early 1820s but the process of converting some of the domestic dwellings into shops continued throughout the 19th century. The Shurdington Road was planned by a Painswick surveyor called Charles Baker and opened in 1822.
To read the histories of the buildings, click on the business name below. Please note that not all businesses have histories yet, as this is a work in progress. If you have any memories or historical information you would like to share via this website, please get in touch via our Contact page.
If you would like to know more about the Bath Road Streets project in 2014 follow this link.
