The Abbey is built of
Bath stone, which gives the exterior its yellow colour, and is not a typical example of the
Perpendicular form of
Gothic architecture; the low aisles and
nave arcades and the very tall clerestory present the opposite balance to that which was usual in perpendicular churches. As this building was to serve as a monastic church, it was built to a cruciform plan, which had become relatively rare in parish churches of the time. The interior contains fine
fan vaulting by
Robert and
William Vertue, who designed similar vaulting for the Henry VII chapel, at
Westminster Abbey. The building has 52 windows, occupying about 80% of the wall space, and was presented to the church by the Bath Literary Club. The window of the
Four Evangelists over the northwest door is a memorial to Charles Empson, who died in 1861. In 2010 a stained glass window was uncovered in the abbey vaults. The design around the window is by
William Burges.
Tower The two-stage central tower is not square but oblong in plan. It has two bell openings on each side and four polygonal turret pinnacles. The tower is high, and is accessed by a staircase of 212 steps.
Bells In 1700 the old ring of six bells was replaced by a new ring of eight. All but the tenor still survive. In 1770 two lighter bells were added to create the first ring of ten bells in the diocese. The tenor was recast in 1870. The abbey's tower is now home to a
ring of ten
bells, which are hung unconventionally such that the order of the bells from highest to lowest runs anti-clockwise around the ringing chamber, rather than in the usual clockwise fashion. The
tenor weighs 33 cwt (3,721 lb or 1,688 kg). Bath is a noted centre of
change ringing in the West Country.
Interior is mostly 19th-century The interior fan vaulting ceiling, originally installed by Robert and William Vertue, was restored by Sir George Gilbert Scott between 1864 and 1874. The fan vaulting provides structural stability by distributing the weight of the roof down ribs that transfer the force into the supporting columns via the
flying buttresses. Gilbert Scott's work in the 1870s included the installation of large gas chandeliers made by the Coventry metalworker
Francis Skidmore. They were converted to electricity in 1979. Other new features included a new pulpit and seating. A marble altarpiece from General
George Wade in the sanctuary was removed and replaced with a decorative
reredos. The fine carved pews installed in the nave during Scott's renovations, one of the best examples of 19th century church furnishings, In the 1920s
Thomas Graham Jackson redesigned the Norman Chapel into a War Memorial Chapel, now Gethsemane Chapel, and added a
cloister. New
quire screens were installed in 2004, partly to improve the acoustics, topped with 12 carved angels playing musical instruments. A tiled floor dating from the late 13th to early 14th centuries was discovered in August 2018. Work to rebury coffins which had previously been under the abbey and stabilise the floor included the digging of a trench in which the tiles were uncovered.
Monuments William Bingham, who died in Bath Within the abbey are 617 wall
memorials and 847 floor stones. They include those dedicated to
Beau Nash, Admiral
Arthur Phillip (first Governor of the colony of New South Wales, which became part of Australia after federation in 1901),
James Montague (Bishop of Bath and Wells), Lady Waller (wife of
William Waller, a
Roundhead military leader in the
English Civil War), Elizabeth Grieve (wife of James Grieve, physician to Elizabeth, Empress of Russia), Sir
William Baker,
John Sibthorp,
Richard Hussey Bickerton,
William Hoare,
Richard Bickerton and US Senator
William Bingham. Many of the monuments in the
churchyard were carved between 1770 and 1860 by
Reeves of Bath. War memorials include those commemorating the
First Anglo-Afghan War (1841–42), the First World War (1914–18), and the Second World War (1939–45). The most recent memorial was installed in 1958 to commemorate
Isaac Pitman, the developer of
Pitman shorthand, who died in 1897. The compasses of the manuals were extended, one and a half octaves of pedals were added and the instrument renovated in 1802 by John Holland; further repairs were effected by
Flight & Robson in 1826. then to
St Mary's Church,
Yatton, where it was subsequently rebuilt and extensively modified. The abbey's next organ was built in 1836 by John Smith of
Bristol, to a specification of thirty stops over three manuals and pedals. This instrument was rebuilt on a new gallery in the North
Transept by William Hill & Son of London in 1868, to a specification of forty stops spread over four manuals and pedals, although the Solo department, which would have brought the total to well over forty, was not completed. It was mostly removed to the
Church of St Peter & St Paul,
Cromer in 1896, the remainder being kept for incorporation in the new abbey organ. A new organ was supplied to the abbey in 1895 by
Norman and Beard of
Norwich. It had 52 stops spread over four manuals and pedals, and stood divided on two steel beams in the North and South
crossing arches, with the
console standing on the floor next to the north-west
pier of the crossing. New cases were to be provided to designs by
Brian Oliver of Bath, but were never executed. In 1972 this was increased to a total of 65 speaking stops. The Positive division, with its separate case behind the console, was installed at the same time. Problems caused by the tonal scheme's lack of coherence—the 1895 pipework contrasting sharply with that of 1972—and with reliability, caused by the wide variety of different types of key actions, all difficult to access, led to the decision to have the instrument rebuilt yet again. The organ was totally reconstructed in 1997 by Klais Orgelbau of Bonn, retaining the existing instrument as far as was possible and restoring it largely to its 1895 condition, although the Positive division was kept. The instrument as it now stands has 63 speaking stops over four manuals and pedals, and is built largely on the Werkprinzip principle of organ layout: the case is only one department deep, except for parts of the Pedal sited at the back rather than the sides of the case. New 75 per cent tin front pipes were made and the case completed with back, side walls and roof. Pierced panelling executed by Derek Riley of Lyndale Woodcarving in
Saxmundham,
Suffolk, was provided to allow sound egress from the bottom of the case. The old console has been retained but thoroughly rebuilt with modern accessories and all-new manuals. Twenty-two of the organ's 83 ranks contain some pipework from the 1868 instrument. Four ranks are made up entirely of 1868 pipework, and 21 contain 1895 pipework. Only two ranks are entirely of 1895. Forty-eight ranks contain some new pipework, 34 of which are entirely new. Old wind pressures have been used wherever possible. The old wind reservoirs have also been restored rather than replaced. The instrument has
tracker key action on the manuals, with electrically assisted tracker action to the pedals. The stop action is electric throughout.
Continuo organ A four-stop continuo organ was built for the abbey in 1999 by
Northampton-based
organ builder Kenneth Tickell. The instrument, contained in a case of dark oak, is portable, and can be tuned to three
pitches: A=440 Hz (modern concert pitch), A=415 Hz and A=465 Hz. It is also possible to tune at A=430. A lever pedal can reduce the stops sounding to only the 8' stop and, when released, returns the organ to the registration in use before it was depressed. ==Choir==