Ralph Allen - Quarrying of Bath Stone

Quarrying of Bath Stone

With the arrival of John Wood in Bath, Allen used the wealth gained from his postal reforms to acquire the stone quarries at Combe Down and Bathampton Down Mines. Hitherto, the quarry masons had always hewn stone roughly providing blocks of varying size. The resulting uneven surface is known as "rubble" and buildings of this type – built during the Stuart period – are visible throughout the older parts of Bath.

Wood required stone blocks to be cut with crisp clean edges for his distinctive classical facades. Ralph Allen and John Wood had some difficulty persuading the Bath masons to comply with these new practices. Many got the sack and Allen brought in more willing labour from Wood's native Yorkshire. Allen built many cottages for his workers, but it was not an act of benevolent goodwill for local men as is often thought; it was a practical solution to house the strangers from Yorkshire who, as blackleg labour, were not welcome in Bath.

The distinctive honey-coloured Bath Stone, used to build the Georgian city, made Allen a second fortune. The building in Lilliput Alley, now North Parade Passage in Bath, which he used as a post office became his Town House in 1727 he refronted the southerly rubble wall, extended the house to the North, and added a whole new storey. John Wood the Elder refers to this in his "Essay towards the future of Bath". Allen was extremely astute at marketing the qualities of Bath Stone and erected an elaborately ornate building a few feet to the north of his house to demonstrate its qualities. The extension (as Wood refers to it) has become known as "Ralph Allen's Town House" though whether it was designed by Wood is unproven and many local historians consider it unlikely. Allen continued to live there until 1745, when he moved to Prior Park, and the townhouse became his offices.

Allen had the Palladian mansion Prior Park built for himself (1742) on a hill overlooking the city, "To see all Bath, and for all Bath to see". He gave money and the stone for the building of the Mineral Water Hospital in 1738.

Allen had a summer home built in the English coastal town of Weymouth in Dorset, overlooking the harbour at number 2 Trinity street, opposite the Customs house. There is a plaque on the house to commemorate Allen. His Bath stone was used to build the Georgian style buildings in old Weymouth.