At the beginning of February we went on a walk which began at the west end of Fountains Abbey [Fountains Abbey is just to the west of Ripon]. Walking over the bridge and a few yards along the road we then headed down a track and along the River Skell. What a delight ! All along the river bank were wild snowdrops, drifts and drifts of them. We walked for a mile alongside these tiny little flowers which just lit up the woods on a rather grey day. This was a total surprise and cheered us on our way - until I began to notice a rather bad smell. Was this husband who was marching along in front? No ! It was the smell of natural sulphur waters. We had stumbled upon Aldfield Spa, which neither of us knew was there. So this month I am looking into taking the waters at Aldfield just above Ripon. Almost completely hidden by undergrowth was the ruins of a substantial building which had been Aldfield Spa. But this was so out of the way, had it ever attracted the fashionable set to take the waters? Judging by the smell I thought you would have to be very ill to even consider it. This is where the water was bubbling up with a very strong smell, leaves floating on top of the spring were coated with a white substance. Gas bubbles were emerging and the water was spilling over the side of the well. The overflow from the well made a little stream that then ran into the River Skell, coating the bank with this white stuff. Which merged into the white of the wild snowdrops. All very strange. Opposite the ruined Aldfield Spa building was this little curiosity covered in moss, but with no running water inside it. What was it? However - there is something like it in this picture ....... Was it a cover for a well where you would have dipped your cup to get a drink? The painting above is by James Green [ 1771 - 1834] and called Taking the waters at the Spa, Scarborough and is on the Yale Centre for British Art website. Aldfield Spa seems to have been known about for quite some time but not developed and commercialised in the way that the springs at Harrogate were. A very late attempt to jump on the fashion for drinking and bathing in smelly water was attempted by Ripon City Council. The area was called Aldfield Spa, but appart from the ruined building there were no other developments. So this story starts quite late. The local newspaper announced the arrival of the children of Thomas Gill , gamekeeper, of Aldfield Spa, and here he is in 1861 with his mother Margaret, wife Ann, and six children. Mrs Thomas Gill then offered the premises for parties who fancied the walk up the River Skell to the Spa, I don't know if they were Taking the Waters, or just having a ramble. The advertisements were in the local newspaper from Easter 1868 throughout that summer. We will now leap forward a few years and retreat back into Ripon. This is from the Yorkshire Evening Press 25 April 1885 and is a report on a meeting of the Ripon City Council. Looking at the health of the city they had become interested in the waters of Aldfield Spa. The Medical Officer for Health recommended that the wells be throughly cleansed and a report of the waters studied. Ripon City Council moved at a glacial pace. Fast forward to 1887. The Sanitary Committee had instructed the Town Clerk to obtain the names of several eminent analysts, and their terms, for a report on the Aldfield Spa waters ... then went on to discuss road rollers and a traction engine from Fowlers of Leeds .... By June 1887 a Mr Dupre had been engaged by the Sanitary Committee to analyse the Aldfield Spa water... By October the Town Clerk read out letters from Mr Dupre and the Medical Officer for Health regarding the Aldfield Spa water and after consideration it was unanimously resolved to forward the letters to medical gentlemen of the city and invite them to a conference .... after which nothing seems to have been done ! There really is nothing quite like a local newspaper for getting to the nitty gritty of local politics. A report in the Ripon Observer 31 August 1893 mused that if some famous person had had a miracle recovery from a dreadful disease then Aldfield Spa would have drawn crowds, but no such cure seems to have happened. Aldfield Spa was only mentioned as a destination for Sunday School picnics and local rambling groups. Until - 20 October 1898 Ripon Observer - discussions about bringing the water from Aldfield to Ripon -but they could not decide who should be in charge, the Finance Committee, the Water Supply Committee, or should they set up a private company, or the Ripon Corporation, but the Corporation could not instigate the building of a Hydro facility even if the ratepayers were supportive. So far so typical of local government! By January 1899 it was reported that the Ripon City Council was discussing building baths in the City and surveying the route for bringing Aldfield Spa water to the City. Negotiations began with Lord Ripon to acquire the spa water, and that Lord Ripon and Lord de Grey were prepared to negotiate a route. This is Lord Ripon [1827 - 1909] from Wikipedia. By February 1899 the City Council were looking at The Drill Fields on Park Street in Ripon to build the baths. By May 1899 a local group formed a syndicate to purchase land from the Marquis of Ripon for a private hotel. This is the Ripon Spa hotel and has been recently sold for £1.5 million. Ripon Spa hotel below. Ripon City Council decided to do their homework and sent a committee to visit Buxton, Matlock, Starbeck and Harrogate to inspect their baths and having looked at the costs decided not to erect swimming baths as anyone wanting to swim could swim in the River Ure. The Aldfield Spa water was mild sulphur water and similar to that in the Valley Spring at Harrogate. It would be good for gout, rheumatism, derangements of the digestive organs and liver and some skin diseases. Estimated cost of baths was £5,000 and bringing the water down from Aldfield £2,500 (July 1899) - they continued wrangling over how much to spend for some time. As they did not have the money in July 1899 they looked at Borrowing Money under the Public Health Act of 1875 which allowed them to do so! They then discussed spending a further £50 on getting another scientific analysis of the water. At the next monthly meeting the report had arrived, they wanted to know if the water's medicinal properties would deteriorate in transit from Aldfield to Ripon. The report from Dr Stevenson of Guy's Hospital said it was good. They also had to ascertain how many gallons it would produce. The estimated capacity was 1,000 gallons overflowing into the Skell with a constant temperature of 53 degrees F .... as the water flowed over stones there was a deposit of sulphuretted hydrogen ... and it kept in a bottle for seven weeks.... but there were no reports of anyone drinking the stuff! until November 1899 when someone called "Ponce de Leon" wrote a letter to the Ripon Observer saying he or she had been to Aldfield and tried it. This is the west end of Ripon. By February 1900 they were still arguing over the cost. But it was decided to promote Ripon as a Health Resort. This is a print of the fashionable set in Bath immersing themselves in the water. I don't quite think that the good people of Ripon had this in mind. The Ripon Observer kept the public informed of all the debates in the Council chamber throughout 1900, and they went on and on and on. In August 1900 a special meeting of the Ripon City Council debated all aspects of the Aldfield Spa water being brought to Ripon and after a casting vote by the Mayor the scheme was thrown out. There was the huge cost of bringing the water to Ripon plus £3,365 cost of way-leaves to Lord Ripon. It was this cost that defeated the whole project. But by December 1900 it was being discussed in the Ripon Observer again. By January 1901 it was decided to submit a Bill to the next session of Parliament. The ratepayers would have a say. A public meeting laid out the costs and arguments for and against. On a vote taken there were 94 for and 76 against having a Poll. Letters for and against were in the Ripon Observer. The votes of the Ripon ratepayers carried the project ! By now it was February 1901. Between 1904 and 1905 Ripon Spa Baths was built, and next to it the very lovely Ripon Spa Gardens. Water was drawn the four miles from Aldfield Spa to supply the facility. It is very ornate both inside and out. Lovely tiles and stained glass inside in the Arts and Crafts style. Ripon Spa Gardens are lovely, in spring a carpet of crocuses, in the middle a band stand for summer concerts and for exercise a bowling green, putting and crazy golf. At last Ripon got a Spa. To start with it was not a swimming baths, but a Pump Room with a Ladies' Baths on the right and a Gentlemen's on the left both with first and second class bathrooms and dressing rooms attached. A verandah opened out onto the Spa Gardens and the spa water was served from a counter. Royalty came to open the Spa Baths in October 1905; on the left Princess Henry of Battenburg (who was Beatrice the youngest daughter of Queen Victoria) and on the right her daughter Princess Ena (Eugenie, later Queen of Spain). What began as a splendid walk through woods filled with snowdrops, turning into a Bad Smell, developed into a trawl through local politics reported in the newspapers and Royalty opening the baths. Ripon Spa baths did gain a swimming pool, husband learned to swim there as a boy, but sadly they are now closed and a new pool has been built at a Leisure Centre in Ripon. The Spa Gardens continue to be popular, and I have spent many hours with my children and then grandchildren playing crazy golf and putting and having ice cream in the Sun Parlour. Happy Days.
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