The Montpellier Gardens Company took over the lease of the Baths in 1862 (purchasing it outright some years later) but while there is a fair amount of surviving evidence from the time in regard to wash baths and particularly swimming, little has come to light about any form of treatments. Cupping, galvanism, medicated shampoo baths had all ceased either prior to, or because of, the flood of 1855 and did not start up again at the Baths although galvanism was certainly available elsewhere in Cheltenham.

The 1862 floor plan clearly shows that one room still contained a hot air bath while another room contained both a wash bath and a circular vapour bath. The Company’s annual report for 1863/64 included the charges for that season and show that both hot air and vapour baths were given in tandem with either a wash or a medicated water bath for a total charge of 4s. Sulphur and saline medicated water baths were still available along with alkaline baths, all priced at 3s each.

The Company made substantial renovations to the property throughout 1869 and into 1870 and the description of these changes give no indication at all to whether hot air or vapour baths were still available; no tariff lists exist, so we don’t know whether patrons could still have sulphur or saline added to their wash bath over the next 28 years before the property was taken over by the borough council. The fact that medicated wash baths were not immediately availble upon reopening does suggest they had not been available (at least) in the late 1890s. Medical treatments may only have been a minor part of the building’s past but they were about to become a major part of its future.

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