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Victorian Turkish Baths @victurk.bsky.social · 7h

#onthisday, 3 Oct 1896, William Morris died. Morris, Arts and Crafts movement textile designer, poet, artist, writer, and socialist activist, was a regular frequenter of Victorian #TurkishBaths with his friends Luke Ionides, Philip Webb, & Edward Burne-Jones (who drew these caricatures). 🗃️ #C19th

Lying prone, Morris is being shampooed on his back.

Lying on his back, Morris is being shampooed.

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Victorian Turkish Baths @victurk.bsky.social · 8h

#onthisday, 3 October 1863, Dr Charles H Shepard added Victorian #TurkishBaths to his hydropathic 'sanitorium' at No.63 Columbia Street, #Brooklyn Heights, #NewYork &, in doing so, opened the first Turkish bath in the USA. www.victorianturkishbath.org/_2HISTORY/At.... The baths closed 1913.🗃️ #C19th

Engraving showing the front of the baths building. Originally the baths occupied only No. 63 Columbia Street (on the left of the building), but in 1867 a new Men's bath was opened next door at No. 65, while the original baths at No. 63 were converted for use by women.

Illustrated cover of a booklet, 'Rheumatism and its treatment by Turkish baths' published by Dr Shepard in 1892.

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Victorian Turkish Baths @victurk.bsky.social · 9h

#onthisday, 3 Oct 1870, Dr Richard Barter died aged 68. An Irish physician, he built the 1st experimental Victorian #TurkishBaths at his St Ann's Hydro, realising David Urquhart's 30 yr dream of reintroducing the bath to the Br Isles. Barter associated with 9+ Tbs in Ireland, & 1 in London. 🗃️ #C19th

Dr Richard Barter, shortly before his death, standing next to the entrance to the latest of the Turkish baths built at St Ann's.

Portrait bust of Dr Barter by his namesake, the sculptor and architect Richard Barter, who designed all of the doctor's Victorian Turkish baths in Ireland, as well as the one in London.

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Victorian Turkish Baths @victurk.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

#onthisday, 1 October 1876, the Imperial Bath Company opened a Victorian #TurkishBaths at the rear of the Hollman House Hotel at 7 W 24th St, #NewYork, NY. Hot rooms, marble shampooing room, with "various showers, and the needle-bath", dressing and cooling-rooms for men and women. 🗃️ #C19th

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Victorian Turkish Baths @victurk.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

#onthisday, 1 October 1860, Dr Barter opened #TurkishBaths for the Working Classes at 43 Little Donegal St, #Belfast. They were actually 2nd Class baths attached to the 1st Class baths opening on 1 November, but entered from 112 Donegal St. www.victorianturkishbath.org/_6DIRECTORY/... +ALT 🗃️ #C19th

Advertisement for the baths shortly after they opened, detailing opening hours and charges. While the baths were never advertised as Turkish Baths for the Working Classes, this is how they were popularly known, possibly because they opened before the first class baths. Newspapers initially referred to them as such, and when Barter opened similar baths in Maylor Street, Cork, they were officially called Turkish Baths for the Destitute Poor and, more popularly as The People's Turkish Baths. (M'Comb's Guide to Belfast: the Giant's Causeway and adjoining districts of Antrim and Down…, 1861)

In 1892 the baths were bought by John North (who had previously purchased Barter's Upper Sackville Street baths in Dublin). He rebuilt them (image above) and renamed them the Belfast Hammam. Under further owners, they remained open till 1936 and were demolished ten years later. (Image courtesy the Belfast Telegraph)

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Victorian Turkish Baths @victurk.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

#onthisday, 30 September 1800, was born architect Decimus Burton (son of James Burtonm, designer & founder of St Leonards-on-Sea). Decimus owned 5 shares in the company which built its #TurkishBaths (victorianturkishbath.org/_6DIRECTORY/...). The baths failed but (now) Listed bldg remains. 🗃️ #C19th

The Turkish baths building on a card posted in 1907. The photograph would have been taken some years previously, probably soon after Uplands School completed the building of their swimming pool in 1871. (Photo: Castro collection)

Photo I took of all that remains of the Turkish baths building in 2006, shortly after it failed to find a buyer at auction. It was later sold more than once.

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Victorian Turkish Baths @victurk.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

#onthisday, 30 September 1868, James Bryning opened the #Surrey #TurkishBaths at 191 Blackfriars Road, London. More about the image (with link to more about the baths) at www.victorianturkishbath.org/6DIRECTORY/A... The baths closed in 1888, becoming site 4 the New Surrey Chapel & Schools. 🗃️ #C19th

Contemporary photo of exterior of the baths with three men and a small girl at the door. (Photo courtesy of 'Paul')

Advertisement for the baths in the South London Press (2 January 1869) shortly after their opening, with charges and times.

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Victorian Turkish Baths @victurk.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

#onthisday, 26 Sept 1929, Paddington Borough Council added the wonderful Art Deco #TurkishBaths to the Porchester Baths. A proposal that Paddington Vestry include them in their 1874 baths bldg was unsuccessful although they did agree to set aside space for them—a wait of only 56 years. +ALT 🗃️ #C19th

This baths building is the only one in the world with a direct entrance from the street, through a heat-locked lobby directly into a Turkish baths cooling-room, shown here with its original sign. Since refurbishment and outsourcing, the council refuses to indicate this unique entrance with its original sign, or a replica. Instead the new sign suggests that the entrance is to (a non-existant) "Porchester Spa". So much for a council's respect for its unique historic entrance.

Part of the cooling room with a gallery overlooking the plunge pool.

Poster for the baths produced shortly after its opening in 1929.

Part of a leaflet dating from when the Turkish baths were run by the City of Westminster itself.

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Victorian Turkish Baths @victurk.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

#onthisday, 25 September 1859, Frederick S Rawnsley, Sec. of the St Peter's Foreign Affairs Committee in #Leeds, and Mgr of #TurkishBaths in St Peter's Square, opened his own establishment in Wade Lane. Surviving under several owners for almost 60 years, this early bath closed in 1916. +ALT 🗃️ #C19th

Advertisement in the Leeds Times (17 September 1859) announcing the forthcoming opening of Rawnsley's new bath, below which is an advertisement for Rawnsley's original baths, now under new ownership. Both men were Foreign Affairs Committeemen, and the dispute between the two also had political ramifications. More at https://victorianturkishbath.org/3TOPICS/AtoZArts/Porticos/pix/StPeters_w.htm

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Victorian Turkish Baths @victurk.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

#onthisday, 24 September 1927, #Bermondsey opened its £150,000 Grange Road Baths. Some papers lammed the council for providing 'luxurious' #TurkishBaths on the rates as they were well fitted out for a local authority facility. Gay friendly. Closed 1973—"structural defects". Demolished 1975. 🗃️ #C19th

Main frontage of the baths building in Grange Road, just south of the Thames.

Plan of part of the basement which housed the Turkish baths. These comprised three hot rooms, plunge bath, shower room, shampooing room fitted for two shampooers, and provided with the usual shampoo slabs and bowls. There was also a complementary steam room.

The carpeted cooling-room at the baths, with loungers, tables and chairs, and thirteen cubicles, each containing a couch and small table, etc.

A still from a 1930s Bermondsey Council film 'Where there's life there's soap' promoting their Turkish baths. Can be viewed online, courtesy Wellcome Collection at https://wellcomecollection.org/works/zrgauwtq

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Victorian Turkish Baths @victurk.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

#onthisday, 23 September 1889, died author Wilkie Collins, advised by his friend and doctor, Francis Carr Beard, to visit #TurkishBaths for his health. He wrote to his mother, 'excellent shampoos and great care in attendance.' (Thanks to @paullewismoney.bsky.social) 🗃️ #C19th

Caricature of Wilkie Collins (1824-1889) by Adriano Cecioni. Caption read "The Novelist who invented Sensation".

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Brian Groom @groomb.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

The Entrance to the Mersey Tunnel, 1934, painting by T. B. Forshaw (Museum of Liverpool).

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Old English Wordhord @oewordhord.bsky.social · 11/10/2025

Hātabaðan, n: Bath (place name). (HA-ta-BA-thon / ˈhaː-ta-ˌba-θan) The city of Bath used to be called Hot Baths. Image: Book of Hours; St Omer or Théouranne, c. 1320; @britishlibrary.bsky.social Add MS 36684, f. 7v. #OldEnglish #WOTD #placenames

Medieval marginalia depicting a person bathing in a barrel-like tub, with a large bird perched above them and a dragon like creature lurking below.

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Victorian Turkish Baths @victurk.bsky.social · 20/09/2026

#onthisday, 20 September 1909, #Carlisle quietly opened #TurkishBaths in James St. Victorian-designed by City Surveyor Percy Dalton—later erected by local builder Wm Johnstone. It's now Grade II Listed. www.victorianturkishbath.org/_6DIRECTORY/… Closed 2022, but active campaign to reopen. 🗃️ #C19th

Early photograph of the changing cubicles and plunge bath in the cooling-room

Detail of the wonderful glazed faïence corbels and tilework

Plan of the three hot rooms, and the shampooing room with its needle douche

From Twitter page of the campaigning group, Friends of Carlisle Victorian & Turkish Baths. Please do visit the page (and one of the organised visits to the baths) and please support the Friends. The baths may have been quietly opened, but when they are re-opened it will be much much louder!

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Darren McLean @darrenmcleanuk.bsky.social · 17/09/2026

In the 1910s this machine - mounted on a flatbed train carriage - took in a rounded log, squared it, predrilled holes in it for spikes and spat it out ready for creosoting, for use as a railway sleeper/tie.

A worker beside a train carriage mounted machine with a wood sleeper/tie being brought to him

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Victorian Turkish Baths @victurk.bsky.social · 16/09/2026

#onthisday, 16 September 1868, #Hobart Town Turkish Bath Co Ltd, encouraged by John Le Gay Brereton (who introduced the bath in #Australia), opened #TurkishBaths on the corner of Collins & Harrington Streets. Scene of an unusual incident in 1870 www.victorianturkishbath.org/_7CHARIVARI/... 🗃️ #C19th

Detail of the single storey Turkish baths building. (Courtesy of the State Library Of Tasmania)

Outer cover of booklet published in 1869. Front titled 'The Turkish Bath: a Lecture given by J[ohn] Le Gay Brereton, MD…'. The back comprises an advertisement for the Hobart Turkish bath, with several testimonials.

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Victorian Turkish Baths @victurk.bsky.social · 16/09/2026

#onthisday, 16 September 1886, #TurkishBaths were opened at the St Petersgate Public Baths in #Stockport. Hot rooms 135°, 175°, & 260° F, shampooing room, & cooling-room. Stained glass windows and gas-lit by night. JC Prestwich of Leigh beat 90 other architects in competition. Closed 1993. 🗃️ #C19th

Photo of the façade of the public baths building. Mainly two storey with smaller central third storey. Built in free "Queen Anne" style, with Ruabon bricks and terracotta dressings. Arched windows.

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Victorian Turkish Baths @victurk.bsky.social · 13/09/2026

#onthisday, 13 September 1905, #Bradford opened its Central Baths, with electrical, medicated, & sun ray treatments. Its #TurkishBaths had 3 hot rooms, 2 cooling-rooms, & a shampooing rm. By 1936, the Turkish Suite had been renamed Windsor Baths & given its own entrance. Closed 1 May 1983. 🗃️ #C19th

Cover of the official handbook marking the opening of the baths on Great Horton Road.

"The Electic Vibrator on being applied to a patient's body gives a form of massage which is considered much superior to the ordinary massage given by hand, and is generally found to be a powerful invigorator. It is particularly useful after the radiant heat and light treatment." An electro-massage cost 1/- for ten minutes.

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Victorian Turkish Baths @victurk.bsky.social · 12/09/2026

#onthisday, 12 September 1878, Cleopatra's Needle was installed in London, its hazardous overseas journey paid for by Sir William James Erasmus Wilson, surgeon, dermatologist, archaeologist, author of "The Eastern, or Turkish bath" & an early shareholder in the famous Jermyn Street Hammam. 🗃️ #C19th

Title page of "The Eastern, or Turkish bath: its history, revival in Britain, and appplication to the purposes of health" published in 1861.

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Victorian Turkish Baths @victurk.bsky.social · 11/09/2026

#onthisday, 11 Sept 1860, Foreign Affairs Committeeman Roger Evans—who'd earlier that yr opened London's 1st Victorian #TurkishBaths in Bell St—had to open larger one in Golden Square. Closed 1866—bldg to be Hosp for Throat Diseases extn (RNENT). www.victorianturkishbath.org/_2HISTORY/At... 🗃️ #C19th

Typographic advertisement for Evans' Turkish Baths, managed by another Foreign Affairs Committeeman, John Johnson, who went on to manage the Jermyn Street Hammam.

Handwritten accounts for the first 16 weeks of Roger Evans’s Turkish baths in Golden Square. (Wellcome Library)

Advertisement for both of Evans's Turkish baths from the Weekly Register and Catholic Standard (20 Oct 1860) published shortly after the Golden Square baths opened.

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Victorian Turkish Baths @victurk.bsky.social · 10/09/2026

#onthisday, 10 September 1927, the London borough of #Woolwich opened Public Baths including #TurkishBaths in Plumstead High Street. Hot rooms at 150°, 180° & 220°F, steam rm, shampooing rm with 2 Sicilian marble slabs, plunge, needle & shower baths, & oak-panelled cooling-rm. Closure date? 🗃️ #C19th

Typographic cover of a booklet 'Turkish and Russian vapour baths: their uses and advantages' which was a 1928 reprint with illustrations of the original 1927 version.

Photograph of the entrance to the Turkish baths, with a star and crescent roundel above the central sign.

The shampooing room with two slabs and a needle shower.

The Turkish baths refreshments menu included a cup of tea for 2d., a cup of Bovril (very popular) at 3d., or a poached egg on toast for 6d.

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Victorian Turkish Baths @victurk.bsky.social · 09/09/2026

‘The people building AI earnestly believe that it could kill us all by the end of the decade.’ – Former OpenAI researcher Jacob Coxon announces his resignation form Anthropic, saying that neither company is ‘acting responsibly’ and that both are ‘gambling with our lives’.

The Sorcerer's Apprentice from Walt Disney's 1940 film

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Victorian Turkish Baths @victurk.bsky.social · 09/09/2026

#onthisday, 9 Sep 1893, #Batley Corpn's Baths were formally opened after the #Turkishbaths completed. 1st hot room (150°) seated 14 bathers & 2nd (200°) seated 6. Cooling-room had 6 "apartments" with couches, mirror, &c. Shampooing room, showers & needle douche. Also a cabinet vapour bath. 🗃️ #C19th

Postcard showing the exterior of the baths in Cambridge Street, with four children in the foreground.

Advertisement from the Batley News (24 November 1893) giving charges from 27th November 1893. No earlier ads giving the charges have so far been found, so it's not clear if earlier charges have been raised or, more likely, lowered. They cost 1/- from Monday to Thursday, and 6d on Friday and Saturday. They were open to women (at the higher price!) on Wednesday from noon till closing time.

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Victorian Turkish Baths @victurk.bsky.social · 07/09/2026

@cilip.bsky.social Could any organisation (or individual) concerned with librarianship education use a collection of 120+ books from the 60s & 70s (possibly incl rare copy of Derek Austen's PRECIS manual). Available free for collection 4 mins drive from Jctn.9 on the M25. (Continued below—or above?)

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Victorian Turkish Baths @victurk.bsky.social · 07/09/2026

#onthisday, 7 Sep 1906, #Manchester Corporation opened Victoria baths, incl one of the corp's 5 Victorian or Victorian-style #TurkishBaths . Closed in 1993. Now a community centre run by victoriabaths.org.uk. History: victorianturkishbath.org/_6DIRECTORY/AtoZEstab/England/ManHiS/1MHSEng.htm 🗃️ #C19th

Corner of the cooling-room with changing/relaxation cubicles (Photo: Manchester City Libraries)

A view through the hot rooms (Photo: Manchester City Libraries)

The shampooing room (Photo: Manchester City Libraries)

Protesters marching to save the Victoria Baths, Hathersage Road, Manchester, in 1993. (Photographer unknown)

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Victorian Turkish Baths @victurk.bsky.social · 07/09/2026

#onthisday, 7 Sept 1903, the Midland Railway Company opened its Midland Hotel in #Manchester (designed by Charles Trubshaw) with #TurkishBaths in the basement. Very little is known about them or their closing date but, judging by other original rooms, they must have been luxurious. +ALTs 🗃️ #C19th

Exterior of the hotel (Photo: Brian Lomas)

Advertisement from the Manchester Courier (27 April 1909). An article in the same issue notes that the baths were "open night and day".

Advertisement in the Manchester Guardian (14 March 1925) announcing changed days when baths were open for women. Presumably any travelling woman wanting to stay overnight had to plan her itinerary carefully if she wanted to use the Turkish bath. More likely the baths were open to Manchester's residents also.

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Nothings Monstered @nothingsmonstrd.bsky.social · 06/09/2026

Woman with Autoharp, Falls River, MA — Emily Gay, circa late 19th century

Black and black and white photograph a studio portrait of a woman with an autoharp in her lap fall the River Massachusetts always makes me think of Lizzie Borden and looking at background on this Photograph I see that the photographer was a distant cousin of Borden but what struck me before that was that the eyes of the woman with the Autoharp remind me a little of Lizzie Borden's eyes as I remember them in the most commonly seen photograph of her

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𝕯𝖆𝖓🍂🎃🕸️ @arepublic86.bsky.social · 05/09/2026

Charlotte Wainwright restoring and saving old/ancient books. www.wainwrightbookbinding.com

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Victorian Turkish Baths @victurk.bsky.social · 05/09/2026

#onthisday, 5 Sept 1884, #Whitehaven #TurkishBaths opened—the 1st in the world to be lit by electricity using Swan's Incandescent Lamps as in Armstrong's nearby #Cragside. 3 hot rooms, salt water plunge, needle douche, shampooing & cooling-room. www.victorianturkishbath.org/_6DIRECTORY/... 🗃️ #C19th

Monochrome external elevation of main façade of the baths building.

Section shows the first, second, and hottest room in basement, with one person reading a newspaper in the first room and another lying down in the hottest room. The furnace is directly under the hottest room. (Detail courtesy Cumbria Archive Service)

Photo of the exterior many years after the baths closed mid-20th century, yet still retaining its historic cupola and Doric porch.

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Victorian Turkish Baths @victurk.bsky.social · 04/09/2026

#onthisday, 4 Sept 1891, #Gloucester Corporation opened Public Baths including #TurkishBaths which closed in 1998. Superintendent John Maxfield (the Younger). In 1857, his Dad, a David Urquhart Foreign Affairs Committeeman, designed the heater for Isaac Ironside's domestic Tb—England's 1st. 🗃️ #C19th

Architect J Fletcher Trew drawing, plan, and section of the baths showing the separate entrance to the Turkish baths on the left.

Photograph of the building showing that the surrounding railings are almost the only design change on the exterior.

The cooling-room with couches, cloth covered table, easy chairs, rugs, and curtained cubicles for changing.

The Turkish baths page of a 1996 council leaflet on the baths. While costumes were required in the mixed sauna, they were sensibly not required in the separately used Turkish baths.

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Victorian Turkish Baths @victurk.bsky.social · 03/09/2026

The onlie begetter of the academic paywall.

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Brad Holkesvig @bradjholk.bsky.social · 02/09/2026

I agree with this painting I captured with my camera while at the Besos River a year ago. #art #floodwalls #BesArtTheRiverMuseum #artists

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Darren McLean @darrenmcleanuk.bsky.social · 03/09/2026

The Miraculous (clickbait) Staircase of Loretto Chapel in Santa Fe, New Mexico, is impressive and also a story about a skill, once common and nothing else. It's a 'Helical stair' and were once common in both stone and wood. See alt

"Built by a mysterious carpenter who vanished after completing it".. when he should have stayed for a Q&A?

BTW, the date and his name will almost invariably be recorded on the inside somewhere. So if they ever do maintenance...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loretto_Chapel

The stair’s helical geometry allows loads to be distributed through the interlocking treads and strings as a continuous curved structure, reducing reliance on a central support

19c French carpenter showing models built using the principles of stereotomy

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Hidden Treasures @seethetreasures.bsky.social · 28/08/2026

On 27th August 1889, the Great Tailor’s Strike began. This balance sheet comes from the YIVO Institute for Jewish Research and shows contributions and expenses for the strike fund. Find out more here: celebratingjewisharchives.org/treasures/gr... #Archives #WorkingClassHistory #JewishHistory

A balance sheet showing the income and expenditure of the Great Strike of East London Tailors.

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The Architectural Heritage Fund @archhfund.org.uk · 02/09/2026

In the 1970s, Clevedon Pier – once hailed as ‘the most beautiful pier in England’ – faced demolition. But, after years of campaigning, planning & fundraising, the Grade I Pier was restored & reopened. Today, it welcomes over 100,000 visitors a year. 👇 ahfund.org.uk/anniversary/... #AHF50

A historic photograph of Clevedon Pier. Credit: Clevedon Pier and Heritage Trust.

Clevedon Pier after its reopening. Credit: Clevedon Pier and Heritage Trust.

Clevedon Pier today. Credit: Clevedon Pier and Heritage Trust.

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Victorian Turkish Baths @victurk.bsky.social · 02/09/2026

#onthisday, 2 September 1891, #Bolton #TurkishBaths Co Ltd opened the ladies' section of their Great Moor Street baths. The gentlemen's section opened the next day. Galleried cooling-room and three hot rooms. Taken over by Bolton Corporation in 1899, they remained open till 31 March 1980. 🗃️ #C19th

Cut of the exterior of the baths, designed by Messrs Stones & Gradwell of Blackburn (Architects). (Image: American Architect and Building News, 11 Apr 1891).
Compare with a photo of the baths taken more recently at https://victorianturkishbath.org/3TOPICS/AtoZArts/Heritage/pix/Bolton_w.htm.

Stones and Gradwell also designed the Richmond Terrace Turkish baths in their hometown (See: https://victorianturkishbath.org/_6DIRECTORY/AtoZEstab/England/Blackburn/BlackburnEng.htm.)

Photographic detail of terra cotta 'BOLTON TURKISH BATHS' sign.

Three young women students enjoying a visit to the baths in the early 1970s. They are reclining on what seem to be locally designed and manufactured duretas. (Courtesy the Bolton News)

Photograph of staircase support in the entrance hall, decorated with cut outs suggesting stars and crescents.

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Angela O'Brien / GrecianGirly @greciangirl.bsky.social · 22/08/2026

🏛️ Beautiful mosaic floor of the Roman baths at the Sanctuary of Poseidon, Isthmia, Greece. The baths were built ca 150 CE and were used by the athletes who performed in the Isthmian Games. The mosaic depicts Triton and sea creatures. (📹 me - filmed last October)

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Victorian Turkish Baths @victurk.bsky.social · 01/09/2026

#onthisday, 1 September 1909, Adolph S Lundin opened women's #TurkishBaths at 42-44 St Botolph Street, #Boston, Mass. Located just below street level, with a gym and offices on upper floors. Italian marble pool, cooling-room, hot rooms, & shampooing. Also hair-dressing, nails & chiropody. 🗃️ #C19th

Obverse of business card with address and opening hours:
9.00am to 10.00pm weekdays—late closing in the evening especially compared with the usual hours for women; Sundays noon till 5.00pm.

Reverse of business card with part of street map and position of baths (slightly exaggerated in size) printed in red.

Advertisement (c. 1914) for the Ladies' Turkish Bath, with swimming, dancing and gymnastics available in private, or in class.

The entrance to the baths as it is today, the baths having been converted into apartments, now in a historic conservation area.

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Victorian Turkish Baths @victurk.bsky.social · 31/08/2026

#onthisday, 31 August 1874, John Robertson opened #TurkishBaths in Grange Road East, #Middlesbrough. It included a cooling-room with divans for 26 bathers, tepid room, hot room, shampooing room, & plunge pool. Under several owners including John Holman, the baths remained open till c.1937. 🗃️ #C19th

Advertisement in the Daily Gazette for Middlesbrough (5 Sep 1874) for the newly opened baths, giving opening hours (including Sunday mornings before 10.00 am) and charges (2/- and 1/-, with an extra 6d. for shampooing).

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Victorian Turkish Baths @victurk.bsky.social · 31/08/2026

#onthisday, 31 August 1885, the #SouthShields Victoria Sea Water Swimming Baths opened with 'a very spacious #TurkishBaths'. After several temporary closures, the company finally closed them c.1915. Later demolished. There were at least three earlier Turkish baths in the town in the 1860s. 🗃️ #C19th

The right-hand side of what appears to be a symmetrical façade is obscured by the parked open-top tram . The conductor stands with the two horses, while the driver holds the reins.

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Victorian Turkish Baths @victurk.bsky.social · 30/08/2026

#onthisday, 30 August 1884, #Southwark engineers Messrs Chandler opened the Central #TurkishBaths in their ex-office in #Newington Causeway. In 1884 a plunge pool "replaced" the women's baths. From 1911, the baths were part of Wm Cooper's Savoy chain. Destroyed (1941) in the London Blitz. 🗃️ #C19th

Advertisement in the South London Chronicle (13 Sep 1884) announcing the opening of 'the handomest baths in London' by its manager, Mr W Ching. Ladies day on Wednesday.

Advertisement in the South London Press (18 Oct 1884) announcing the forthcoming installation of a plunge pool in the newly purchased premises next door. Since women only had one day per week bathing and the plunge was in additional space it seems likely that the day was poorly patronised. Few women would have had their own disposable income or been able to find the time.

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Victorian Turkish Baths @victurk.bsky.social · 29/08/2026

#onthisday, 29 August 1940, the Bon Accord Baths opened in #Aberdeen at a cost of £100,000. It remained open till 2008. Upstairs was a Victorian-style #TurkishBaths suite, with three hot rooms, a cooling-room, plunge pool & showers, a sauna, steam room, medicated baths, & a solarium. +ALT 🗃️ #C19th

Plan of Turkish baths (source unknown).
Bon Accord Heritage is a registered charity, though it may be better known as the ‘Save Bon Accord Baths’ campaign.
With dedicated support from the local community, they are working toward the restoration and reopening of these historic baths in Aberdeen. Their vision is to breathe new life into the venue as both a community-owned and operated facility.
To find out how you can help, visit their website https://bonaccordbaths.org.uk/

Wall sign reads "Smoking prohibited in Turkish baths"

Two of the hot rooms (Photo: Scott Baxter/DC Thomson)

The plunge pool (Photo: Scott Baxter/DC Thomson)

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Victorian Turkish Baths @victurk.bsky.social · 28/08/2026

Some weeks ago I posted a somewhat doom-laden piece: the British Newspaper Archive was about to improve its user experience. I suggested that most similar announcements by websites usually resulted in the exact opposite (read, eg, Google). I totally withdraw. For my purposes, BNA is now MUCH BETTER.

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Victorian Turkish Baths @victurk.bsky.social · 26/08/2026

#onthisday, 26 August 1904, was born the novelist Christopher #Isherwood who frequented the gay-friendly Savoy #TurkishBaths at 92 Jermyn St, and famously took composer Benjamin #Britten there in an attempt to help him accept his homosexuality. 🗃️ #C19th

Head and shoulders image of the novelist Christopher Isherwood.

Benjamin Britten relaxing in a chair with a score in hand.

Central double doors to the baths. On either side, at an angle, was the entrance to a shop leasing the premises. Image of the shampooing room at
https://victorianturkishbath.org/0PIXMONTHLY/pix/2008/0807YorkJer_w.htm

Clip from the Evening News (10 May 1930) reads "TURKISH BATHS CASE. In granting the renewal of the licence for the Savoy Turkish Baths Ltd, of Jermyn-street, S.W., the chairman of the Public Control Committee of the LCC [London County Council] said the decision was a unanimous one. While accepting the evidence of the LCC inspectors (they alleged that the conduct of some of the clients was improper) the committee was not entirely satisfied that the management and the attendants were aware of what was taking place."

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Sanja Karin Music @skm.wsocial.eu · 25/08/2026

Just reached Tskaltubo, only staying for a night, but went out exploring the old abandoned sanatoriums in the companionship of a very sweet (they all are) stray dog, and dad, who got a go at the camera. What an absolutely fascinating town!! Soon these places will be gone :(

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Victorian Turkish Baths @victurk.bsky.social · 25/08/2026

No cheating. Share the last photo of the sky from your mobile (if you feel like it). This is Leatherhead on 30 March 2026—I know, but it's been too hot to go far more recently! Didn't have time to see what, if anything, was behind the wall.

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Open Book Publishers @openbookpublish.bsky.social · 19/08/2026

OUT NOW | 'The Diaries of Anthony Hewitson, Provincial Journalist, Vol 2: 1891–1912' ed by Andrew Hobbs The 2nd vol of Anthony Hewitson's diaries offers rare insight into the career of a 19th century journalist Read freely online or buy a copy: buff.ly/hQ88jnZ #OpenAccess #journalism #19thCentury

An image of the book in hardback on a colourful background, alongside text that says:

The Diaries of Anthony Hewitson, Provincial Journalist, Volume 2: 1891–1912 edited by Andrew Hobbs

Journalist Anthony Hewitson (1836-1912) worked in one of the largest sectors of the periodical press: provincial newspapers. His diaries, written between 1865 and 1912, reveal the people, processes and networks involved in the creation of Victorian newspapers. They also tell us about fatherhood, old age, antiquarianism and local history, and the culture of Victorian towns and villages.

This full scholarly edition offers a wealth of new information about local newspaper writing and sub-editing, newspaper ownership and publishing, and aspects of Victorian periodicals and culture extending far beyond provincial newspapers. The Diaries of a Provincial Journalist are an indispensable research tool for local and regional historians, as well as social and political historians with an interest in Victorian studies and the media, and anyone interested in turn-of-the-century social and cultural history.

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Joe Saunders @joesaunders1.bsky.social · 21/08/2026

An important case in itself. Also a useful reminder of the ongoing role antiquated laws on landownership have in modern day Britain. 🗃️

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