Hannah More, writer, abolitionist and philanthropist, spent the winters here since the damp was too severe at her cottage in Cowslip Green. Her correspondence provides an interesting insight into the events and social climate of the time. In 1793, More wrote to Walpole: ‘All here is ruin and misery. Two banks broken at Bath; at Bristol things are worse, every hour presents me with some fresh instance of someone I know undone’. In 1797, More writes on the royal appearances at war time: ‘Grave as the times are, Bath was never so gay [...] the Duchess contributes, by her residence in it, to make our street alive’ (the Yorks were in almost permanent residence there) Letters, p. 133.