Combe Down is a village on the outskirts of Bath, England in the Bath and North East Somerset unitary authority within the ceremonial county of Somerset. Combe Down village consists predominantly of 18th and 19th century Bath stone-built villas, terraces and workers' cottages; the post World War II Foxhill estate of former and present council housing; a range of Georgian, Victorian and 20th century properties along both sides of North Road and Bradford Road and the 21st century Mulberry Park development on the site of the former Ministry of Defence offices. Location Combe Down sits on a ridge above Bath, approximately to the south of the city centre. The village is adjoined to the north by large areas of natural woodland (Fairy Wood, Long Wood, Klondyke Copse and Rainbow Wood) with public footpaths offering views overlooking the city. Parts of these woods are owned and managed by Bath & Northeast Somerset Council, but the majority are owned and managed by the National Trust and incorporate the Bath Skyline trail. To the south of the village are views of the Midford Valley. Etymology "Combe" or "coombe" is a word meaning a steep-sided valley derived from Old English "cumb" and possibly from the same Brythonic source as the Welsh cwm. "Down" comes from the Old English "dūn" or "dūne", shortened from adūne ‘downward’, from the phrase of dūne ‘off the hill’. Governance Formerly part of the parish of Monkton Combe, Combe Down was incorporated into the city of Bath in the 1950s. There have been a number of boundary changes and local government changes affecting Combe Down. Before 1854: part of the ecclesiastical parish of Monkton Combe in the diocese of Bath and Wells and the civil hundred of Bath Forum in Somerset From 1854: part of the ecclesiastical parish of Combe Down in the diocese of Bath and Wells and the civil hundred of Bath Forum in Somerset Following the Public Health Act 1875: part of the civil hundred of Bath Forum in Somerset and Bath Rural Sanitary District Following the Local Government Act 1894: part of the civil parish of Monkton Combe in Bath Rural District Council in Somerset Following the Local Government Act 1933: part of the civil parish of Monkton Combe in Bathavon Rural District Council in Somerset Following the Local Government Commission for England (1958–1967): from 1967 part of the county borough of Bath Following the Local