The discovery of an 18th-Century cold bath, buried underneath rubble until recent excavations, has surprised many due to its unprecedented nature. The Bath Assembly Rooms are well-known for their exclusivity, and the conception of a cold bath within the establishment serves as further evidence to support this. Those wanting an “exclusive experience” may have been privy to using the cold bath. It may be the only one of its kind in an elite social meeting place known as an assembly room.
The National Trust in charge of the Assembly Rooms has stated that ongoing research will draw on this “rare archaeological evidence” to piece together more about the bath and how it was used. The excavation work, carried out by Wessex Archaeology, revealed the steps down into the cold bath and a niche that potentially held a sculpture or statue. Bruce Eaton, an archaeologist, stated that “although historical records indicated that there was a cold bath buried beneath the Bath Assembly Rooms, we had no idea what preservation of the bath would be like.”
In the 1700s, medical professionals recommended cold bathing, alongside Bath’s hot spring waters. This practice involved plunging into cold water for a short time, then quickly warming up afterwards. A trend in installing cold baths in private homes and estates arose, but also in public facilities. The Assembly Rooms were built between 1769-1771 by John Wood, the younger, who would have been heavily influenced by medical theories of the time.
The discovery of the Bath Assembly Rooms’ cold bath is exciting news for historians and archaeologists alike. A highly unusual discovery that has caught many by surprise, the location alone implies a level of exclusivity. Further research will be conducted to uncover how it was used and by who
Read the full article from The BBC here: Read More