The secret history of English spas / Melanie King.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

King, Melanie, author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Health resorts--England--History.

Health resorts.

History.

England.

Genre:

History.

Physical Description:

224 pages : illustrations (colour, black and white), maps ; 24 cm

Place of Publication:

Oxford : Bodleian Library, 2021.

Summary:

English spas have a long and steamy history, from the thermal baths of Aquae Sulis in Bath to the stews of Southwark, the elegant pump rooms of Cheltenham and Buxton to the Victorian mania for hydrotherapy and Turkish hammams. 0'The Secret History of English Spas' is an informative but light-hearted social and cultural history of our obsession with drinking and bathing in spa waters. It tells the stories of the rich, the famous, the poor and the sick, all of whom visited spas in hopes of curing everything from infertility to leprosy and gonorrhoea. It depicts the entrepreneurs who promoted these resorts - often on the basis of the most dubious scientific evidence - and the riotous and salacious social life enjoyed in spa towns, where moral health might suffer even as bodies were cleansed and purged. 0And yet English spas also offered an ideal of civility and politeness, providing a place where social classes and sexes could mingle and enjoy refined entertainments such as music and dance - all part of the fashionable pastime referred to as 'taking the waters'.

Contents:

Machine generated contents note: One. Salus per Aquam

The Origins of English Spas

Two. Taking the Plunge

The Development of Spaws in England

Three. Bladud's Realm

Beau Nash and the Development of Bath

Four. Sense of Humours

Bathing and Drinking the Waters

Five. `All the amusements'

A Season in Bath

Six. The Wells of Scandal

Men (And Women) Behaving Badly

Seven. `I do like to be beside the seaside'

A Dose of Vitamin Sea

Eight. The Water Cure

The Victorian Mania for Hydrotherapy

Nine. A Lot of Hot Air

Vapour Pumps and Turkish Baths

Ten. Leisure and Luxury

The Modern Spa.

ISBN:

9781851244539

1851244530

OCLC:

1263777051