From The Improved Bath Guide 1825
The Baths
Public Baths
There are four public baths in this city, viz. The King's Bath and Queen’s Bath, connected with each other, the Cross Bath, and the Hot Bath.
The King's Bath
The King’s Bath lies behind the Great PumpRoom, from the windows at the upper end of which it is visible. The spring or main source is in the centre, and is covered over with a large leaden reservoir, to restrain its rapid motion, and to disperse the water more equally to the various parts of the bath, as well as to receive the pipes of the different pumps, which supply the water for drinking ; by which means, as the water flows upwards in a strong, large, and uninterrupted stream, all communication between the water used for drinking and that in the bath is prevented. It throws up a fine light-grey sand, intermixed with a number of black particles, which being deposited in the reservoir, when examined through a microscope, appear not to be a crystalline substance like a great part of the remainder of the sand.
These springs were doubtless separated from the common springs by the Romans, and secured in with a strong durable wall. The dimensions of the King’s Bath are sixty-five feet ten inches by forty feet ten inches, and it contains three hundred and forty-six tuns, two hogsheads, and thirty-six gallons when filled to its usual height.
In the centre of this bath is erected an elegant building of freestone, with recesses and seats for the accommodation of ladies and gentlemen who bathe, and round it is built a covering supported by a handsome colonnade in the Doric order, to shelter bathers from the inclemency of the weather. Adjoining to this bath are two rooms, one for ladies and the other for gentlemen, in which are pumps for pouring the hot water on any part of the body affected, which have often proved more salutary than bathing in the common bath. There is also an apartment attached, where the patient may himself use the water as an injection.
This plan was suggested by, and executed under the direction of the late Morgan Nichols, esq; an eminent surgeon and a member of the Corporation ; and it has been found highly beneficial in removing obstructions, and giving ease to violent complaints in the intestines, which might otherwise have been productive of mortification and all its fatal consequences. It is called the “ Steaming-Room.”
In this bath there is a statue of King Bladud, which was erected in 1699, and under it is the following inscription on copper :
Son of Lud Hudibras,
Eighth King of the Britons from Brute,
A great Philosopher and Mathematician,
Bred at Athens,
And recorded the first Discoverer and Founder of these Baths
Eight Hundred and Sixty-three Years before Christ;
That is,
Two Thousand Five Hundred and Sixty-two Years to the present Year One Thousand Six Hundred and Ninety-Nine.
The Queen's Bath
The Queen’s Bath, which is attached to the King’s, forms a square of twenty-five feet, and is furnished with the same conveniences, and supplied by the same spring, but being farther from the source, the heat is somewhat lower.
The Cross Bath
The Cross Bath rises about one hundred yards south-west of the King’s, and is so called from the circumstance of a cross having been erected in the centre of it by the Earl of Melford, secretary of state to king James II., as a memorial of the queen's bathing in it in the year 1687. This cross is now removed, the bath secured, and the bathing rendered more convenient by slips for the bathers, and a small neat pumproom built agreeably to the plan of Mr. Baldwin. It is of triangular form, and situated at the extremity of Bath-street, to which it forms a handsome termination.
The Hot Bath
The Hot Bath, about one hundred and twenty feet south-west of the former, received that appellation from the superior heat of its waters. Here is a neat pumproom for the company ; and near it a commodious open bath, private baths, dry pump-rooms, and sudatories or vapour-baths, continually kept warm by the fires of the adjoining dressing-room, to which they communicate. The building is fifty-six feet square, and was constructed from a plan of the late John Wood, esq; architect.
The heat of the water in the several public baths has been taken by Fahrenheit’s mercurial thermometer, and is as follows :
The water of the King’s Bath, in its warmest part, raises the mercury to one hundred and three degrees, and sinks it in its coolest to one hundred ; the thermometer stands in the Hot Bath at one hundred and six down to one hundred and one degrees, and in the Cross Bath at ninety-three and ninety-four.
The water pumped up from the cisterns of the several baths for drinking, and which is conveyed through pipes immediately from its source, was found to be of various degrees of heat at different times of trial.
The King’s Bath fills in nine hours, the Cross Bath in sixteen hours, and the Hot Bath in eight hours.
Private Baths
The Private Baths in Stall-Street, belonging to the Corporation, were built in 1788, under the direction of Mr. Baldwin, and are furnished with every necessary accommodation. They adjoin the King’s Bath, and contain dry pump-rooms, sudatories, and other suitable conveniencies.
The Kingston Baths, the property of Earl Manvers, are, it is presumed, supplied from the same source as the King’s Bath and great Pump-Room.
Regulations of the Baths
The following are the Rules and Orders (as established by the Corporation) for regulating bathing and pumping in the public and private baths.
| 1. A sergeant shall not demand more than 3d., a guide not more than Is., and a cloth-woman not more than 3d. for each time of bathing. |
| 2. Pumping in the King’s, Queen’s, and Cross Bath, 2d. each hundred strokes; in the private baths, 3d.; and at the dry pump, 4d. |
| 3. The above fees are to be understood not to affect people in low circumstances, or servants, such being allowed to bathe for 6d. only to the guide, including linen and attendance. |
| 4. That no sergeant, bath-guide, cloth-woman, or chairman, shall demand any thing of a bather for his or her entrance upon bathing or pumping, usually demanded by the name of footing-money. |
| 5. That sufficient fires (at the expenseof the Chamber of the city) be made in the slips ; to be lighted at six o’clock in the morning in the winter, and at five in the summer, and be continued the usual hours of bathing. |
| 6. Bathing to be allowed on all holidays, except Christmas-Day and Good-Friday ; but not on Sunday mornings, except in cases of peculiar emergency, when a private bath is required. |
Expenses of Bathing , &c. in the Private Baths and Hot Baths
| Each person bathing in the open bath | 1s. 6d. |
| in the private bath, vapour-bath, or sweating-room | 3s. |
| in the private bath, and afterwards using the sweating-room or vapour-bath, | 4s. |
| for the use of a bed | 2s. 6d. |
| pumping in the bath | 3d. |
| for one hundred stokes, and at the dry pump | 6d. |
The bath and pump to be paid for each time of using; and every person bespeaking a bath must pay for the same though not used, unless due notice be given that it might be let again. Dresses, towels, &c. are included in these terms.
N.B. Any lady or gentleman having cause of complaint against the attendants of any of the baths, are desired to make such complaint known to the Magistrates at the Townhall, on Monday mornings at twelve o’clock.
The general time of bathing in the King’s Bath and Cross Bath is between the hours of six and nine in the morning, when there is a fresh supply of water ; that which arises one day being discharged the next by drains into the river Avon, by which means the baths are kept sweet and wholesome : but, for public accommodation, the King’s Bath is now kept full from the earliest hour in the morning till noon.