Bath Abbey contains the largest collection of monuments in any UK church or cathedral. But how did the ruined Abbey of 1539 become a Georgian 'gallery of sculpture', where the latest works of art by famous sculptors could be seen? And why are their appearances today so different from their original designs?

Long before the city's now-celebrated museums and galleries were established, the Abbey's monuments were one of Bath's newsworthy tourist attractions. Drawing on a wealth of unpublished material on the Abbey's history, this book tells the story of its monuments for the first time – how they helped the Abbey rise from the aftermath of the Dissolution to give it a new identity, a unique floor, and walls that tell the social history of Bath.