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 former Ministry of Defence offices.

"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.

[9] Opposite the hospital is a 4-star hotel and health club, Combe Grove Manor, with 69 acres (28 ha) of gardens and woodland.

The privately owned Bath 'circular tour' bus passes the outskirts of the village and down Ralph Allen Drive on its route to the city centre.

This can be translated as: "For the health of Imperator Caesar Marcus Aurelius Antoninus Pius Felix Invictus Augustus, Naevius the imperial freedman, helped to restore from its foundations the procurator's headquarters which had broken down in ruins."

[18] In 1791, John Collinson describes Combe Down as still undeveloped: On the summit of Combedown a mile northward from the church [mc], among many immense quarries of fine free stone, are large groves of firs, planted by the late Ralph Allen, esq; for the laudable purpose of ornamenting this (at that time rough and barren) hill.

It consists of eleven houses [De Montalt Place], built of wrought stone, raised on the spot ; each of which has a small garden in front.

These were originally built for the workmen employed in the quarries, but are now chiefly let to invalids from Bath who retire hither for the sake of a very fine air-, (probably rendered more salubrious by the Plantation of firs) from which many have received essential benefit.

[22] Combe Down village sits above an area of redundant 18th and 19th century stone quarries, many of which were owned and developed by Ralph Allen in the 1720s.

[25] John Leland, the 16th century antiquarian and traveller, wrote in the 1500s that he approached Bath from Midford "...And about a Mile farther I can to a Village and passd over a Ston Bridge where ranne a litle broke there & they caullid Midford-Water..2 good Miles al by Mountayne and Quarre and litle wood in syte..."[26] which could be a reference to quarrying around Horsecombe Vale, between Midford and Combe Down.

[27] The mines were closed in the 19th century but building work continued above ground, with some roads and houses eventually resting on only a thin crust – in places between only one and two metres deep – above large underground cavities with inadequate support.

Bath and North East Somerset Council approved the planning application in June 2003 and approximately 760 village properties were included within its boundary.

[27] All mine workings inside the boundary of the planning application were stabilised using foam concrete to satisfy a 100-year design life while ensuring archaeologically important areas and bat habitats were protected.

[27] From 1935 to 2011, the Admiralty (later part of the Ministry of Defence) owned a 46 acres (19 ha) site called Foxhill (previously a farm) on the Bradford Road.

The development of Mulberry Park continued and is set to complete in 2024, although many properties are already occupied and a school and community centre are in full operation.

[31] While the burial ground suffered a period of neglect since it ceased to be used in the early 20th century, much remains intact to serve as an important reminder of Bath's historic Jewish community.

The site contains a small building, once thought to be a prayer house (Ohel), but more recent research by the Friends of Bath Jewish Burial Ground.

[32] The De Montalt paper mill stood on the southern slopes of the village during the 19th century; it gradually fell into picturesque ruin until it was converted into housing during 2007.

The mill was built on land owned by Thomas Ralph Maude, Viscount Hawarden (1767–1807) in the early 19th century and was owned by John Bally (1773 – 1854), (a bookseller in Milsom Street in Bath), William Allan or Ellan (1781 – 1832) and George Steart (d.1837), all trading as paper-makers under the name of John Bally & Co.[33] A print dating from the 1850s shows the mill which then possessed the largest water wheel in England, measuring 56 feet (17 m) in diameter.

It has subsequently been discovered that most of the coloured papers used by J. M. W. Turner (1775–1851) for a good number of his approximately twenty thousand drawings and watercolours were made at De Montalt Mill.

The paper was of a very high standard and the watercolour boards were made without being pasted together which ensured they remained free from mildew; however, despite the early success of the business, it failed in 1834 .

[34] By 1859 it was used for a laundry run by the Bath Washing Company Ltd. and later used for a variety of purposes including market gardening (1871); and cabinet making from (1875) until the lease expired in 1905 and it closed.

It is possible that the flower was first brought to the Bath area as seeds carried on the wheels and hooves of Roman vehicles and animals.

These are mainly buildings along Combe Road, Summer Lane, and Church Road at Isabella Place and from Claremont House to Hopecote Lodge, which were built soon after the death of Cornwallis Maude, 1st Viscount Hawarden (1729–1803) who died with substantial debts[44] which led to the break-up of the De Montalt estate in Bath,[45] as speculators in property and mining took the opportunity.

Combe Down had become known as a place for convalescence and "good air" (away from polluted cities) and, being only about 1.5 miles (2.4 km) from Bath, was perfect for this as well as for middle class professionals.

[121] Frederic Weatherly (1848–1929), the composer of the song Danny Boy, lived at Grosvenor Lodge (now renamed St Christopher )[86] in Belmont Road during the second decade of the 20th century.

[123] Eliza Margaret Jane Humphreys (1850–1938), a novelist using the pen name 'Rita', lived in Richardson Avenue (now The Firs) in the 1920s before moving to the house called West Brow.