Step into the shadows with a Gothic walking tour of Bath with an expert guide.
Literature Legends & Twilight Tales
‘Her passion for ancient edifices was next in degree to her passion for Henry Tilney – and castles and abbeys made usually the charm of those reveries which his image did not fill,’ Northanger Abbey
As dusk settles and Bath’s golden stone turns to shadow, join us for a 2.5-hour evening tour that brings the city’s Gothic imagination to life.
This walk explores Bath’s connections to Gothic literature, its atmospheric architecture and its hidden, shadowy corners.
One brilliant price for up to six guests ~ with an expert Tour Guide
- Our guided tour last 2.5 hours
- The start time is 16:00 (timed to capture the atmosphere of twilight)
- For this private tour, there is just one fee of £150 for up to six guests (and there is no minimum number to your group size.)
- Tour starts in front of Mary Shelley’s House of Frankenstein 37 Gay St, Bath BA1 2NT (why not add a frightful flourish with entry tickets to the House of Frankenstein Museum before wandering through Bath’s shadows? )
A place of Regency refinement but also steeped in Gothic imagination.
The City of Bath is celebrated for its Georgian elegance and close ties to Jane Austen, but it also boasts a remarkable Gothic literary heritage. Austen set Northanger Abbey here, playfully satirising the Gothic obsessions of her time, while Ann Radcliffe, the “queen of Gothic fiction,” lived in the city and inspired generations of readers with her tales of mystery and suspense. Radcliffe’s ‘The Mysteries of Udolpho’ is directly referenced in Northanger Abbey, whose young protagonist Catherine Moorland is obsessed with the book and her imagination begins to blur the line between fiction and reality with amusing outcome . In one chapter, Catherine discusses Radcliffe’s book with Henry Tilney leading to the famous Jane Austen quote spoken by his character “The person, be it gentleman or lady, who has not pleasure in a good novel, must be intolerably stupid.”
Bath also offered a creative refuge to Mary Shelley, who completed Frankenstein during her stay in 1816–17, bringing one of literature’s most enduring Gothic figures into the world. Shelley probably never met Austen, but their lives ran intriguingly parallel. Her mother, Mary Wollstonecraft, published the radical Vindication of the Rights of Woman (1792)—a book Austen may have encountered in Bath’s circulating libraries.
Later, the city’s Gothic threads were taken up by the novelist and collector William Beckford, whose lavish Lansdown Tower embodied the romantic and the macabre, and by Angela Carter, whose modern Gothic tales reimagined folklore with wit and sensuality.
Optional Additional Experience
Begin with a visit to Bath’s most unusual attraction, dedicated to the turbulent life of Mary Shelley and the creation of her legendary novel Frankenstein.
Inside, you will find Gothic film memorabilia, a mini cinema playing classic horror films and unsettling surprises lurking in the basement. For those who enjoy a challenge, the Escape Rooms provide an optional, immersive twist.
Tickets are £16.75p/p which you can add when booking your walk, please include the number of tickets you wish to include.
We will book tickets for admission to the House of Frankenstein at 2:30pm. Please let us know if you would like to visit earlier in the day (open from 11:00). You will need at least one hour to explore before the evening walk begins.
Do you have questions you would like to ask?
Please get in touch by email or phone if you have any questions – we are here to help you
Please call our free phone number 0800 298 0588 or email hello@strictlyjaneausten.com.
Further terms of our service are available here
