Pulteney Bridge & the Weir
About
Robert Adam's 1774 bridge is one of a handful in the world lined with shops on both sides, and with the horseshoe weir curling underneath it, it makes the most photographed frame in Bath. The classic view is from Grand Parade or the riverside terrace below; cross the bridge itself and you are on Great Pulteney Street, the widest and grandest Georgian boulevard in the city, running dead straight to the Holburne Museum. The little shops on the bridge, and the flower-stalls-and-buskers scene around the weir, make this the natural hinge between the Abbey quarter and the Bathwick side of the river. Free, always open, and best early morning or at dusk when the crowds thin and the weir does its slow-motion thing under the lamps.
Photos
Highlights
- ✓One of very few shop-lined bridges in the world
- ✓The horseshoe weir, best seen from Grand Parade
- ✓Great Pulteney Street's dead-straight Georgian vista beyond
- ✓River cruises departing from the weir below
Tips
- →The photo everyone wants is from Grand Parade, looking down on the weir.
- →Cross the bridge and keep going: Great Pulteney Street ends at the Holburne Museum.
- →After heavy rain the weir in spate is worth a detour on its own.
Best Season
More Attraction Activities
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Bath Abbey
England's last great medieval church, with climbing stone angels on the west front, fan vaulting inside, and a Tower Tour overlooking the Great Bath.