The Healing Waters of Bath

Caitlin presents the healing waters of Bath

The hot springs at Bath have long been considered to heal the sick. The Romans mainly used baths for leisure, but several writers, such as Pliny the Elder, Asclepiades and Celsus, talked about the therapeutic benefits.

In Britain, for about 1500 years the belief was that the hot water balanced the humours, which would make you healthy again. As the minerals gave it a dry taste and immersion made you urinate more, hot baths were considered hot/dry, which is odd, as you would think a hot bath would be hot/wet!

The four humours and their interactions

By the medieval period, the Church was against bathing, calling it a luxury. It considered the Roman baths to be immoral, so many baths fell into disrepair. Later, the Church condoned the use of bathing for healing/spiritual purification, and so in the 1100s the Kings Baths were built on the sacred spring by the Bishop of Bath at the time.

As the Baths became more and more popular, there were even some royal visitors such as King Charles I in the 1600s and Queen Anne in 1702 and 1703. By the Georgian period, people began to drink the water instead of bathing with the crowds. In 1706, the Pump Room was built for those who wished to drink the water, rather than bathe in it. Drinking the water became much more popular and trendier so the Pump Room was expanded in 1795.

Glass bottle for "NOTED BATH WATERS, 1894"

With more competition from other spa towns, like Tunbridge Wells and Leamington Spa, in Britain, new treatments were on offer at the Spa Treatment Centre in Bath, such as electrotherapy and needle douches. These new treatments boosted visitors, and by the 1890s, 100,000 people had visited the baths. It was also during this period that the remains of the Roman baths were revealed, although evidence of a Roman Bath house in the area had been known since 1755.

Spa treatment photographs. L: Man standing in needle douche; R: Man being lowered into the Hot Bath

The beginning of the 20^th century brought new treatment innovations with the discovery of radon and radiotherapy, which helped keep the Spa Treatment Centre visitors numbers high. However, after the Second World War, visitor numbers declined due to fewer people travelling for leisure, and in 1948, treatment centre was under the control of the NHS. Treatments soon were only available to those with a prescription, and then in 1978 the Bath treatment centres were shut after spa treatment therapy was dismissed by orthodox medicine.

Caitlin

Collections Volunteer

Miss Garraway's Lantern Slides

As part of my volunteering in the collections department, I was given the opportunity to write a blog about any artefact in the Roman Baths collection. Although I was initially overwhelmed by the choice of interesting objects, I soon came across an intriguing collection of 7 lantern slides featuring the palace of Versailles. 

Lantern slides are photos printed onto glass and projected using light. They have been around for hundreds of years, and before photography was discovered they were made by hand painting an image onto glass. These slides were donated to the Roman Baths in 1989 by a Miss Garraway.

Lantern slide of La salon de guerre at Versailles

 The photos were taken by a French photographer called Adolphe Braun, who used contemporary methods to market his pictures worldwide. Some of Braun’s Versailles lantern slides were taken in an area of the estate called Le Petit Trianon, like the photo of le temple d’amour (the love monument).

Le Petit Trianon was given to Marie Antoinette in 1774 when she married Louis XVI of France. It already included a small castle surrounded by gardens that Louis XV had been developing since the 1750s.

Lantern slide of le temple d'amour

Marie Antoinette dramatically changed the gardens of the Le Petit Trianon, commissioning the architect Richard Mique to redesign them to her taste. She was responsible for the addition of the Love monument as well as The Queen’s Hamlet, a small village of 10 buildings that included a working farm and dairy. It is widely believed that the Queen would amuse herself by pretending to be a farmer here, but really the Hamlet was used for hosting guests and educating the royal children. Unfortunately, there is not a photo of the Hamlet in Miss Garraway’s collection, although I did find a Braun photo of the Hamlet online.

Miss Garraway donated lots of items to the museum in 1989, including an Egyptian mud brick, a flint arrowhead and a total of 120 glass lantern slides. On a trip to the Record Office, we found that the collection had belonged to her father, who was headmaster at St. Saviour’s school.

A Bath Chronicle article about Mr Garraway, 1st November 1947

It is still unclear why these artefacts were in his possession. It is possible that he used these items in his school to help educate children. The fact that the photographer Braun was known for using contemporary methods to market his pictures worldwide does explain how the Garraways were able to access these photos.

Ella

Volunteer

The Games of Sulis

Nowadays, visitors to the Baths enjoy their chance to walk upon the stone trodden by Roman feet two thousand years ago; but did you know that, in the 1960s & ‘70s, there were regular events which gave people an even more intimate taste of ancient culture, allowing them to dine at a full Roman banquet around the baths themselves? 

An invitation to the very first of these, in the shape of a scroll with a wax seal and ribbon and entitled LUDI SULIS I JUNIUS MCMLXI (The Games of Sulis, 1^st June 1961), has recently been acquired by the Roman Baths:

The invitation to the Roman banquet

The invitation sets out full details of the ‘orgy’, from clothing and music to décor and food, interspersed with quotes from poets such as Tibullus and Propertius, and even begins with a specially-composed, three-verse Latin poem, inviting the guests to the feast:

The invitation’s heading, including the Latin invitatory poem

The first two verses imagine the invitee as a weary ploughman or shepherd, enticed to take rest under a tree, sate their thirst and be lulled to sleep. The final verse invites the guest to a rather less tranquil affair, as can be seen by a possible translation:

But if you prefer a ladle of Falernian wine with water, or an beautiful girl to a disgusting sheep, seize the lavish joys of the night with the orgies of Sulis.

Every invitee was required to attend in full Roman attire to make the atmosphere more authentic, the men therefore being given a purple toga on arrival, the women a stola (a long, sleeveless dress). Together with the invitation was a photograph (see below) showing some guests in their outfits. The women’s hair is arranged in Roman style, in accordance with the invitation’s suggestion that they ‘imitated Cypassis’, an ‘expert in ornamenting hair in a thousand fashions’ (ponendis in mille modos perfecta capillis, Ovid Amores II.8).

Guests to Ludi Sulis in their Roman attire of toga or stola

Each item of food in the gustatio (hors d’oeuvres), fercula (roast) and mensa secunda (dessert) was an authentic Roman delicacy. These ranged from tunny fish, snails, honey cakes and stuffed pastry birds to a complete roast pig, which greeted the guests as they arrived to sit on cushions around the Great Bath.

Organisers even took inspiration from Cena Trimalchionis (Trimalchio’s Feast), part of Petronius’ Satyricon (often considered one of the earliest ‘novels’, written in the 1^st century AD), in setting up a ‘table of delicacies’. Guests were advised to decline these, seeing as they included things like nightingales’ tongues, flamingos’ brains and sows’ udders!

The feast was accompanied by music adapted from surviving Greek fragments and performed on lyres and recorders (the double flute or tibia being deemed too unwieldy to play). The after-dinner entertainment was decidedly more modern: guests were serenaded on the terrace by Nero and the Gladiators, a 1960s rock band!

According to a newspaper article from 1990 written about it, the event was organised by Mrs B. Robertson and Mrs V. Crallan to raise money for the Bath Festival. Tickets cost four guineas, and a film crew was even paid to record the event, on the condition that the cameramen must enter into the spirit of things by donning togas too! The event quickly morphed into ‘Roman Rendezvous’ nights, and many people remember being allowed to swim in the Great Bath before dancing in the Pump Room.

Acquisitions come from many different sources, such as donations, purchases or transfers - but it’s always fascinating to receive evidence of the colourful history of the Baths’ use through time.

Jack

Collections Volunteer 

Lords, Land and the Law

Recently, a fascinating legal document from 1790 entered our collection (fig. 1). Found with a collection of 19th century train documents from Bath Spa Railway Station, the agreement was older, and in much better condition than many of the papers around it. It has clearly been looked after carefully, and the document is in perfect reading condition, allowing us to easily identify it as a legal agreement between Sir Thomas George Skipwith of Prewbold Prevell, and the Right Honourable Francis Seymour Conray, commonly known as Lord Viscount Beauchamp.

Fig. 1: A legal agreement dating to 1790. While the writing is very clear, it is hard to read the entire document due to its fragility.

It specifies the tenancy terms of inherited land owned by Conray, formerly leased to Skipwith. Skipwith died in 1790, and the agreement is part of a legal process which handed Skipwith’s estates to his kinsman, Sir Gray Skipworth, who was born and raised in Virginia, and was remarkably a descendant through his mother of Pocahontas.

Thomas Skipwith himself was an inconspicuous member of the House of Parliament, representing Warwickshire from 1769-1780 and Steyning 1780-1784. Despite being head of the poll for Warwickshire in 1780, Skipwith refused to stand, drawing comment from the London Chronicle. ‘The unexpected resignation of Sir Thomas Skipwith is held by the inhabitants in the number of the most paradoxical events that may have happened amongst them.’[1]

Fig. 2: Francis Seymour Conray, also known as Lord Viscount Beauchamp.

On the other side of the agreement is Francis Conray (fig. 2). Conray had a number of significant roles, including Ambassador to France (1763-5), Lord Lieutenant of Ireland (1765-6), Master of the Horse (1766), and Lord Chamberlain (1766-82). David Hume, the 18th century Scottish philosopher, wrote of him, ‘I do not believe there is in the World a man of more probity & Humanity, endowed with a very good Understanding, and adorned with very elegant Manners & Behaviour.’[2]

It is remarkable to find a document relating to such characters, and they feed into the larger picture of Georgian life in England. Families survived on inheritance, and there was a massive importance placed on an individual’s legacy. Their titles and achievements were just as significant as the land they owned, and it was documents such as this that ensured a family’s rich heritage endured.

If you would like to see the document in person, alongside a number of interesting documents relating to the origins and workings of the GWR in Bath, come to the Lansdown Local History Store Open Day – Wednesday 30th May.

Simon
Placement Student


[1] Namier, L. and Brooke, J., 1985. The House of Commons 1754-1790 (Vol. 1). Boydell & Brewer.
[2] Hume, D., Klibansky, R. and Mossner, E.C., 1954. New Letters, Edited by Raymond Klibansky and Ernest C. Mossner. Clarendon Press. p.77-78.

Locksbrook to Lansdown!

It’s busy-ness as usual for the Collections team this week as we’re moving the contents of our Local History store all the way from St Johns Store on Locksbrook Road up to a new and improved store in Lansdown.

Needle douches at St Johns Store

The move has involved considerable planning, as the collection ranges from rickety needle douches to beautiful wooden furniture. Originally, the new space seemed like it would be too small for the sheer amount of objects, but with the installation of a mezzanine floor and some lovely new racking, the move was fit to go ahead.

A hair hygrometer measures the humidity of the atmosphere in %RH (relative humidity)

Of course we hit a few bumps in the road – mostly to do with conservation because the environment up on Lansdown isn’t always the friendliest! On one of the first days of planning the move, we took a hygrometer with us to measure the moisture in the air, which read 92% RH (relative humidity) after just an hour! Considering the nature of the collection (lots of wood and metal), which requires a much drier, more stable environment this had to be dealt with quickly. Today, we have just the machines for the job – two dehumidifiers that consistently keep the humidity in the store at a balmy 45%RH.

Planning the move!

Even with the racking put in place, space was still an issue. The only way to solve this was to chalk it up to experience and literally draw chalk lines onto the floor, outlining the shapes and sizes of objects to make sure we were using the remaining space as efficiently as possible. It’s not just a matter of being able to squeeze around it – we also need to have access for collections purposes as well as for our visitors to view these amazing objects!

A beautiful desk fits snugly in its allotted area of floor space

I can’t express my delight when all this hard work paid off and each object slotted smoothly into its intended space to within a centimetre of the chalked outlines! Work continues today to get everything moved to Lansdown, and it’s already looking like the store we always wanted.

The move is still in progress, but we'll be open for visitors soon!

Join us up at Lansdown North on the 26^th October from 11am-3pm to celebrate the Grand Opening of our new store. For more information, please visit the Museums Week website.

Zofia

Collections Assistant

Is Money the root of all Evill?

There are many different ways an object can end up in our collection at the Roman Baths, which means that we have a huge range of items, from enormous Roman stones to Haile Selassie’s golf clubs! This is because our museum’s collection policy includes objects that have relevance to Bath’s long and fascinating history, so when an important item surfaces we are sometimes able to acquire it.

Our latest acquisition is a perfect example. It’s a Bath Bank banknote from 1814, worth £5 at the time, and like many of our objects it has a story to tell. On the front of the note you can see the signature of a man called William Evill, and just above that is the name of his business; James Evill & Son. This was one of Georgian Bath’s most famous toy shops – but not as we might know them today.

The front of the banknote, showing Evill’s signature

These toy shops were full of fashionable commodities, luxury goods, and beautiful hand crafted souvenirs. To begin with, Evill’s store opened in the Marketplace around 1759 as a “cutler and hosier”, but this was only the tip of the iceberg! It went on to be the longest running toy shop in Bath, and Evill expanded the remit to include everything from gilt thimbles to pistols, handmade watches to surgeon’s instruments, all lavishly displayed on glass shelves in glass windows, sparkling and catching the eye of every passer-by.

The back of the banknote, with various handwritten notes

The banknote was originally issued in Evill’s name but it seems to have changed hands a number of times after that point. There are handwritten notes of different names and dates on the back, possibly reminding the bearer when or where it had come from. They’re a little hard to decipher, but my favourite is the writing halfway down the banknote when it was “taken of a gentleman”.

Can you distinguish any names or dates? We’re hoping to do some research and find out a little bit more about these individuals.

Zofia
Collections Assistant

Rings fit for Kings...

We don’t venture onto the site unless necessary, and so it is that in my three years at The Roman Baths, I am still ticking off areas of the site I’ve been on! I came in recently to discover the Sacred Spring being cleaned (this is something that is done periodically to remove excess build-up of algae (and bird feathers!)), and having a valid excuse to venture through the door to the Spring, I went exploring…

We’re currently designing a new display to go in the King’s Lounge (overlooking the Sacred Spring), and one of the objects going in the case is a 17^th century bathing ring. There are 25 of these, still in situ around the walls of what was the King’s Bath; but as there would also have been rings around the Queen’s Bath, I was eager to see if we could establish whether the ring came from the King’s Bath…it looks like it may be from the King’s Bath, there’s a pretty big hole it could have fitted!

Bathing ring from the King’s Bath

Currently in the King’s Lounge, we have the detail of some of the inscriptions on the bathing rings, and so whilst down there I took the opportunity to do a photographic survey of all the rings I could (safely) reach, wanting to see how many it was possible to still identify…

Well, so far I have managed six; the inscriptions on the rings have been worn over time, so I was working with varying levels of visible inscription.

Working with the illustration and comparing them to my photos, I was able to identify four of the rings.

Three of the inscribed rings, in situ

Further research led me to discover that in a book of 1883 ‘The Mineral Bath’s of Bath: The Bathes of Bathe’s Ayde in the Reign of Charles II’ by Charles E. Davis, there were inscriptions of 13 bathing rings around the King’s Bath. Using this information I was able to identify another ring that we had illustrated (though all you can see today is the inscription on the attachment, which wasn’t illustrated).

Bathing ring identified by inscription on attachment

One further ring, though not illustrated, had enough of its inscription remaining to be identifiable using the publication; reading ‘Sir William Whitmore, Barronnet, when Mr. Robert Chapman his Frind was 2^nd the Mayor, 1677’.

Bathing ring identified through 1883 publication

Further rings bear hints of remaining inscription; maybe one day we’ll be able to get closer looks at them all and identify more.

Verity

Collections Assistant

Connecting Collections - Lovely Jubilee!

This year the Queen celebrated her Diamond Jubilee, and here at the Baths we also celebrated – not just with a long weekend, but also with a Jubilee-centric temporary display!

The display has a selection of various objects, some from the museum collection, and others on loan from the Bath Record Office and the Victoria Art Gallery. This is because our collection doesn’t have many items that are associated with Queen Elizabeth II, which did at first cause a small problem in creating an interesting display…

The official logo of the 2012 Diamond Jubilee, the winning design of a national competition, was created by 10-year-old Katherine Dewar

Fortunately, the Bath Record Office has plenty of eye catching material. We were able to borrow a number of items, including a folder of photographs from Queen Victoria’s Diamond Jubilee and the original Daily Mail 1952 Coronation Day Special newspaper, printed in golden ink! This actually became the centrepiece for the display, but there was so much other material that could have been used, most of which was glued into large leather-bound books from the Mayor’s Office, so couldn’t be removed. These included programmes, leaflets and invitations to events, all relating to jubilee or coronation celebrations held in Bath in years gone by. In order to include all of these items, I scanned them and created a digital collage that was printed onto the backboard of the display.

The Victoria Art Gallery have also kindly loaned us a mug, commemorating Queen Victoria’s Diamond Jubilee, and an ink on glass silhouette of George III, painted by Hamlet, who was local to Bath. These are interesting because they highlight the other significant jubilees of the monarchy – George III being the first to celebrate 50 years on the throne in 1809, and Queen Victoria having the first Diamond Jubilee in 1897.

The finished display case

From our own collection, I chose to display the Pump Room visitor book that was signed by Queen Elizabeth II, and a selection of medals and commemorative coinage that were made to celebrate various jubilees. These included George III and Queen Victoria, but also Bath Temperance Society and Pope Pius IX, Jubilee celebrations that had nothing to do with the monarchy! The newest acquisition in the collection was also purchased for this display, a 2012 Diamond Jubilee Commemorative £5 coin, produced by the Royal Mint.

The finishing touch was provided by a string of Union Jack bunting, which must have inspired someone, because I saw it everywhere over the weekend!

Zosia - Collections Intern

Connecting Collections – Spa Treatment Centre Equipment

St. John’s Store is home to a wide variety of objects including furniture, retired models and spa equipment. This three part series will look at the history of the building, the spa related objects and the furniture collection.

Part 3 - Spa Treatment Centre Equipment

The hot waters of Bath have long been used for the therapeutic treatment of medical ailments, over the years a variety of recreational baths and hospitals have sprung up, all tapping into the natural resource of the warm mineral water from the hot springs.

One such place was The Spa Treatment Centre which opened in 1870 offering a series of luxurious treatments for those who could afford it. The centre grew in popularity and demand during the late 1800s and early 1900s offering treatments for all different kinds of ailments from simple aches and pains, to sciatica and rheumatism and in extreme cases permanent disabilities.

Many of the treatments are still used today but in different forms; the sauna is often seen in gyms and the aeration bath (see below) was the precursor to the modern day Jacuzzi.......

The spa equipment came into the Roman Baths collection after the closure of the Spa Treatment Centre in 1983.

Vichy Bath and Douche

This Victorian invention was named after the spa town in France. The treatment consisted of a massage under a series of shower heads.

“So great had been the demand for this treatment that a further Vichy suite has just been added to the Royal Baths.” The Book of Bath, 1920’s

BATRM 2000.11.1 Vichy Bath and Douche

Needle Douches

A needle douche is an all-round shower which produces fine needle-like jets of spring water. It was one of many treatments available at the Spa Treatment Centre from the 1870s to 1976.

BATRM 1986.491 Needle Douche

Walking Frame

Late Victorian wooden and brass walking frame. The brass frame has four small wheels supporting the solid wooden base. Used by patients in the Spa Treatment Centre.

BATRM 1986.491.47 Walking Frame

Aeration Bath

A deep bath that worked like a modern Jacuzzi. There are a series of pipes in the bottom of the bath which supplied the spring water at high pressure. The bather would lie on a wooden board and back rest.

BATRM 1986.606 Aeration Bath

The store is open to the public several times a year, with the next store open day on Saturday 9th June 2012 from 11am until 3pm. Please do come along and visit us – for more information and directions please follow this link
http://www.romanbaths.co.uk/whats_on/events/behind_the_scenes_tours.aspx
https://www.facebook.com/#!/events/296443413763889/

Connecting Collections – Furniture

St. John’s Store is home to a wide variety of objects including furniture, retired models and spa equipment. This three part series will look at the history of the building, the spa related objects and the furniture collection.

Part 2 – The Furniture

Not many people know that St John’s store is home to wonderful pieces of furniture. Some have simply appeared in the collection over the years, others donated but mostly it is made up of funiture acquired for council buildings to be used as functional objects rather than collected for their beauty….

Five Seat Rout Bench

This mahogany rout bench was made specifically for the Pump Room, and named after the formal evening parties held in the late 18th Century. Its prototype was designed and made by William Birchall of Queen’s Square, who was employed by Bath Corporation in 1777 to make a pattern settee ‘as a model’ for others to follow. The central design depicts the Bath City Coat of Arms in mahogany veneer and satinwood. The bench seat was originally covered in crimson check.

Bath City Coat of Arms

William Morris Secretaire Bookcase (1894) and William Morris Display Case (1895)

Until recently these beautiful mahogany and satinwood pieces were used to dress the Victorian Scene in the Fashion Museum’s Panorama Room. Both pieces came into the collection via a bequest from the Henderson family. They were made in London towards the end of William Morris’s life. Born in Walthamstow in 1834 William Morris became famous for his work in the visual and decorative arts. His work included book design, calligraphy, furniture, paintings, drawings, stained glass, tapestries, textiles, and wallpapers.

BATRM 2006.31 and BATRM 2006.28 William Morris Pieces

Card Table

This 19th Century Dutch ornate marquetry card table is inlaid with birds, scroll foliage and playing cards. The veneer has faded over time and would originally have been much brighter. Playing cards was a popular pastime in Georgian Bath.

BATRM 2006.278 Card Table

Bench

Mahogany bench from the time of William IV (early – mid 19th Century).
The design reflects a new taste for classical simplicity, symmetry and elegance, in the style known as neo-classical, which appeared during the late Georgian period.

BATRM 2006.21 Bench

The store is open to the public several times a year, with the next store open day on Saturday 9th June 2012 from 11am until 3pm. Please do come along and visit us – for more information and directions please follow this link http://www.romanbaths.co.uk/whats_on/events/behind_the_scenes_tours.aspx
https://www.facebook.com/#!/events/296443413763889/

Connecting Collections – St John’s Store

St John's Museum Store

St. John’s Store is home to a wide variety of objects including furniture, retired models and spa equipment. This three part series will look at the history of the building, the spa related objects and the furniture collection.

Part 1 - About the Building

In 2006, Bath and North East Somerset Council took over a third of the building to house its large social history collection and create a spacious, accessible store. The collection is primarily made up of large pieces of historic furniture and some weird and wonderful spa treatment equipment. The building is currently shared with Mobile Libraries, Weston Day Centre, and acts as Trading Standards stationary store. Before its modern use, the building served as St John the Evangelist School. The school was built in 1875 and sits in the Parish of Weston. It was built as part of the movement towards public education, which first began in the previous century with the creation of Sunday schools.

Prior to 1800, there were very few schools. Most of those that existed were run by the church, for the church, stressing religious education. In 1814, compulsory apprenticeship by indenture was abolished. By 1831, Sunday school in Great Britain was ministering weekly to 1,250,000 children, approximately 25% of the population.

The Elementary Education Act of 1870 (The Forster Act) was a milestone in the British school education system. The act made it compulsory to provide education for children between the ages of 5 and 10. An extension to the Elementary Education Act in 1880 insisted on compulsory attendance for children aged from 5–10 years. The Elementary Education (School Attendance) Act 1893 raised the minimum leaving age to 11. Later the same year, the act was extended to cover blind and deaf children. This act was amended in 1899 to raise the school leaving age up to 12 years.

Unfortunately, our knowledge of the history of St John’s school is limited. We know it closed in the 1970’s but could you help? Do you know anything about St John’s School?

We are looking for information, if you know of anyone who used to go to school here or who might know anything more about the building, please leave a comment or contact us on 01225 477779; susan_fox@bathnes.gov.uk

The store is open to the public several times a year. The next store open day is Saturday 9th June 2012 from 11am until 3pm, so please do come along and visit us – for more information and directions please follow this link http://www.romanbaths.co.uk/whats_on/events/behind_the_scenes_tours.aspx  or check out our Facebook Page https://www.facebook.com/#!/events/296443413763889/

Helen Harman - Collections Assistant

Connecting Collections - Magic Lantern Slides Part II

Old photographs can often be dated by advertising or incidental details, a good example of this being the photograph of A.Goodman’s Confectioners shop. This shows a large advertisement for Fry’s Chocolate. (Frys Chocolate Cream bars being first sold around 1866). Several were taken in Cornwall, two showing groups of people who were presumably also on holiday. In one example, they are shown enjoying a picnic luncheon, complete with large straw picnic hampers, in true Victorian style, complete (including / along with?) with flagon.

A. Goodman's Shop

Photographs taken often also document a changing world, and this is illustrated by two slides in particular. One is that of boys listening to a phonograph, invented in 1877 by Thomas Edison. This was the first device to reproduce recorded sound, clearly quite a technical innovation. The boys gathered round are listening to the phonograph playing waxed cylinders. The cylinders had grooves etched into them, into which a metal stylus fitted, as with a record player. That the world is about to change is particularly well illustrated in another slide entitled, “War of Nations” Recruits Trench Digging.” This, together with the Castle Combe photograph, are particularly relevant at present, with the release of the Steven Spielberg film, “War Horse”, as scenes for the film were filmed there.

Boys Listening to Phonograph

Recruits Trench Digging WWI

Another example of a changing world, is the slide of the post boy who may well be delivering telegrams as well as post. We live in an age of rapid communication and tend to think of this as a modern innovation our Victorian ancestors would have been amazed by. For them, however, the development of the telephone and the telegraph system must have been just as interesting. Our ancestors were just as keen on developing technology as we are today. Indeed, the slides themselves are indicative of a changing world, if we remember by the 1880’s, cameras were becoming more widely available and more portable. Being easier to carry meant it was easier to take them to other parts of the world, as illustrated in these slides.

Post Boy

Connecting Collections - Magic Lantern Slides Part I

Magic lanterns were an early form of slide projector, used in conjunction with glass slides to project an image. The glass slides were made by putting a light-sensitive solution onto glass plates, taking a picture and creating a negative which was then printed onto another glass plate.

The pictures here are from a collection of magic lantern slides, donated to the Roman Baths Museum in 1984, by a Miss Garroway. They belonged to her father, the Rev.George Garroway, and range in date from around 1880 to at least the beginning of the First World War in 1914, and may well have been taken by different photographers. Some of the photographers must have travelled widely, as the places photographed range widely. Some were taken in the West Indies and the Caribbean, others in Schull, County Cork, Ireland, Cornwall, Jersey, North America and Versailles, France.

The slides taken locally, include what may be a family group portrait taken in Warleigh, views of Castle Combe and Great Wishford, in Wiltshire. One particularly interesting slide is that of a Roman Mosaic found near Box, Wiltshire, in 1898. It has since been reburied to help preserve it. Another, also taken in Box, shows the Market Place with, of course, a group of children as often seen in Victorian and Edwardian photographs.

Roman Mosaic at Box

Others are of Bristol, one in particular showing a horse drawn open carriage being driven on the Suspension Bridge - not a sight to be seen very often now! Another sight long gone, is the Bristol High Cross. The one photographed is a replica which stood near College Green. The original, which stood at the junction of four roads, was moved to Stourhead, Wiltshire, in the 1770’s. The replica itself has been dismantled, but a remnant can be found in Berkeley Square Gardens, Bristol.

Clifton Suspension Bridge

Bristol High Cross

Just my Luck, a Very Interesting Coal Truck.......

The German Coal Truck prior to the move to St John's Store

Oh, the wonders of coming upon something so unique. Have you ever found an object and wanted to know more? I’ll let you in on a little secret, and I found it in the Roman Baths Local History St. John’s Store.

I was lucky enough to go behind the scenes in the store and look around. When walking into a room, gloriously to one side of the wall, something caught my eye. As always, like most people, I ran over like it was an ice cream truck. It wasn’t an ice cream truck but rather a German coal wagon. Now you may be thinking: a German coal wagon? It is more interesting than you may think.

The German coal wagon was discovered near Bath Spa railway station by Network Rail workers in 2001. This wagon was found when railway arches were opened to be changed into retail units. Along with the wagon, was a section of the track and a small section of the turntable.
The German coal wagon, which had been in Bristol for conservation, is now housed in the St. John’s Store. The wagon was considered of interest to the Railway Heritage Committee, so long-term plans were organized. This is why they found a lovely home for the wagon.

What more is there about this intriguing wagon? Well, the German coal wagon was built by Orenstein & Koppal. This company, founded in 1876, made railway equipment for trenches on the German side during the 1st World War. This particular wagon distributed coal from Bath station to the coal fired power station.

Finding such an item in Britain is rare. I sparked your interest, didn’t I?

You may now be pondering profusely: when can I see the German coal wagon? My dear friend, your time has come...
To learn more about the 1890’s wagon and other interesting and captivating items, come to St. John’s Store during Heritage Open Week, on October 29, 2011. Trust me when I say it is a visit you will not regret!

Solange - Collections Intern
 
For exact opening times please follow this link: http://www.romanbaths.co.uk/pdf/Open%20Week%20Prog%202011%20FINAL.pdf