Inspiring Minds Since 1824
Bath Royal Literary and Scientific Institution
Bicentenary Mural in Bath's Parade Gardens
A special mural has been installed in Bath’s Parade Gardens to celebrate the Bicentenary year of the Bath Royal Literary and Scientific Institution whose original building, which opened in 1825, was located right next to the Gardens. The mural has nine panels which together tell the stories of Parade Gardens and the Institution, ranging from the medieval period up to the present day.
This page shows the individual panels along with details of the text and images on each.
The mural was commissioned by the Institution and Bath and North East Somerset Council with funding from the West of England Mayoral Combined Authority, and was designed by local artist Tanith Gould. It was unveiled on 21 January 2025 by the Right Worshipful The Mayor of Bath, Councillor Michelle O’Doherty, and Simon Petty-Fitzmaurice, Earl of Kerry, PhD, Bath Royal Literary and Scientific Institution’s Honorary President for the Bicentenary and a direct descendant of the Institution’s founding President, the 3rd Marquis of Lansdowne.
If you wish to visit Parade Gardens to see the mural, it is located between Pierrepont Street and North Parade. The main entrance is at the corner of Grand Parade. For more information about the Gardens, including their opening times, please visit https://www.bathnes.gov.uk/visit-parade-gardens
All images on the panels are courtesy of Bath Record Office and the Bath Royal Literary and Scientific Institution, except: the image of Adelard of Bath (Panel 1) which is taken from Regulae abaci, MS SCA1, held by Leiden University Libraries; the cartoon of Darwin (Panel 3) and the portico (Panel 5) which were designed by Sally Artz.
Panel 1
1100s-1700s: Parade Gardens is located on the site of the medieval Abbey Orchard, outside the city walls. In the 18th century, it becomes a pleasure garden with a special tree-lined walkway, adjacent to Bath’s first assembly rooms on Terrace Walk. With the construction of North Parade, the Gardens largely take their present shape.
1820: A fire destroys the Lower Assembly Rooms (as it was then known) on Terrace Walk. Its owner, Lord Manvers, is persuaded to construct a new building on the same site, that would include a library, reading room, museum, and lecture theatre.
Images on the panel:
- part of Joseph Gilmore’s map of Bath, 1694–1717
- fire destroying the Lower Assembly Rooms, 1820
- the medieval scientist Adelard of Bath (c.1080–c.1150), c.1400.
Panel 2
1824–25: The Bath Literary and Scientific Institution is founded in 1824 and opens its new purpose-built premises to the public in January 1825. It hosts public lectures and exhibitions, and begins to amass a large collection of natural and historical objects as well as a substantial library.
1830: The Institution is granted Royal patronage and grows in importance, with significant donations of mineral, geological, and palaeontological collections. Until the 1890s, it also holds many of the city’s Roman artefacts including the famous head of Minerva. The Institution Gardens feature many ‘rare and remarkable plants’.
Images on the panel:
- The Institution and Parade Gardens, c.1890
- early bookplate of the Institution
- the Institution’s gallery and lecture room, c.1890 (photographed by George Frederick Stone and courtesy of Andrew Stone);
- part of Ordnance Survey map of Bath, 1886; Quartz crystals with Chlorite
Panel 3
1920s: The Bath Royal Literary and Scientific Institution celebrates its centenary and is regularly attracting thousands of visitors each year. Its financial health, though, is precarious and the city authorities are keen to redevelop the area.
1932: The Terrace Walk building is demolished as part of a road redevelopment and the Institution is moved to its current home in Queen Square. The gardens are remodelled with a new entrance; a memorial to Edward VII, originally in George Street, is installed.
Images on the panel:
- Ecclesiastical seal matrix, probably 13th century, used for creating a wax seal authenticating a document
- Cartoon of Charles Darwin and a friend, imagined visiting the BRLSI on Queen Square, by Sally Artz
- French theologian Jean Calvin’s “Commentary on the Psalms” from 1564, bound with scrap endpapers made of manuscripts looted during the Dissolution of the Monasteries in England
- Demolition of the Institution building in 1932
Panel 4
Images on the panel:
- Neolithic arrowheads made of flint
- Some of the more than 9,000 historic books in the BRLSI Library.
- Hoopoe from ten-volume ‘The Natural History of British Birds’ by Edward Donovan, published 1794-1819 , overlaid by a letter from Charles Darwin
- Stirrup spouted pot from the pre-Columbian Moche people of Northern coastal Peru
Panel 5
Images on the panel:
- Tusk of a Narwhal, displayed as a unicorn horn upon a 17th century unicorn illustration
- The BRLSI portico, drawn by Sally Artz
Panel 6
Images on the panel:
- Wooden comb from southern India
- Pressed and dried poppy, one of more than 13,000 herbarium specimens
- Swallowtail butterfly, one of more than 12,000 entomological specimens
- Giant Jurassic predatory sea reptile, Rhomaleosaurus cramptoni
- Bronze sculpture of an antelope or ibex by the Yoruba of Nigeria
Panel 7
1940: In World War II the Admiralty requisitions the Bath Royal Literary and Scientific Institution’s home in Queen Square and remains for two decades; all the collections go into storage. The number of trustees and members dwindles.
1959: Bath City Corporation takes over the trusteeship of the Institution. In 1964, Bath Reference Library moves into the building, and the Institution’s geological collections are put on display.
1992: The Bath Royal Literary and Scientific Institution is relaunched as an educational charity, following a public campaign against plans to disperse its collections. The Institution reopens its doors in 1995.
Images on the panel:
- The Institution’s Library, 1890 (photographed by George Frederick Stone and courtesy of Andrew Stone)
- Calotype photograph by Rev. Francis Lockey, 1850s, featuring St Matthew’s Church and the White Hart at Widcombe, Bath
- Romano-British brooch from the 1st or 2nd Century AD, excavated in Lansdown, Bath, 1905
- Beetle from an entomologist collection
- Stool carved by an Asante craftsman from Ghana, West Africa
- Kris dagger from Indonesia
- Encaustic tile from the ruined mosque of Khargerd in the NE of Iran, close to today’s Afghan border.
- Corinthian vase with a serpent and sphinx motif, c.650BC
Panel 8
2024 : The Bath Royal Literary and Scientific Institution marks its Bicentenary with an ambitious programme of events and exhibitions celebrating the past, present, and future of Bath and the world. These include a family weekend event in Queen Square, a major exhibition of its collections, and special festivals about engineering, science, and history.
2025: In partnership with the Council, the Bath Royal Literary and Scientific Institution commissions a special mural to be unveiled in Parade Gardens by the Mayor of Bath and the Institution’s Honorary Bicentenary President, the Earl of Kerry, exactly 200 years to the day since the Institution’s first public lecture.
Images on the panel:
- Jurassic ammonite, Bath’s famous building stone was deposited in a shallow sub-tropical sea, 165 million years ago
- The head of Minerva, a Roman goddess, once displayed at the Institution and now part of the collection at the Roman Baths
Panel 9:
Today: Founded at a time when the city had no universities, the Bath Royal Literary and Scientific Institution was intended to be the city’s home for public knowledge and learning. Two centuries later, the Institution continues to promote and advance science, literature and the arts for residents and visitors alike.
Every year, the Bath Royal Literary and Scientific Institution organises over 120 public talks on all sorts of subjects. Its annual exhibition draws on its collection of 150,000 natural and historical objects, which is the largest in the city. It also offers a programme of activities for families and schoolchildren.
Images on the panel:
- A snowy view of the Institution in its present home in Queen Square, 21st century
- Northern Wolf’s Bane, collected from the The Ailefroide in the French Alps and part of the H.H. Rich European herbarium