Explore Bath's Darker Side With A Free Self-Guided Death Walk Through The City

A new walking tour launched by the University of Bath offers a very different way to explore the city's famous Georgian streets - this time through tales of crime, illness, protest and punishment.

The Bath Death Walk is a free, self-guided audio tour created by the University's Centre for Death and Society (CDAS). Designed to uncover the city's more unsettling and hidden past, the walk invites listeners to tune in and take a 90-minute journey through Bath's grim and sometimes forgotten history.

Available now at cdaswalk.org, the experience can be accessed via a podcast or mobile app, making it easy to explore the route at your own pace.

Bath is usually associated with Roman baths and grand Georgian terraces, but this walk deliberately steps away from the usual tourist spots. Instead, it focuses on true stories of condemned criminals, sex work, street riots, and dark corners of the city's past.

The route takes in locations linked to some of the city's lesser-known and more unsettling stories. One stop is The Bell Inn on Walcot Street, where prisoners were once offered a final bowl of gin on their way to the gallows. Walkers will also pass Ladymead House, which served in the early 1800s as a refuge for so-called "fallen women" involved in sex work. The walk continues through Sydney Gardens, the site of a fiery 1831 protest against a failed reform bill that left broken windows and public disorder in its wake.

The tour was created by CDAS Visiting Fellow Dr Molly Conisbee and aims to connect people to the lives and deaths of those often left out of traditional city histories.

Dr Kate Woodthorpe, Director of CDAS, said, "As residents of the city we are always looking for ways to support and add value to this fabulous place we call home. This free podcast walk came from a similar initiative in York, introducing the local community, students, and visitors to the city and university to some of Bath's more hidden histories about tales of crime and death around the city centre. We hope you enjoy it!"

For those who prefer to hear the stories in person, CDAS plans to host a number of live guided walks throughout the year. Dates will be shared via their website, and private bookings for groups and events can also be arranged.

The Bath Death Walk is part of CDAS's ongoing mission to bring thoughtful and often overlooked conversations about death, dying, and the end of life into public spaces. The centre has been leading this work for over two decades.

This latest project has been supported by the University of Bath's Public Engagement Unit, the Alumni Fund, the Department of Social and Policy Sciences, and CDAS itself.