ABSTRACT
In 1660, despite all the changes which had occurred during the previous century and a half, many aspects of daily life were little different from what they had been when the Tudor dynasty had come to the throne in 1485; by 1815 few parts of Wessex had not been profoundly affected by turnpike roads, canals, improved harbours, new industries, agricultural advances, and a host of changes in population and social structure. Everywhere the impact of this period of change, prosperity and rapid growth is still very evident. Most town centres and market-places were rebuilt, or the houses were enlarged and re-fronted in the latest style, many villages and farms were completely reconstructed, while the wealth of many towns and of ports such as Bristol, Bridgwater, Weymouth, Lyme Regis and Poole is still apparent from the fine eighteenth-century mansions, warehouses, customs houses and the large, opulent, nonconformist chapels. Bath became the leading social centre of England and the arbiter of taste in dress, furnishings, architecture and social behaviour.
