I hope that you don't mind me finishing this series. I want to do it while it is fresh in my mind. As I mentioned last time, the next place on our tour was the pump room
The baths in Bath, have been in existence since Roman times. But in the eighteenth and nineteenth century taking the waters, in other words drinking them, was also fashionable. It is very smelly water.
The Grand Pump Room was begun in 1789 by Thomas Baldwin. He resigned in 1791 and John Palmer continued the scheme until its completion in 1799. Today the pump room is a restaurant, and as you can see from my picture, it is just before Christmas. The pump itself is still there and for a nominal fee you can sip the water and cure whatever ails you. Oh, by the way, as I understand it three glasses were required.
Here are a couple of views of the pump room from closer to the Regency that you might find more evocative of the period. Evocative is my word for the week I think. I'm pretty sure I used it somewhere else in the last day or so.
The first picture is from 1798 and the second from 1805. It certainly looks elegant. I expected there to be more places to sit. I really liked the next one because you can see a the couple drinking the water and they are sitting. My picture of the pump as it is today comes next and a shot I took out of the window and down into the Baths, just because I thought it made an interesting view.
Much of the Pump Room now revolves around its modern day function as a restaurant, which of course did not please me at all. I would have much preferred to see people walking around in their long gowns. I really do think I was born in the wrong century.
My next set of pictures are just a few shots of Bath the city, and I will finish those up next time. And we will move on to something else after that.
Until then, Happy Rambles.
The baths in Bath, have been in existence since Roman times. But in the eighteenth and nineteenth century taking the waters, in other words drinking them, was also fashionable. It is very smelly water.
The Grand Pump Room was begun in 1789 by Thomas Baldwin. He resigned in 1791 and John Palmer continued the scheme until its completion in 1799. Today the pump room is a restaurant, and as you can see from my picture, it is just before Christmas. The pump itself is still there and for a nominal fee you can sip the water and cure whatever ails you. Oh, by the way, as I understand it three glasses were required.Here are a couple of views of the pump room from closer to the Regency that you might find more evocative of the period. Evocative is my word for the week I think. I'm pretty sure I used it somewhere else in the last day or so.
The first picture is from 1798 and the second from 1805. It certainly looks elegant. I expected there to be more places to sit. I really liked the next one because you can see a the couple drinking the water and they are sitting. My picture of the pump as it is today comes next and a shot I took out of the window and down into the Baths, just because I thought it made an interesting view.
Much of the Pump Room now revolves around its modern day function as a restaurant, which of course did not please me at all. I would have much preferred to see people walking around in their long gowns. I really do think I was born in the wrong century.
My next set of pictures are just a few shots of Bath the city, and I will finish those up next time. And we will move on to something else after that.
Until then, Happy Rambles.