Recently, visiting fellow Molly Conisbee took members of CDAS on a death walk around Bath. The tour was based on an podcast she developed which invites locals and visitors alike to explore the hidden—and sometimes unsettling—stories behind Bath’s elegant facades.

The University of Bath’s Centre for Death and Society (CDAS) launched a unique new walking tour that offers a darker perspective on the historic city of Bath—shifting the focus from Romans and Georgians to tales of illness, death, crime and the dark underbelly of the city to whet your appetite for the macabre.

The Bath Death Walk, a 90-minute city centre tour, was developed as a free, self-guided experience via a dedicated podcast and mobile app.

Some feedback from those who went on the walk:

  • "Really engaging walk leader and fun atmosphere"

  • "Molly was an absolutely Wonderful guide; Wonderfully informed , warm and generous in her guiding , engaging and humorous- I could have been on the tour for hours! Lots of fabulous information."

  • "Molly shared her expertise and knowledge in a very accessible and engaging way. Use of place to illustrate the stories of disease and death in Bath was very effective."

  • "I enormously enjoyed Molly's encyclopaedic knowledge of the layers of history in Bath. I am from Bath, and yet had never seen the city so richly as I did through Molly's eyes. It changed my view of the city! I really enjoyed the fresh air, the walk and the live commentary in the streets, via Molly's vivid story telling. Also, I really valued meeting other like-minded people interested in the theme of death and dying, and getting to know the CDAS community better."

  • "Such a brilliant insight into the history of Bath city centre. I learned so much!"

  • "I really enjoyed learning about Bath in a different way. You so often hear about the Georgians/regency and there's so much more to Bath than that!"

The walk is available now at cdaswalk.org, and organisations interested in bespoke guided walks for events or team activities are encouraged to get in touch with the Centre directly.

This new project is part of CDAS’s broader mission to connect academic research with real-world conversations about death, dying, and the end of life—topics the Centre has been pioneering for 20 years.

The walk is funded by the University’s Public Engagement Unit, the Alumni Fund, the Department of Social and Policy Sciences, and CDAS.