Historic dwellings in the UK make up to 20% of all homes. In the Georgian city of Bath this rises to 30%. These buildings are a mongst the most poorly performing part of the English housing stock in energy use terms, with the lowest SAP rating and highest average annual CO2 emissions. The legal aim to reduce CO2 emissions of 80% by 2050 will involve all existing dwellings, including historic buildings. The degree to which proposals to retrofit the UK housing stock can reduce emissions depends on how much energy they currently use, what it is used for and how much CO2 they emit. This paper establishes a benchmark of energy use and CO2 emissions for historic dwellings in Bath. This permits comparison of their energy performance against other parts of the housing stock and will facilitate evaluation of potential retrofit adaptations. (C) 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.