Bear Flat
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| Bear Flat | |
  Bear Flat shown within Somerset |
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| OS grid reference | |
|---|---|
| Unitary authority | Bath and North East Somerset |
| Ceremonial county | Somerset |
| Region | South West |
| Constituent country | England |
| Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
| Post town | BATH |
| Postcode district | BA2 |
| Dialling code | 01225 |
| Police | Avon and Somerset |
| Fire | Avon |
| Ambulance | Great Western |
| European Parliament | South West England |
| UK Parliament | Bath |
| List of places: UK • England • Somerset | |
Bear Flat is an area of Bath, England, to the south of central Bath, sitting at the top of Beechen Cliff. 'Flat' may be derived from the flatness of the land - most of Bath is very hilly. 'Bear' has nothing to do with the animal but is believed to be a corruption of the Anglo-Saxon name 'Berwick' - 'Ber' meaning Barley and 'Wick' being a settlement - a settlement near a barley field (this is quoted in Bath Pubs, Kirsten Elliot & Andrew Swift, Akeman Press, 2003). This was later incorporated into a farm which in the 19th century was called 'Barrack' farm, then demolished to make way for housing.
Through Bear Flat runs the Wellsway. Originally this was the main pilgrimage route from Bath, with its abbey, and Wells with its cathedral. The Georgians built at either end of Bear Flat but the main estate of Poets Corner is late Victorian and Edwardian. Poets Corner is comprised of avenues (Shakespeare, Milton, Kipling, Longfellow and Shelley) with Chaucer Road running through the estate parallel to Wellsway.
Bear Flat has range of shops, including a Co-op, Smile (another convenience store), a couple of estate agents, Rolfeys Antique Shop (a real Alladin's cave), The Carphone Warehouse, Majestic Wine, Da Vinci's delicatessen, the Real Meat Company, a real green-grocer (fresh local produce alongside those sourced from further afield), a chemist, a betting shop, etc. For people who wish to eat in Bear Flat there is Da Vinci's Pizza take-away, a Bangladeshi restaurant and a bistro wine bar that used to be another deli and a pub, the Bear. The Bear pub was formerly a brewery and public house but was severely damaged by a bomb in the Second World War and subsequently demolished - the current pub is a post-war building.
A number of artists live in the area, ranging from painters to potters, sculptors, jewellers, photographers, etc. Every year they organise the Bear Flat Open Studios [1] over the Spring Bank Holiday weekend, numerous homes are opened and work displayed, much of this work is also for sale.
It has also become home to the Royal Photographic Society who moved up to Bear Flat from their original home in the centre of Bath.
To reach Bear Flat from the centre of Bath, the original route was up Holloway ('Holy way'). This follows the mediaeval pilgrimage route and has a very pleasant pilgrims church with 'Holy' well (fairly dilapidated and without water) opposite. Because of the steepness of Holloway a later road was built which climbs more gently. This is now called Wells Road but is named on some Georgian maps as the Wells-Exeter Road. Holloway is no longer open to traffic at the bottom but vehicles now take the Wells Road road out of Bath towards Radstock - the A367. Pedestrians and cyclists can follow across the river to the South of Bath city centre and then can follow Holloway up the hill (a steep but pleasant and picturesque climb).
Up the hill to the East of Bear Flat is Alexandra Park. The park sits at the top of a hill with wonderful views. To the South is the deep wooded valley of Lyncombe Vale, formerly the route of the Bath branch of the Somerset and Dorset Railway, with a tunnel which was the longest unventilated rail tunnel in Britain, and now a good place for country walks. To the East runs the Widcombe valley with some excellent Georgian buildings. To the North the view is over the edge of Beechan Cliff and is one of the best ways of getting an aerial view of the city of Bath short of going up in a balloon.
