Spa Treatments in Bath

For over 2000 years, people have been drawn to the waters here in Bath. They have bathed, sought healing, worshipped, and socialised in the only natural hot springs in the country. There have been numerous spa sites in Bath since the Roman period and, in the 1800s, it was a thriving spa town. The current free display in the King’s Lounge focuses on the Victorian bathing establishment.

“If they can’t be cured by drinking and bathing here, they will never be cured anywhere” Dr Oliver, A Practical Dissertation on the Bath Waters, 1707

Map of Bath (1959) showing Victorian spa sites.

This consisted of three sites:

• the redeveloped Hot Bath, known as Old Royal Baths (1829) which included Bath’s first spa swimming bath, the Beau Street Swimming Bath
• the New Royal Baths and Physical Treatment Centre, which opened as a luxurious treatment centre in 1870
• the New Queen’s Baths, next to the King’s Bath, which showcased fashionable treatments from 1889.

The Stall Street entrance to the Roman Baths
with a sign for the King’s and Queens Baths.

These centres and their spa treatments remained popular through to the 20^th century.

With the Physical Treatment Centre, new and fashionable treatments were made available, inspired by spa towns on the continent. Much of the spa equipment was custom made, and included variants on the Needle Douche, the Plombières Douche, and a sulphur bath. The Vichy Needle Douche was named after the prestigious spa town in Vichy, France. A lifting mechanism was custom made for the Hot Bath, slings or chairs lifted patients in and out of the water.

Electricity was used in conjunction with mineral water,
including the Hydro-Electric Four-cell Bath, in which
patients’ limbs were placed in four separate tubs, allowing the
controlled current to pass in any direction.

The water was celebrated for its healing properties, some believed this to be due to the presence of radium, now known to be a toxic gas. This was seen in treatments such as Radium Inhalatorium, in which radium was inhaled through the nose or mouth, or, when used with mineral water, as a nasal or throat spray. Although the water was proudly advertised as radioactive, in reality radium is only present in minute quantities.

During World War One, thousands of wounded soldiers were sent to Bath to recover. They received treatments at the Mineral Water Hospital and the New Royal Baths were enlarged in 1915 to provide facilities specifically designed for them.

After the Second World War, the baths’ popularity began to decline. Leisure travel and spa therapy were no longer fashionable, and the city’s infrastructure had been damaged during the Bath Blitz. The New Queen’s Bath was demolished in 1970 and the Physical Treatment Centre closed in 1976, following the withdrawal of NHS funding established in 1948.

Temporary display in the King's Lounge.

The objects displayed in the King’s Lounge were removed prior to work on the new Thermae Spa which opened in 2003. They include a hook and handle from the lifting mechanism used to lower patients into the Hot Bath, a pressure gauge from a Vichy Douche, a thermometer which hung in the Hot Bath, and a pamphlet which details treatments and their prices in April 1923.

You can see the display for free by accessing the Stall Street entrance during opening hours between 10am-5pm.

Eleanor 

Collections Assistant 

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

Tuesday Times Tables: Sulis has a Spring in her Step

Having toured the Baths for the first time in a number of years it struck me that although the Baths might have been a place to relax and socialise, religion had an enormous presence in the cultural understanding and use of the site. In order to study and interpret the religious aspects and traditions of the Baths, I sourced some artefacts that had been found in the Sacred Spring, thrown into the waters to win the favour of the residing goddess, Sulis Minerva.

Izzy with her Tuesday Times Table

The complexity of the goddess can be seen in the variety of objects found in the spring:  curse tablets, intended for revenge, a souvenir pan from Hadrian’s Wall, perhaps dedicated as a precious object for the eventuality of good health, and silver feathers from a helmet, for success in a military campaign.

As a mixture of long-term taboos and superstition, religion came to play a huge role in Roman culture with pietas (religious duty) becoming a principle that any Roman would fear to reject in light of the wrath of the gods. Sacrifice, prayer and worship were activities carried out by the devout for personal and collective gain in divine appeasement. Animals would be chosen for their sex, age, fertility and colour (depending on the god/goddess being sacrificed to), slaughtered and its vital organs burnt so that queries might be answered or divine support obtained.

Finds from the Spring. Top: A bronze patera dedicated to Sulis Minerva Bottom: A curse tablet describing the theft of six silver coins

Another prevalent aspect to a religious Roman society was priesthoods. These had a dual purpose to Roman culture both in religion and the state, as did the emperor as head of Rome and its religion (as pontifex maximus). Priestesses were also a vital part of the religious system and contrary to the religious appeal that women should carry out acts of worship in private, the Regina Sacrorum and the Flaminica Dialis had similar privileges to their male counterparts – an interesting attribute to a traditionalist system.

The proximity of the temple complex and tholos to the baths acts as a physical reminder of the purpose of the baths and what these buildings represented to their people. Religion in Bath seemed to play a large part in its society, with the idea of unification through commonality in myth being evident. Through the hybridisation of Sulis and Minerva, a community of Celts and Romans arose and with the further expansion of their empire, the Romans continued to achieve harmony with compromise.

What would you throw into the Spring and dedicate to Sulis Minerva?

Izzy

Volunteer

Winter Work at the Baths

After the busy Summer and Autumn months, the winter period is when we take the opportunity, as the site is quieter, to do maintenance and development work.

Visitors to the Roman Baths may have noticed that this year, that work seems particularly extensive. Just this week alone has seen scaffolding go up round the exterior of the Pump Room and across the Sacred Spring, in advance of work being done to repair the roof of the Pump Room, and to clean its exterior, and later in the month we’ll see scaffolding going up in the Great Bath for further improvements to the site.

Scaffolding erected ahead of repairs to Pump Room roof

 

However, the most extensive work is that going on behind the hoarding in the museum area…

The temple precinct area is currently closed to visitors as we are undergoing major development work to install a new walkway. This involves a substantial amount of work by contractors, including the protection of the monument before work began.

Temple Precinct protected against dust and damage during development work

Changes to the modern elements of the precinct, is uncovering some interesting features, including Georgian and Victorian elements of the building that had previously been covered up by false walls.

Victorian tiles and doorway in Temple precinct

The conservation of the site is an on-going feature of life at the Roman Baths, and we are constantly checking the environment on the site, and any changes to it. One event we are currently monitoring is the recent rise in water levels at the Roman Baths (and across the whole region!). Though they have now dropped down to normal levels, Christmas Eve saw us presented with some of the highest water levels on site staff could remember!

Water levels reached a significant height on Christmas Eve!

Keep an eye out for my next blog, about the more common conservation work we carry out on site…

Verity

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/

It's all about...... Roman aqueducts

To many people the words “Roman aqueduct” conjure up an image of huge arched monuments striding across a landscape and is one often used in pictures to portray the Romans.

But to a Roman citizen an aqueductus meant literally “water that’s lead from one place to another” or “water duct” and so the word was used for the whole length of piping or channels that carried water from source (often a spring) to a city or an industrial site. They could run great distances; one supplying Carthage in Tunisia was 132km long!

The earliest known Roman aqueduct was the Aqua Appia in Rome, built in 312BC. The Aqua Claudia also took water to Rome, but only 15km of its 68km length was raised on arches. We know quite a bit about the ones that supplied Rome as one of the men in charge of them (the curator aquarum!), called Frontinus, wrote a book on the subject.

Vallon Des Arcs, Barbegal

In Barbegal, southern France an aqueduct fed water to 16 water wheels which operated flour mills.

Most of the aqueducts relied on gravity: the water flowed from higher ground to low ground and followed a carefully surveyed gradient around a hillside. The aqueduct supplying Nimes in southern France had a gradient change of only 34cm per kilometre.

Sometimes to keep the route of the water flow at the right height, Roman engineers tunnelled through hills, and even ran siphons in watertight pipes up hill.

Castellum aquae

Once the water had arrived at a town it was held in a castellum aquae (or water tower) at the highest point of the settlement, which acted like a header tank in a modern house. This would create enough pressure to send the water through the town in smaller pipes.

In Britain we have little evidence of Roman aqueducts. The best example is near Dorchester, in Dorset, where channels along hillsides have been found that fed water to the Roman town of Durnovaria And every town and fort must have been the same, Bath included. Although the Roman town of Aquae Sulis had its hot water springs it needed cold water for the cold plunge baths, latrines (toilets), domestic supplies and perhaps even street fountains, the only source of clean water for most people. Unfortunately with all the later developments in the city nobody’s found any evidence …yet!

Pont du Gard

The Roman aqueduct now called the Pont du Gard which supplied Nimes, is 48.77m high.

All that Glitters may not be Gold but........

33 carved gemstones (intaglios) were found on site in 1878. Discovered as a group, they were found in the Great Drain, just after the outflow from the Great Bath.

All the intaglios date to the latter half of the first century; most likely the Flavian period. It is unclear if the group was casually lost or given as a votive offering to the goddess Sulis Minerva. The position of discovery means that they could have been lost in the Great Bath or given as an offering into the Scared Spring (both of which expel water into the Great Drain).

The gemstones were probably cut by a continental gem cutter or gemmarius. The Romans wore these cut gemstones set into signet rings. By pressing the image into wax, it created a personal and individual seal for letters. These signet rings would have also been a desirable and fashionable item of jewellery.

Below are four of these beautiful gemstones with accompanying descriptions:

Image depicting a Roman maenad cut into blue surfaced nicolo (quartz). 10.5mm in length.

Roman maenad

Maenads were the female worshippers of the god Bacchus (the god of wine and festivity).This maenad has long hair and a hair band. If you look closely you will see she has animal skin pulled tightly over her left shoulder. This is one of fifteen intaglios found in the collection that come under the subject heading of 'deities and personifications'.


Image depicting a leaping lion cut into a pale yellow cornelian (quartz). 12.5mm in length. 

Leaping lion

This lion engraved intaglio is one of three depicting wild beasts in the collection. During the Roman period images of wild beasts represented the power of natural forces.


Image depicting a discus thrower cut into a deep orange cornelian (quartz). 12mm in length.

Discus thrower

The man cut into this intaglio is a discus thrower on tiptoe with a discus in his left hand and an outstretched right arm. In front of him is a vase containing a palm; this represents the health and success of athletes. This is one of five intaglios found in the collection that come under the subject heading of ‘amusement’.


Image depicting cattle under a tree cut into a dull green/grey chalcedony (quartz). 11mm in length.

Cattle under a tree

Portrayed in profile, these three cows are all facing a tree. Two are standing and one is lying down. Cattle were a popular theme; set to remind people of the peace and tranquillity of the countryside. This is one of six intaglios found in the collection that come under the subject heading of 'countryside'.

For more information and direct references for each stone (as well as a description for the others we hold in the collection) please follow the web link below:

http://www.romanbaths.co.uk/collections.aspx

For a general reference please use the book listed below:

Barry Cunliffe (editor), The Temple of Sulis Minerva at Bath, Volume 2: The Finds from the Sacred Spring (1988), pages 31 to 52.

Helen Harman - Collections Assistant

A Wedding by the Water

This is the part of the day when I most enjoy my job as events manager. I am standing beside the Great Bath, in the early morning stillness, just prior to a civil ceremony. It is 8am and all I can hear is the hot water flowing from the Sacred Spring into the Great Bath and all I can see is the mystical mist rising from the water. In the 2000 year old remains of the Roman bath-house, the flickering torches and rising steam make this place one of the most atmospheric and romantic options for a wedding. In fact, if I were to marry again, I’m sure this would be the place for me!

Although the Great Bath is no longer covered by a roof, you need not worry about the weather as you’ll be under cover from the surrounding terrace above; and even when the rain falls on the naturally hot water, this only adds to the magical atmosphere.

Recently voted the UK’s ‘most seductive building’ in a poll by RIBA (Royal Institute of British Architects), the Roman Baths was also dubbed, ‘the place people would most like to take somebody on a date’.

The Great Bath

The registrars’ tables have been positioned beside the Bath, complete with floral decorations, and the first of the guests begin to arrive. The groom follows, along with a flustered looking photographer, anxious for the best shots in such an inspiring venue. At 8.25am, the bride arrives, escorted by three little bridesmaids, and the ceremony begins….

The Roman Baths has been licensed for civil ceremonies since May 2004. 8.30am is the only time that civil ceremonies can be performed (the Roman Baths is open to the public after this time), and is becoming increasingly popular. The Georgian Pump Room, up at ground level, is often used for morning wedding breakfasts and evening wedding receptions, along with the Terrace, overlooking the Great Bath.
For further information please go to www.bathvenues.co.uk Alternatively, if you would like to discuss your ideas or make an appointment to view the venues, please call 01225 477782 or e-mail bath_venues@bathnes.gov.uk . Click on the link for details of our wedding open day on 8th May.

http://www.bathvenues.co.uk

wedding open day link

Please note you will need to book a registrar from the Bath Register office to perform your wedding ceremony. They can be contacted on 01225 4777234 or e-mail

http://www.bathnes.gov.uk/communityandliving/marriages/Pages/default.aspx

Mineral Water

The water that fills the Great Bath is around 10,000 years old. It fell as rain water on the Mendip Hills, 15 miles to the south of Bath, when Mesolithic people were using the natural hot spring, bubbling out of a woodland area in 7500 BC.

The water flows underground from the hills along a fault line called the ‘Penny Quick Fault’ and collects in an underground lake, 2 miles down. The water in the lake gets heated to around 90 degrees C by the earth's core. A tremendous amount of pressure builds up in the lake forcing the water up through a large fissure in the rock allowing it to bubble up to the surface.

The Romans built a reservoir to contain this hot water. By the time the water has travelled the 2 miles up to the surface it has cooled down to 46 degrees C, that’s still about 10 degrees C hotter than a comfortable bath or shower.

After the water had collected in the reservoir the water would have been directed to a number of pools. Today the water only flows into the Great Bath or out of the Great Drain down to the River Avon. Thirteen litres of water flow into the Great Bath every second. This means that you could fill your bath at home in approximately 6 seconds! The temperature of the water in the Great Bath is 36 degrees C, just the right temperature for a bath.

Point where the water flows into the Great Bath

As well as being hot, the water picks up 43 kinds of metals and minerals in the ground. The largest concentrations of minerals are calcium and sulphate. The water is low in dissolved metals except for iron, which causes an orange staining around many parts of the pools.

Iron staining on the inflow channel to the Great Bath

If you have seen the Great Bath you can’t help but notice that the water is a lovely green colour today. When the water comes up from the ground it is colourless, the green hue is from the algae growing on the surface of the water, caused by its heat and daylight. When the Romans were using the Great Bath it was covered by a roof, eliminating direct sunlight, this stopped algae from growing. Unlike today, you could have seen the bottom of the Great Bath.

The green water of the Great Bath

Posted by Laura (Visitor Services Assistant)