Harrogate’s Spring Waters Mineral water has long been thought to possess health benefits. Drinking or bathing in the mineral waters of Harrogate was, by at least the nineteenthcentury, part of a daily routine prescribed by doctors.
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change of air, relief from the pressures of business, early hours, regular exercise and agreeable company were all seen as contributing to wellbeing. In this sense, ideas of what constituted a healthy lifestyle were not so different from our own today. The Harrogate waters were also seen as beneficial for specific medical conditions: sulphur water could banish skin diseases, while chalybeate water could stimulate the nervous system to overcome everything from rheumatism to melancholy.
i ©Harrogate Museums & Arts,
Harrogate Borough Council i The Harrogate Spring Water production line © Paula Duck photography
Growing numbers of visitors and expansion of the railways meant increased tourism for Harrogate during the Victorian period. New facilities grew around its springs, including the Octagonal Room which was opened in 1842. In 1913 an extension was opened to provide extra cover and on one morning in 1926 around 1500 glasses of water were served. At Harrogate Spring Water, a global brand founded in 2000, 64,000 bottles move through their production line every hour. Harrogate water is now served on an industrial scale.
Up Next Massage & Hydrotherapy
Massage & Hydrotherapy Massages and the use of cold water, either for bathing or applied to afflicted areas of the body, was a fundamental part of the Harrogate water cure by the late nineteenth century.
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t was hoped that such stimulation would encourage the body to heal itself naturally, avoiding the need for more drastic intervention, or easing the symptoms of chronic illnesses which could not be treated by other forms of medicine. As more and more tourists flocked to Harrogate, such treatments became ever more elaborate. The Vichy massage, which took place on a wooden table with jets of water sprayed onto the patient, was one example. Another was the Harrogate special combination bath, developed by technician William Burkinshaw in 1891. Consisting of a complex series of jets, the apparatus could deliver a customised shower from head to heels. The use of massages and other spa treatments to soothe the body has long been part of Harrogate life and is carried on today by establishments like Rudding Park, where the water for their spa is supplied directly from their own well. Today certain rooms in the home are becoming havens of peace away from our busy working lives. The bathroom has transformed into a personal spa,becoming a place of escape to help us unwind.
i ©Harrogate Museums & Arts,
Harrogate Borough Council i © Paula Duck photography
Up Next The Turkish Baths
The Turkish Baths Over 120 years ago, in 1897, the Royal Baths were opened to provide a luxurious setting for specialist hydrotherapy treatments in Harrogate at the immense cost of £120,000.
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ntended to allow Harrogate to compete with other European spas, the town’s Turkish Baths were one part of this expensive complex. Turkish Baths had grown in popularity since the 1840s, when travellers’ accounts had painted a glowing picture of their luxury and benefits to health. Here, visitors could consult a duty doctor for advice on the best treatments and routines for their stay. Turkish Baths were controversial among medical professionals, some of whom warned that their heat posed a danger to the frail and elderly. Yet others thought that the Baths could help purge the body of toxins through sweating. A visit to the Harrogate Turkish Baths, still in use today, starts with a steam room and progresses through heated rooms before cooling off in a plunge pool, all designed to cleanse the body. The basic principles behind their use have not changed in more than a century.
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©North Yorkshire County Council i © Paula Duck photography
Up Next Medical Manicure and Pedicure
Medical Manicure & Pedicure By the nineteenth century, spas had become important centres of treatment for joint problems, particularly rheumatism.
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ydrotherapy was used in the treatment of rheumatism, with water directed at afflicted parts of the body. At Harrogate, more outlandish therapy was trialled in the early twentieth century. Wax baths, for instance, were used to apply heat to painful hands and feet. In 1934 Arnold Woodmansey, who was employed as a scientific analyst for Harrogate, claimed that the mud gathered from springs in the town could fulfil a similar role. If kept suitably warm via the application of electricity, Harrogate mud could – through the interaction of ions and mechanical and thermal action – reduce the pain and increase the mobility of patients suffering from rheumatism. During the 1930s Harrogate even found itself at the centre of a national campaign against rheumatism. Today, clinics such as Margaret Dabbs in Harrogate offer both medical and beauty treatments.“I started with medical treatments and had a practice at Harley Street. I then moved into beauty, rather than other way round. So we have medical credibility too.”
i ©Harrogate Museums & Arts,
Harrogate Borough Council i Margaret Dabbs in her Harrogate Foot Clinic and Nail Spa © Paula Duck photography
Up Next Light Therapy
Light Therapy Ultraviolet light produced by mercury vapour lamps had been used as a cure for rickets in children since 1919.
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n 1928 the popularity of ultraviolet light in medicine boomed when King George V received the treatment for a severe bout of pneumonia. Ultraviolet light was thereafter used to treat a huge array of conditions, from acne to minor infections. As a spa town always on the lookout for new medical technologies, Harrogate offered its own ultraviolet light therapy at the Royal Baths. Yet during the late 1920s and 1930s doubts began to surface about the medical efficacy of ultraviolet light. Doctors also began to realise that overexposure to the light could result in damage to the skin. Light therapy has reemerged in recent years, albeit in a different form. LED red light treatment, which has a different wavelength to ultraviolet, is now offered for skin rejuvenation, anti-ageing treatments, wound healing, deep muscle regeneration, and acne.
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ŠNorth Yorkshire County Council i Modern light therapy at Eden Treatment Rooms, Harrogate Š Paula Duck photography
Up Next Physio
Physio In 1911 Harrogate Council decided to invest in a hall for Mechano-Theraputics, the interior of which is the most likely candidate for the setting of this photograph.
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he working conditions of Victorian Britain necessitated new forms of physical therapy in spa towns. Workers were often sitting or stooped for long periods of time and made the same repetitive movements, increasing instances of workplace injury. Specialist gymnasiums were constructed, where patients could perform exercise drills, lift weights, or use newlyinvented machines. The equipment in the older image of the Harrogate hall for Mechano-Theraputics is probably a general purpose apparatus, which could be adjusted to treat patients with different ailments: strains, fractures and lameness. Other adjustable machines were also provided which could simulate horse-trotting, cycling and rowing or hill climbing. During and after the First World War, gymnastics and mechanical treatment were used alongside hydrotherapy to treat disabled soldiers. Physiotherapy machines are still used in modern hospitals.
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ŠNorth Yorkshire County Council i Š Paula Duck photography
Up Next The Winter Gardens
The Winter Gardens Historic Harrogate was not all sulphur water and cold baths. An important part of spa therapy was a change of environment.
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isitors to Harrogate were often leaving behind crowded and polluted urban spaces in industrial towns and cities. As part of its late nineteenth century reinvention as a spa town, Harrogate created many green spaces, including the Valley Gardens in 1886. The Winter Gardens, the building which now houses Wetherspoons, provided an indoor area for visitors to view trees and plants all year round. An 1891 guide to Harrogate described how a vestibule attached the Gardens to the Royal Pump Room, providing sheltered access to the mineral water there. Green spaces and access to nature were advertised as one of the great benefits Harrogate could offer the ailing. Entertainment and social activities, ranging from sports to concerts, were also encouraged as part of a healthy lifestyle.
i ŠHarrogate Museums & Arts,
Harrogate Borough Council i Staff at the Winter Gardens, Wetherspoons today Š Paula Duck photography
With Thanks to: Edward Swales, Harrogate Spring Water www.harrogatespring.com Nicola Cook, Rudding Park Spa www.ruddingpark.co.uk/spa Chris Mason, Harrogate Turkish Baths & Spa www.turkishbathsharrogate.co.uk Margaret Dabbs and Lucy McMurdo, Margaret Dabbs London, Harrogate www.margaretdabbs.co.uk Haylie Winter, Eden Treatment Rooms www.edenskincare.co.uk 01423 858200 Paul Widdowfield and Elizabeth Ritchie, Harrogate District Hospital Staff at The Winter Gardens Wetherspoons, Harrogate Matt Holmes Dr James Stark Paula Duck www.pauladuck.com
This work has been generously funded by The British Society for the History of Science 08