Bath and North East Somerset (B&NES) Council is currently spending significant public funds to maintain an empty historic mansion at Number 4 The Circus, one of Bath’s most celebrated streets. Despite being unused for years, the Grade I listed townhouse continues to incur costly upkeep expenses due to an unusual legal and administrative situation.
Number 4 The Circus is owned by a nearly defunct charity established in the 1970s by Bath residents Charles and Frances Cooke. Their intention was for the house to be preserved as a Georgian museum open to the public. However, the charity responsible for the mansion currently lacks any trustees, leaving the council to handle its administration and bear the financial burden of maintenance.
Last year alone, the council spent £18,600 on maintaining the empty property, with an additional £6,500 forecasted for the current year. Furthermore, B&NES Council owes an unknown amount in damages for dilapidations accumulated while leasing the building from 1973 to 2019. A 2017 survey approximated these costs at £291,430, though a new assessment is now needed to update the figure.
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The mansion, part of a historic development started in 1754 by John Wood the Elder and completed by his son John Wood the Younger in 1768, recently appeared on the BBC program Empire with David Olusoga. The show highlighted the mansion’s 18th-century owner, James Plunkett, whose family wealth was derived from Jamaican plantations and the enslavement of people.
In the 1960s, the Cookes purchased the property. Upon Mrs. Cooke’s death, the charitable trust was created to preserve the site and present it to the public. Though Bath City Council assumed administrative duties, the charity remained legally independent. Now, with no trustees currently appointed, a B&NES Council committee has unanimously voted to appoint four new trustees. Their primary role will be to settle current financial obligations, facilitate an orderly disposal of the property, and proceed towards dissolving the charity if necessary.
The committee’s decision met with some criticism regarding the stated intention to dissolve the charity, but council officials clarified that trustees will have discretion in their actions. The new trustees are expected to be council appointees aligned with the political balance of B&NES Council, with the likelihood they will be councillors to avoid personal liability.
Local groups such as the Avon and Gloucestershire Gardens Trust and neighbors have urged preservation of the mansion’s Georgian garden, which was rediscovered and restored in the 1980s. The garden remains open to the public via access on Gravel Walk.
Though the Cookes envisioned the mansion as a fully public Georgian house museum, it has only been accessible one day per year during heritage open days. Historically, the property was leased to the council in 1973 with the stipulation it serve as a “museum of costume.” It functioned as overflow space for the Museum of Costume (later Bath Fashion Museum) and was sublet for use by Bath Spa University’s Fashion Research Centre. With no current plans to use the mansion for exhibitions, the council has shifted focus toward a new, purpose-built Bath Fashion Museum.
Paul Roper, the council’s cabinet member for economic and cultural sustainable development, stated that while Number 4 The Circus is architecturally beautiful, it no longer meets the requirements for exhibition or museum space due to size limitations and high costs. Instead, the council is developing a new Bath Fashion Museum at the Old Post Office on New Bond Street, set to open in 2030. This new venue promises to be a world-class attraction with enhanced accessibility and accompanying public realm improvements.
The ongoing expenses and administrative complexities surrounding Number 4 The Circus highlight challenges in managing historic properties held by defunct charities but of significant cultural and architectural value to the community.