As we approach the 450th anniversary of the discovery of Spring Water in Harrogate, the Royal Pump Room’s 180^th anniversary and Turkish Baths Harrogate celebrates 125 years of welcoming visitors to unwind and enjoy treatments, we take a look back at the history of health and relaxation in our district.

Harrogate was a popular and fashionable place for “taking the waters” a therapeutic activity that involved following an individual prescribed course of treatment usually during a break from your home location. The core treatments would consist of a regime of drinking and bathing in the mineral waters. exercise, fresh air, diet and other elements would also commonly be included.

Originally the waters were taken outdoors in the fresh air in the belief that a cure was more likely if you drank and bathed as close to the spring source as possible. In time, for reasons of modesty, comfort and fashion, more luxurious indoor facilities were built, although an outdoor tap on the Royal Pump Room building still remains today which gave free access for the poorer population.

You can visit the Royal Pump Room Museum in Harrogate today and take a walk through Valley Gardens where you will see the covers that close off many of the springs that rise there. Visit the earliest public spa building, the 1806 Promenade Rooms now home to the Mercer Art Gallery and the last remaining site of Harrogate’s links to its past: the Turkish Baths.