Queen Square, Bath, England

Queen Square was John Wood's first great architectural composition in Bath, and he himself described fully his vision of the square in his ‘Essay towards a description of Bath'. Wood envisaged the north, east and west sides of the square forming a palace forecourt, the ensemble to be viewed from the south. The north side of the square fully realised this vision, although the west side did not. The buildings were completed in the period between 1728 and 1735.

The garden was originally enclosed by a low balustraded wall. The garden was entered in the middle of each side through iron gates, 20 feet wide, set between stone piers. The enclosure was bordered and crossed by gravel walks, dividing the space into four parterres and leading to a walk surrounding the central basin, from which rose the obelisk. The parterres were planted with flowering shrubs and enclosed by espaliered limes and elms, and each was penetrated diagonally by a grass path leading to a small circular plot. All trees and shrubs would have been kept very low, so as not to obstruct or distract attention from the surrounding architecture.

The balustraded wall appears to have been taken down by 1784, when a well-known print shows the square enclosed by railings. Drawings of the square during the 19th century show the trees and shrubs in the garden getting progressively larger.

During World War 2, nearly half of the south side of Queen Square was destroyed. It has since been re-built. Wrought iron railings were restored to the central area in 1977, courtesy of the Bath Preservation Trust.