Those bloody bath taps

Can you get at it from behind the wall?

Your teasing me now. Naw, it's an outside wall.

They sell a retro kit for just what you have. It ends up being a single faucet and there is a cover plate that runs out left and right to cover the old holes etc. I saw it on Ask This Old House, maybe you can find pictures of it there?

Rich

You might try some sort of rotary tool like a Dremel or Roto-Zip to remove the grouting and spare the tiles.

Yes. This is a real old house and it appears that at one time there was a claw foot tub and all the piping was outside. I thought about that idea and this would be fine if the backing was blue board or regular drywall as the tile would come off. my worry is if it's plywood. I think this is a job where I can just jump into and hope for the best and expect the worst - think i'll try the dremel.

Don't forget to look at what is on the other side of the taps. Is it a room, or is it an outside wall? If it is a room, would it be simpler to change the taps by removing part of the wall in that room. It is certainly easier to repair a piece, even a big piece, of wall board than to mess with tile.