When the Baths were first established the notion of taking a bath was heavily promoted as of medical benefit rather than simply for cleansing as we think of it today. For the purposes of this museum, the bathing sections will generally refer to wash baths – later called slipper baths – and the medical section will generally refer to more obvious treatments, although there will be some inevitable overlaps.
Early days
The first description of the original bath house comes from Dr Jameson’s Treatise on Cheltenham Waters (Second Edition) which was published in 1809 and includes the earliest surviving floor plan. There were six baths – two of them cold and the others tepid or hot – with a cold shower bath attached to each and ready for use from seven in the morning till seven at night. Four were built of stone with smooth stone bottoms and were considered large enough to swim in but we wouldn’t think so today as the largest bath was 18 ft 10 in long x 8 ft 9 in wide and over 3 ft of that length was taken up by steps; the next largest bath was just 12 ft x 9 ft excluding steps. None of the baths had a deep or shallow end and had a uniform depth of 4 ft 6 inches.
The three largest bath rooms were without windows but lighted and ventilated by an opening in the roof; one was entirely open to the elements and another about a third open, while the largest was half uncovered. This had the dual effect of preventing the rooms filling with steam – unless the water exceeded 96 Fahrenheit – and ensuring no one could observe you taking a bath. They also included a shower over part of the steps leading in to/out of each bath.
According to the floor plan two of the dressing rooms appeared to have their own shower bath but these were different from the usual showers in that the water could be directed at specific parts of the body and referred to as dry pumping.
Water continually flowed into the baths by pipes of cold water and steam and out of them by a waste pipe of an inch and a half diameter, but they were also completely emptied every two or three days; this meant, according to Dr Jameson, that the water was ‘always fresh and pure’! They were heated early every morning with one kept all day about 70° and another around 95 but received additional heat after six o’clock. The three smaller bath rooms were all fully covered with windows placed at considerable height and it was possible to regulate the temperature of the water to suit the individual bather.
The dressing rooms were warmed by horizontal cylinders of sheet copper containing steam, six inches in diameter and seven feet long, while the passage at the entrance of the baths was warmed in the same way by large copper globes. The steam was provided by a large cast iron boiler which was also used in the salt manufacturing process. Separate sitting rooms were provided for the use of ladies and gentlemen waiting for baths.
Those familiar with the building today are used to its front entrance being on the Bath Road as it has been since the 1817/18 improvements. However when the building was first erected its frontage faced onto what is now Wellington Street (although it didn’t exist) and it was not hemmed in by other properties. At that time – as shown on the 1809 map of Cheltenham below – the town was considerably smaller and patrons would approach the Baths along what is now Oriel Road. The map also shows Henry Thompson’s Hygeia House (albeit spelled incorrectly) just to the the left of the Baths and that the course of the river Chelt ran right next to the property. Note that the Baths – highlighted in yellow – has the approximate ‘T-shape’ of the floor plan above and that what is now Bath Road is just one of many rides and walks on Thompson’s land.
Improvements (1817/18)
Around this time the premises was enlarged so that three warm saline baths were added to the six existing spring water baths. Other improvements were made, most notably that all the private baths – the two largest cold baths were communal and considered large enough to swim in – could be emptied in five minutes and refilled with fresh warm water in ten minutes. The 1818 Griffiths’ Stranger’s Guide to Cheltenham proudly proclaimed that ‘the water produced from the steam of the boilers is so abundant, that no person who visits them, need ever bathe in that which had before been used for the same purpose’. As a result, they declared that the baths ‘may be considered superior to any in Europe’ – quite a boast. There were still cold shower baths so patrons could partake of ‘the Russian practice of showering themselves after the enjoyment of warm bathing’. A cold bath would cost you two shillings while a warm bath would cost you three shillings.
As the building had enlarged, there were now three boilers rather than just the one and all had a part to play in the heating of the building according to Griffiths: ‘In the cover of the largest boiler an iron pipe, five inches diameter, is fixed, for the purpose of carrying off the steam; and this is conveyed underneath the Laboratory to an adjoining building, for the purpose of heating the public baths. Smaller pipes are also fixed in the cover of this and the other boilers, for the collection of a sufficient quantity of steam, to be employed in warming the counting-houses, the dressing-rooms at the baths, and all the other rooms belonging to the establishment’.
Thompson announced there were to be further improvements via an advertisement in the Cheltenham Chronicle of 18 March 1819 (above right) including three new baths, a vapour bath, and dry pumping. This is curious, as dry pumping had been available from the opening of the premises although the sudatory which acted like a vapour bath appears to have been dispensed with before 1814.
This image of the Baths is found in Stephen Blake’s book Cheltenham: A Pictorial History (1996) was sourced from Cheltenham Museum and dated as from 1826. This must be incorrect as an engraving irrefutably from 1826 shows a totally different exterior – see immediately below. It is more likely that this image is of the building as it was at some point following Henry’s improvements of 1817/18 and prior to Pearson’s improvements of 1824/25.
The 1820 map of Cheltenham seen here shows that the Baths – again highlighted in yellow – has changed from the earlier ‘T-shape’ to something very similar to that shown in the above engraving and that Bath Road (here called the New Road to Painswick, Stroud and Bath) has now been created, albeit not yet directly connected to High Street. Note that a botanic garden has been built on what is now Imperial Gardens and there is a large pond on what today is Rodney Road car park. This would later be the site of the octagonal Cambray Spa run by William Ruck and then his son Frank, both of whom were involved with the Montpellier Baths at different times.
Improvements (1824/25)
Following Henry Thompson’s death in November 1820 all of his property and businesses passed to his son, Pearson. There is, sadly, an almost total lack of documentary evidence about the baths or salt works during this decade. The Stranger’s Guide Through Cheltenham of 1834 states that Pearson Thompson ‘considerably enlarged the building’ and this must have happened at some point before 1826. In that year Samuel Griffiths’ New Historical Description of Cheltenham was published and included an advertisement for the Baths; the engraving of the building shows that the exterior has been totally altered. The text also states that ‘these Baths have lately [my italics] been fitted up with every degree of comfort’ which could well suggest that Pearson’s changes – whatever they were – were made circa 1824/5.
Improvements (1833/34)
Further substantial changes were made to the premises for the 1834 Cheltenham season as revealed by the Stranger’s Guide of that year. However, these were not undertaken by Pearson Thompson: ‘It has also undergone some very important improvements, especially in its internal arrangements, since it became the property of the present proprietors, Messrs RW and C Jearrad, who have spared no expense in order to render it as complete as possible in all its departments’. The use of the phrase ‘became the property’ would suggest that the architect Jearrad Brothers had purchased it but this cannot be the case, for Pearson was still the owner in 1845 when he took out a mortgage on it along with other property. It must, therefore, have been a lease arrangement.
Because we don’t know what work Pearson undertook in the 1820s it’s similarly impossible to know what additions the Jearrads made to the property, although we do know what was offered under their management and that the entire premises had been redecorated and renovated to a considerable extent. There were now 25 baths – compared to the original 6 of 1807 – offering every variety of warm, cold, and shower baths, douche, and shampooing, as well as the most recent inventions for the application of hot air and steam.
Despite expending a considerable sum on improvements, the advertisement (left) shows that the Jearrads hadn’t increased charges at the Baths which were at the same levels as in 1826; they were still charging these fees in 1839 but the price list no longer included warm salt water baths nor the practice of cupping.
Note also that the Baths is now open from 6 am – 10 pm rather than 7 am – 7 pm as previously.
Fourteen of the baths could be used for warm bathing. The water was provided by a spring at the rear of the premises which was then sent underneath the floor of the salts laboratory and heated by a column of steam generated in a boiler. It then flowed into large reservoirs below the adjoining floors from where it could be dispensed into the different baths at, it was claimed, a minute’s notice. The baths were lined with either marble or white Dutch tile and, as in 1807, the rooms were lit and ventilated from above. Thirteen of these baths could be used either as fresh water or mineral baths depending on the wishes of the bather – an attendant would add sulphur or saline to the water – with the exception of the largest bath which measured 14 ft x 10 ft x 4 ft 6 inches deep. Any of the 13 small warm baths could also be used for cold bathing although there were several baths reserved exclusively for water with a chilly temperature of 56°F. The largest of these was 20 ft x 10 ft x 4 ft 6 inches deep.
Improvements (1847)
The Baths had been closed in the spring of 1847 for another set of renovations and the Cheltenham Looker-On of 26 June announced the reopening and the major new additions to great fanfare:
‘The Pub1ic are respectfully informed that the
MEDICATED, WARM, AND FRESH WATER BATHS,
of this Establishment, having recently undergone extensive Repairs and Improvement, ARE NOW
AGAIN IN FULL OPERATION; and that the
NEW TEPID SWIMMING AND COLD PLUNGING BATHS,
which have lately been added,
WILL BE OPENED ON THURSDAY, JULY 1.‘
It continued to proclaim that ‘The Montpellier Baths, which have long ranked among the first establishments of their kind in the kingdom, and which have lately undergone a complete renovation, so as to render them still more complete…’ before giving details on the new swimming bath without recording any of the extensive improvements to the wash baths. We know that in 1834 there were 25 wash baths but that by 1855 there were just 12; it seems an inescapable conclusion that half of the wash baths were cleared to make way for the swimming and plunge baths in the spring of 1847 and the remainder of the wash baths upgraded. No further refurbishments are recorded until 1862, so the floor plan from February of that year – which shows 12 bath rooms if you include the ladies plunge – almost certainly shows the layout of the wash baths as of 1847.
TO READ ABOUT BATHING FROM 1856-1899 CLICK HERE