In my day, a trip to the baths meant sploshing about in the shallow end, trying to sneak in a bit of ducking, diving and heavy petting while no one was looking. Back then, the water was thick with chlorine, verruca socks and, one imagines, other people's urine. What a contrast to the hallowed waters of Bath: rich in sulphate, chloride, calcium, sodium hydrogen carbonate and silicate, its springs have long been touted as a cure for rheumatoid and muscular conditions, skin diseases and respiratory disorders, among many others. "Wonderful and most excellent agaynst all diseases of the body," announced one of the earliest advertisements, "proceeding of a moist cause as Rhumes, Agues, Lethargies, Apoplexies, The Scratch, Inflammation of the Fits, hectic flushes, Pockes, Deafness, forgetfulness, shakings and the weakness of any member."
The 300,000 gallons of water that chuckle beneath the city each day are said originally to have fallen as rainwater on the nearby Mendip hills, somewhere between 20,000 and 80,000 years ago. From a depth of 3,000m, and at a constant 46.5C, it rises to the surface in three places in the city centre, where baths have been built over each site.
Next month, Bath Spa will emerge from a £22m redevelopment. Christened Thermae Bath Spa, the new complex is claimed to be the only place in the UK where you can bathe in thermal waters, and boasts four thermal pools, steam rooms, plunge poolsand complementary therapies. The company behind the development now hopes to revive Britain's other long-neglected spa towns, including Harrogate and Chelten-ham, to join the 2,500 spas that flourish across continental Europe.
Legend has it that the city of Bath was founded by King Bladud in 863BC. The myth holds that Bladud spent 11 years in Athens and returned suffering from leprosy, which resulted in him being disinherited. Bladud found work as a swineherd, and noticed that the pigs frolicking in the warm mud were cured of their scabby skin. So he, too, began to bathe in the waters, was cured of his leprosy and welcomed back to court. Then, following the death of his father, he founded the city around its hot springs, in the hope that others might also benefit.
Later, the Romans constructed a religious spa in the city, while during Saxon and Norman times the poor and leprous flocked to Bath - the Lazars' bath was reserved solely for the use of lepers. The city's real glory days, however, came in the 18th century, when it was the most thriving spa town in Britain: in 1704, the first pump room offering restorative drinking water was opened; and in 1742, the Mineral Water Hospital began providing treatment for those suffering from rheumatism, lead poisoning and skin conditions. By 1790, it was just one of the medical practices advertised in the new Bath guide, alongside 18 physicians, 13 surgeons and 25 apothecaries.
But by the turn of the century, the spa's popularity began to wane as physicians began recommending the multiple benefits of sea-bathing. Until now, that is, when the benefits of thermal waters are again advocated for the treatment of all manner of ailments, from skin complaints to high blood pressure. The time is ripe, it seems, for the revival of the old spa town.
