Prior Park
| Prior Park | |
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| Location | Bath, Somerset, England |
| Coordinates | 51°21′54″N 2°20′40″W / 51.36500°N 2.34444°WCoordinates: 51°21′54″N 2°20′40″W / 51.36500°N 2.34444°W |
| Built | 1742 |
| Built for | Ralph Allen |
| Architect | John Wood, the Elder |
| Architectural style(s) | Palladian |
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Listed Building – Grade I
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| Official name: Prior Park (Now Prior Park College) | |
| Designated | 12 June 1950 |
| Reference no. | 443306 |
 Location of Prior Park in Somerset
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Prior Park is a Palladian house, designed by John Wood, the Elder in the 1730s and 1740s for Ralph Allen, on a hill overlooking Bath, Somerset, England. It has been designated as a Grade I listed building.
The house was built to demonstrate the properties of Bath stone as a building material. The design followed work by Andrea Palladio and was influenced by drawings originally made by Colen Campbell for Wanstead House in Essex. The main block had 15 bays and each of the wings 17 bays each. The surrounding parkland had been laid out in 1100 but following the purchase of the land by Allen 11.3 hectares (28 acres) were established as a landscape garden. Features in the garden include a Palladian Bridge which is also Grade I listed.
Following Allen's death the estate passed down through his family. In 1828 it was purchased by Bishop Baines for use as a Roman Catholic College. The house was then extended and a chapel and gymnasium built by Henry Goodridge. The house is now used by Prior Park College and the surrounding parkland owned by the National Trust.
Ralph Allen, an entrepreneur and philanthropist, was notable for his reforms to the British postal system. He moved in 1710 to Bath, where he became a post office clerk, and at the age of 19, in 1712, became the Postmaster of Bath. In 1742 he was elected Mayor of Bath, and was the Member of Parliament for Bath between 1757 and 1764. The building in Lilliput Alley, now North Parade Passage in Bath, which he used as a post office became his Town House.
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