The village of South Widcombe

Widcombe is a district of Bath, England, immediately south-east of the city centre, across the River Avon. Widcombe Manor House is a grade I listed manor house built in 1656. It is located on Church Street adjacent to St Thomas à Beckett Church.

Widcombe is where the Kennet and Avon Canal meets the River Avon. Bath Locks are a series of locks, just south of Pulteney Bridge, which climb through Widcombe.

Alongside the bottom lock is a side pond and pumping station which pumps water up the locks to replace that used each time the lock is opened. The next stage of Bath Deep Lock is numbered 8/9 as two locks were combined when the canal was restored in 1976.

A road bridge carrying the A4, constructed while the canal was in a state of disrepair passes over the original site of the lower lock. The new chamber has a depth of 19ft 5ins, making it Britain's second deepest canal lock. Just above the 'deep lock' is an area of water enabling the lock to refill and above this is Wash House Lock (number 10),and soon after by Abbey View Lock (number 11), a grade II listed building by which there is another pumping station and in quick succession Pulteney Lock and Bath top Lock Above the top lock the canal passes through Sydney Gardens where it passes through two tunnels and under two cast iron footbridges dating from 1800.

Cleveland tunnel is 173 feet long and runs under Cleveland House, the former headquarters of the Kennet and Avon Canal Company. A trap-door in the tunnel roof was employed to exchange paperwork between clerks above and bargees below.This is now a grade II* listed building. Many of the bridges over the canal are also listed buildings.

Widcombe Manor is a grade I listed manor house in Widcombe, Bath originally built in 1656 and then rebuilt in 1727 for Philip Bennet the local MP. The crest of the Bennet family can be seen surmounting the two pedestals at the entrance gates.The manor is located on Church Street adjacent to St Thomas à Beckett Church.

The manor house has a south-facing front which is in its original condition. In around 1850, the west front was altered and now includes a bay window and stone balconies at the first floor windows. The fountain in front of the house is Italian and thought to date from the 15th century. It was installed in its presnt position in the early twentieth century.

From 1955, it was the home to the entrepreneur and inventor Jeremy Fry. Princess Margaret and Tony Armstrong-Jones were frequent visitors, and it was the location of the 1972 Widcombe Manor Festival at which Hawkwind were scheduled to play.

St Thomas à Becket Church is a parish church of Widcombe in Bath, Somerset southwest England, and is one of a number of churches named after Thomas Becket. It was built between 1490 and 1498 by John Cantlow, Prior of Bath Abbey and took the place of an older Norman church.[1][2] It is believed that there was originally a Saxon chapel on the site. The church was commonly called Old Widcombe Church and used to be the principal church of the parishes of Widcombe and Lyncombe. The Domesday survey of 1086 shows a small settlement around the church although no trace of it remains.

In 1847 a much large church, St Matthews, was built in Widcombe parish. On 22 April 1847, it was announced that the church bells, which had for centuries been in the tower of St. Thomas à Becket, were to be removed and installed in the new St. Matthew's.Legend has it that the bells were seized by force from the wardens of St Thomas's.

The Kennet and Avon Canal is a canal in southern England. The name may refer to either the route of the original Kennet and Avon Canal Company, which linked the River Kennet at Newbury to the River Avon at Bath, or to the entire navigation between the River Thames at Reading and the Floating Harbour at Bristol, including the earlier improved river navigations of the River Kennet between Reading and Newbury and the River Avon between Bath and Bristol.

The River Kennet was made navigable to Newbury in 1723, and the River Avon to Bath in 1727. The canal between Newbury and Bath opened in 1810 and is 57 miles (92 km) long. The two river navigations and the canal total 87 miles (140 km) in length.

In the later 19th century and early 20th century the canal fell into disuse following competition from the Great Western Railway, who owned the canal. In the latter half of the 20th century the canal was restored, largely by volunteers, and today is a popular heritage tourism destination, for boating, canoeing, fishing, walking and cycling. It is also important for wildlife conservation.

The section from Bristol to Bath is the course of the River Avon, which flows through a wide valley and has been made navigable by a series of locks and weirs. In Bath the canal separates from the river but follows its valley as far as Bradford on Avon. The ornate Bath Locks lead to a stretch through Limpley Stoke valley with few locks. The flight of locks at Devizes raises the canal to its longest pound, which then ascends the 4 Wooton Rivers locks to the short summit pound which includes the Bruce Tunnel. Pumping stations are used to supply the canal with water. The canal continues through the rural landscape of Wiltshire and Berkshire before joining the River Kennet at Newbury and becoming a navigable river to Reading, where it flows into the River Thames.