Rebuilding the spas (From Gazette & Herald)

Rebuilding the spas

From time to time, as I have previously mentioned in this column, there are attempts to revive some of Britain's 220 spa resorts.

Currently, this is exemplified in a major renovation of the ancient Roman spa in Bath.

More than £23.6m has been spent on a restoration project in that city alone, and it is hoped that our present desire to improve physical fitness and promote good health will combine to regenerate the thriving industry which was once based on our many spas.

The word spa, once spelt as spaw, refers to a place where health-giving waters laced with minerals emerge from beneath the ground.

The word comes from the Belgian town of Spa which is about 20km south-east of Liege; it became famous for the quality of its mineral waters which were discovered in 1326. The name was applied to other places, both in Britain and overseas, where health-giving mineral waters

emerged from the ground, sometimes with the word 'spa' being added to the name of a town or village, eg Boston Spa.

When people journeyed to these places "to take the waters" as a means of improving their health, a whole new tourist industry was born.

Some people merely drank the waters whilst others bathed in them. This was not a new idea, however; the Romans were enjoying this kind of

health-giving facility in Bath as long ago as AD 43.

There, they developed Aqua Sulis as a place of refreshment and enjoyment, with hot baths, massage parlours and relaxation rooms; in this

they were centuries ahead of their time, even though it is believed that offerings were thrown into the waters at Bath as long ago as 3000 BC.

Evidently, these waters must have meant something to the local people during that very early stage of our history.

Most of us associate Victorian times as the period when the massive interest in taking spa waters reached its peak but, in fact, the trend began much earlier. Although spas are a worldwide phenomenon, this region has its share of major resorts, with Harrogate being among the earliest in England. Its famous spa waters were discovered in 1596 by Captain William Slingsby.

When he discovered a chalybeate spring, it attracted a great deal of interest and, for around a hundred years afterwards, people were still travelling to Harrogate to drink the water.

The water could be taken free of charge and the people believed it possessed curative qualities. Soon that area of the town became known as the spaw, with visitors finding accommodation in cottages and farms. In this way, a popular focus for tourists was created and the first resort hotel - the

Queen's Head - was built in 1687.

With more springs being discovered in Harrogate, buildings were constructed around them, the famous baths and pump room following in Low Harrogate when sulphur wells were found.

And then, with the arrival of the railways, more tourists flocked to take the waters; during the

19th and early 20th centuries, Harrogate flourished as an internationally-known spa resort.

It was not the only major spa resort in this region, however. In 1620, a Mrs Farrow was walking along the sea front in Scarborough when she noticed some stones which had become discoloured by fresh water. She tasted it and realised it was rich with minerals.

Before long, Scarborough's spa waters were attracting people from a wide area - it was said the water had "great reputation with the citizens of York and the gentry of the county", with people of quality preferring Scarborough's waters to those of Italy, France and Germany.

With the coming of the railway, Scarborough blossomed as a tourist resort and quickly earned its name of Queen of Watering Places.

If Harrogate and Scarborough were the major spas of this region, there were many lesser ones. In 1744, John Shires discovered a mineral spring in what is now known as Boston Spa, a charming village to the south of Wetherby. Very soon, it attracted tourists which resulted in pump rooms and baths being constructed to the extent that Boston Spa became known as a miniature Harrogate, but even by 1821 it was considered unfashionable.

Sadly, not every spa was a success. Three mineral springs were discovered at Hovingham, near Malton, and this led to the construction of the

Worsley Arms Hotel, which was intended to cope with masses of visitors - but they never came even when the village was called Hovingham Spa.

Levisham Spa failed to be a commercial success and so did Ripon Spa, opened by Princess Henry of Batternburg in 1905. Knaresborough Spa, Croft Spa, Whitby Spa, New Malton Spa, Thirsk Spa, Slapewath Spa, Salton Spa, Sleightholmedale Spa and Guisborough Spa are among many which did not survive.

Updated: 15:09 Wednesday, April 02, 2003