Royal Pump Room, Harrogate
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The Royal Pump Room is a Grade II*
listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Hi ...
in
Harrogate Harrogate ( ) is a spa town and civil parish in the North Yorkshire District, district and North Yorkshire, county of North Yorkshire, England. Historic counties of England, Historically in the West Riding of Yorkshire, the town is a tourist de ...
,
North Yorkshire North Yorkshire is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in Northern England.The Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority areas of City of York, York and North Yorkshire (district), North Yorkshire are in Yorkshire and t ...
,
England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...
. Today it houses the town's
museum A museum is an institution dedicated to displaying or Preservation (library and archive), preserving culturally or scientifically significant objects. Many museums have exhibitions of these objects on public display, and some have private colle ...
– operated by
North Yorkshire Council North Yorkshire Council, known between 1974 and 2023 as North Yorkshire County Council, is the local authority for the non-metropolitan county of North Yorkshire, England. Since 2023 the council has been a unitary authority, being a county coun ...
. It was formerly a spa water pump house. It is located in Crown Place in the western part of Harrogate town centre, opposite the town's Valley Gardens park. It is bounded by two streets, Crescent Road and Royal Parade. Today, the Pump Room consists of both the original 1842 stone rotunda and a glazed annexe which was opened in 1913. The Pump Room offered guests of the town an all weather facility where they could drink sulphur water which was pumped on site from a natural spring known as the ''Old Sulphur Well''. The building also had a social element to it as it provided guests with a place to meet friends and get to know others.


The museum

The Pump Room, and its later Annexe, were renovated in the early 1950s and it first opened as the new town museum in 1953. Today The Royal Pump Room Museum is owned and operated by
North Yorkshire Council North Yorkshire Council, known between 1974 and 2023 as North Yorkshire County Council, is the local authority for the non-metropolitan county of North Yorkshire, England. Since 2023 the council has been a unitary authority, being a county coun ...
. The museum underwent extensive renovations between 1985 and 1987. During the work many features of the buildings including the main building and Annexe's copper roof were restored. In addition, the ''Old Sulphur Well's'' wellhead and the surviving original water serving counter were restored. The 1980s overhaul also created new exhibition areas and improved the on-site facilities. The majority of the museum tells the story of Harrogate as a spa and a centre for rest and recuperation. The council-owned collection now consists of approximately 20,000 items. The first donations and endowments came from local private collections and some items were first donated to Harrogate Corporation in the 1850s. Amongst the exhibits relating to Harrogate as a spa town are a number of recreated treatment rooms using salvaged original fixtures. These dioramas recreate the
Hydrotherapy Hydrotherapy, formerly called hydropathy and also called water cure, is a branch of alternative medicine (particularly naturopathy), occupational therapy, and Physical therapy, physiotherapy, that involves the use of water for pain relief and ...
facilities, such as the
Vichy Vichy (, ; ) is a city in the central French department of Allier. Located on the Allier river, it is a major spa and resort town and during World War II was the capital of Vichy France. As of 2021, Vichy has a population of 25,789. Known f ...
bath rooms that were to be found in the nearby Royal Baths. Visitors can also see a wheeled mahogany bath which was once used for giving sulphurous peat baths. It was discovered intact during the 1970s despite being left abandoned for many years and buried near the site of The Royal Baths. The museum's 19th century
Bath chair A bath chair—or Bath chair—was a rolling chaise or light carriage for one person with a folding hood, which could be open or closed. Used especially by disabled persons, it was mounted on three or four wheels and drawn or pushed by hand. ...
was still used by bath chair proprietor Mr Robinson until he retired in 1931. These wheeled covered chairs were once a common sight in 19th century Harrogate and they were even fairly common in the 1920s. Bath chairs could be hired by guests from a rank of chairs and then bath chair men would push visitors from the rank to the various hotels and spa buildings. Recently a number of glass Hamilton style bottles – often known as 'torpedo' bottles – which all bare the inscription "bottled at the Royal Pump Room, Harrogate", were donated to the museum. Very few of these unusually shaped Victorian bottles have survived. They now form part of the display of the Pump Room's bottling room. This display serves as a reminder that there was a wider social and economic significance of the Pump Room. Strong Sulphur Water was once bottled and exported as medicinal spring water for consumption throughout the country. The museum also regularly displays a selection of period costumes from its sizeable and historically significant collection of clothing. In 2014, dresses from the museum's collections appeared on show in the ''Classical Dress Timeless Style'' exhibition which explored the influence of fashions of Ancient Greece and other aspects of the
Classical World Classical antiquity, also known as the classical era, classical period, classical age, or simply antiquity, is the period of cultural European history between the 8th century BC and the 5th century AD comprising the interwoven civilization ...
on dress makers from the 19th and 20th centuries. Another important element of the museum's displays are artefacts from the
Ancient World Ancient history is a time period from the beginning of writing and recorded human history through late antiquity. The span of recorded history is roughly 5,000 years, beginning with the development of Sumerian cuneiform script. Ancient h ...
. The museum is noted for its
Ancient Egyptian Ancient Egypt () was a cradle of civilization concentrated along the lower reaches of the Nile River in Northeast Africa. It emerged from prehistoric Egypt around 3150BC (according to conventional Egyptian chronology), when Upper and Lower E ...
and
Ancient Greek Ancient Greek (, ; ) includes the forms of the Greek language used in ancient Greece and the classical antiquity, ancient world from around 1500 BC to 300 BC. It is often roughly divided into the following periods: Mycenaean Greek (), Greek ...
artefacts which were collected by local antiquarians such as Robert Ogden and the Kent family of Tatefield Hall which is located near
Beckwithshaw Beckwithshaw is a village and civil parish in the county of North Yorkshire, England, about south-west of Harrogate. History Beckwithshaw takes its name from the now smaller settlement of Beckwith, North Yorkshire, Beckwith, to the east. Th ...
. The Egyptology collection includes a well-preserved
sarcophagus A sarcophagus (: sarcophagi or sarcophaguses) is a coffin, most commonly carved in stone, and usually displayed above ground, though it may also be buried. The word ''sarcophagus'' comes from the Greek language, Greek wikt:σάρξ, σάρξ ...
, a unique
cartonnage Cartonnage or cartonage is a type of material used in ancient Egyptian funerary masks from the First Intermediate Period to the Roman Empire, Roman era. It was made of layers of linen or papyrus covered with plaster. Some of the Fayum mummy portr ...
mask of
Anubis Anubis (; ), also known as Inpu, Inpw, Jnpw, or Anpu in Ancient Egyptian (), is the god of funerary rites, protector of graves, and guide to the underworld in ancient Egyptian religion, usually depicted as a canine or a man with a canine hea ...
, Stele gravestones, pre-dynastic pottery and other artefacts from later periods of
Ancient Egypt Ancient Egypt () was a cradle of civilization concentrated along the lower reaches of the Nile River in Northeast Africa. It emerged from prehistoric Egypt around 3150BC (according to conventional Egyptian chronology), when Upper and Lower E ...
.


Exhibitions at the museum

There is a regular programme of special exhibitions. These make use of the core council-owned collection and loaned items. In 2014, a
Great War World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...
centenary exhibition was held which featured numerous artefacts and personal memorabilia belonging to local people who served in the conflict. In late 2013, the Royal Pump Room displayed some of the costumes from ITV's period drama ''Downton Abbey''. The exhibition, which ran from October to December 2013, proved to be an outstanding success.


Children and young people and the museum

The museum welcomes numerous school parties from around Yorkshire. There is a well-established education programme for the various subjects covered by the
National Curriculum A national curriculum is a common programme of study in schools that is designed to ensure nationwide uniformity of content and standards in education. It is usually legislated by the national government, possibly in consultation with state or othe ...
. The museum provides workshops on subjects such as Egyptology, toys through time and also local history. The nearby Mercer Art Gallery houses the school activity room. Costumed period re-enactors sometimes interpret a particular period of history for schoolchildren. For families with children there is also a children's activity area, that includes colouring sheets, loanable activity backpacks and other trail and quiz sheets. During the summer holidays there are special object handling sessions and other educational activities for children.


The Pump Room's history and historical context


Discovery of mineral waters in Harrogate

The Tewit Well on the Stray was discovered by William Slingsby (uncle of Sir
William Slingsby Sir William Slingsby (29 January 1563 – 1634) was an English soldier who is often erroneously noted as the discoverer of the first spa water well in Harrogate, North Yorkshire. He was the seventh but third surviving son of Sir Francis Slings ...
) in 1596. Edmund Deane a physician of
York York is a cathedral city in North Yorkshire, England, with Roman Britain, Roman origins, sited at the confluence of the rivers River Ouse, Yorkshire, Ouse and River Foss, Foss. It has many historic buildings and other structures, such as a Yor ...
provides evidence that by 1626 the waters of Harrogate's Tewit Well were being used for medicinal purposes. He referred to the well as "The English Spa". He compared the waters of the Tewit Well with those of Spa in present-day
Belgium Belgium, officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. Situated in a coastal lowland region known as the Low Countries, it is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeas ...
, which even by Deane's day, was already a popular place where spring water was being consumed for health reasons.


History of the site of the Royal Pump Room

The waters from the natural spring upon which the Pump Room is built upon contains the greatest amount of sulphur of all of Harrogate's many water springs. The water from the Old Sulphur Well was termed ''Strong Sulphur Water'' to distinguish it from sulphurous waters from the town's other wells. Betty Lupton (c.1760–1843), dispensed ''Strong Sulphur Water'' from a well for approximately six decades at the Pump Room's present site. She retired in 1843, just as the Pump Room was completed. According to a contemporary newspaper obituary, she died on 22 August 1843 and was said to be 83 years old. It is known that in 1837, she was given the honorary title 'The Queen of the Well'. This title was held by several different women who were all water servers at the Old Sulphur Well. Water servers such as Betty were elected and then crowned each May. It is unclear when this tradition finally ended, but it is known a Mrs Anne Watson, held the title 'The Queen of the Well' after Betty Lupton had died. In the present day museum visitors can look down into the Pump Room's basement. There they can see an 18th century stone well-head for the Old Sulphur Well. It is of an unusual design and features arched openings with a tented roof structure which apparently was to protect the marble basin underneath. It is thought the marble basin was an original feature of the well head. In 1986 another long disused well shaft, which was thought to also date from the 18th century, was rediscovered and reopened by workmen during the refurbishment the Royal Pump Room museum.


The original 1842 building of the Royal Pump Room

The octagonal colonnaded building was designed by Isaac Thomas Shutt whose family owned the Swan Hotel. It was designed to accommodate 150 people. Apparently Shutt's design was not supported by all of Harrogate's Commissioners and four prominent builders and innkeepers of the town resigned in protest of Shutt's design being chosen. The building was completed in 1842 and the project is said to have costed £2,249 and 7 shillings. According to the British National Archive's online historical Currency Converter, this sum of money in 1840 would be the equivalent of spending £99,196 in 200
Currency Converter (1270–1970)
The Pump Room was the first project of the newly formed Harrogate Improvement Commissioners, whose aim was to provide a suitable building to house the Old Sulphur Well. The previous structure that was built on the site in the first decade of the 19th century was dismantled and re-erected over the Tewit Well. The Pump Room has four projecting side bays with windows and Corinthian pillars. On one of the walls of the building there is an inscribed panel bearing the town's Latin motto ''Arx celebris fontibus'' which can translate as "A citadel noted for its springs". The octagonal ''ogee'' dome is covered with copper tiles which replaced the original lead roof. In the centre of the roof there is an architectural feature known as a lantern which lets light down into the building.


Drinking the waters and the outside tap

In the heyday of the Pump Room, guests would arrive early in the morning from 7 am until about 9.30 am in order to drink one or two glasses of water. This was all done before they had any breakfast. After entering the building they would pay an attendant for their sulphur water. The water was traditionally served in glasses from a wooden counter. Visitors to the pump room were charged for drinking its water inside the building. Hollins' Handbook for Harrogate stated that an Act of Parliament governed the price of the water from the Pump Room. For an individual it would cost 1 shilling to drink sulphur water at the Pump Room for a week. A family could drink the waters at the Pump Room for the same duration at a cost of 4 shillings. However, legislation from as early as 1841 stated that ''Strong Sulphur Water'' was to be made available for free to those who could not afford it. The Harrogate Improvement Commissioners Board's '' 1841 Harrogate Act'' established the principle that the poor should not be excluded from the perceived medicinal benefits of Harrogate's sulphur water. In order to conform to the act the Pump Room provided an outside tap which anyone could use at any time. After 9.30 am the Pump Room's attendants stopped serving well water inside the building. From this time onward the outside tap was the only source of well water. In the early days of the building an attendant supervised the tap. This tap still exists today and it still works, although it is not recommended to try the water, due to the health risks involved.


The Pump Room becomes fashionable

During the heyday of the Pump Room music recitals were often held inside the building to entertain visitors. People from many different social backgrounds would travel from various parts of
Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the north-west coast of continental Europe, consisting of the countries England, Scotland, and Wales. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the List of European ...
and even
Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...
, to drink the pump room's water. In the 19th century sulphur water was seen as a means to effectively alleviate the symptoms of illnesses such as
gout Gout ( ) is a form of inflammatory arthritis characterized by recurrent attacks of pain in a red, tender, hot, and Joint effusion, swollen joint, caused by the deposition of needle-like crystals of uric acid known as monosodium urate crysta ...
and
lumbago Low back pain or lumbago is a common disorder involving the muscles, nerves, and bones of the back, in between the lower edge of the ribs and the lower fold of the buttocks. Pain can vary from a dull constant ache to a sudden sharp feeling. ...
. Drinking the water at the Royal Pump Room was seen as an integral part of what later became known as "The Harrogate cure". During their stay in the town, guests also visited Harrogate's Royal Baths to partake in various other treatments such as hot mineral water bath treatments, mud and sulphur rich peat baths to try to improve their health. In addition, rest, exercise, and relaxation became an integral part of the ''Harrogate cure''.


Increased popularity of Harrogate Spa Water and the Royal Pump Room

The number of people recorded as having drunk Harrogate's spa waters rose at an astonishing rate during the mid 19th century. For example, it was believed during 1842 Harrogate had received 3,778 visitors who had come to drink the water. By 1867 this figure stood at 11,626. The Pump Room is said to have regularly seen about 15,000 visitors a year through its doors at the peak of its popularity during the late 19th century and early 20th century.


The 1913 Annexe building

The continued popularity of Harrogate's spa waters created the need to expand the Pump Room building. By the 1900s, the Royal Pump Room was experiencing overcrowding on a regular basis. Initially a small temporary structure was erected alongside the 1842 building in an attempt to alleviate the overcrowding. This measure apparently proved to be unsatisfactory to visitors and failed to solve the problem. After much public debate on how to deal with the problem, Harrogate Corporation decided to add a permanent extension which would be connected to the 1842 building. In around 1912–13 the new annexe, which was designed by Leonard Clarke (architect), was built. Clarke's elegant design was fully glazed and had a roof tiled with ornate copper ''fishtail'' tiles which complement the original building's copper tiles. David Burnett, the then current
Lord Mayor of London The Lord Mayor of London is the Mayors in England, mayor of the City of London, England, and the Leader of the council, leader of the City of London Corporation. Within the City, the Lord Mayor is accorded Order of precedence, precedence over a ...
who also later became the 1st Baronet Burnett of Selborne House, travelled to Harrogate to conduct the annexe's opening ceremony on 7 June 1913. Sadly and somewhat ironically barely a year after the annexe's opening the
First World War World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...
had broken out. This resulted in a dramatic and rapid fall in the visitor numbers who were coming to Harrogate as a whole. The Pump Room never recovered from this event and visitor numbers never went back to their pre First World War levels following the return of peace.


The later decades of the Royal Pump Room and closure

Although Harrogate had 259,000 visitors in 1925, who were all recorded as having come to Harrogate with the specific intention to drink the town's spa waters, the Royal Pump Room and other such wells began experiencing a decline in popularity as the
interwar In the history of the 20th century, the interwar period, also known as the interbellum (), lasted from 11 November 1918 to 1 September 1939 (20 years, 9 months, 21 days) – from the end of World War I (WWI) to the beginning of World War II ( ...
period progressed.
The Great Depression The Great Depression was a severe global economic downturn from 1929 to 1939. The period was characterized by high rates of unemployment and poverty, drastic reductions in industrial production and international trade, and widespread bank an ...
and the economic hardships that followed in its wake had a major effect on visitor numbers to Harrogate's spa rooms. In addition, changes in medical thinking and social customs in this period resulted in fewer people coming to 'take the waters' in Harrogate. Yet in August 1939, just weeks before the
German invasion of Poland The invasion of Poland, also known as the September Campaign, Polish Campaign, and Polish Defensive War of 1939 (1 September – 6 October 1939), was a joint attack on the Second Polish Republic, Republic of Poland by Nazi Germany, the Slovak R ...
, the Pump Room was still attracting a large number of customers. It was arranged with the Corporation that between 7 am and 9.30 am, the roads outside the building were to be closed to allow guests to safely cross the road with their sulphur water glasses to reach tables placed opposite from the Pump Room. Newspaper vendors brought cartloads of newspapers to the Pump Room to sell to customers. These two aspects of the Pump Room's day-to-day operation, which can be seen in a silent film shot by Charles R. H. Pickard's photographic firm of Leeds, show that even in 1939 the Royal Pump Room was still an important visitor attraction and source of revenue for Harrogate Corporation and other parties. It is understood that sometime around the outbreak of the
Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
, the Pump Room was purposefully closed down. Possibly this was due to the government order that forbade the operation of public buildings where large numbers of people could gather e.g. theatres and cinemas. After the end of the war, in spite of the Pump Room's continued appeal to certain visitors to Harrogate, the decision was taken to decommission the building's water pumping equipment. After the Pump Room had been closed to the public the building served as a storehouse and also as a cafe/restaurant for short periods of time. However, by the early 1950s it was decided that the Pump Room would be turned into Harrogate's new museum.


Notable people who visited the Royal Pump Room as a Spa Room and Museum

Charles Dickens Charles John Huffam Dickens (; 7 February 1812 – 9 June 1870) was an English novelist, journalist, short story writer and Social criticism, social critic. He created some of literature's best-known fictional characters, and is regarded by ...
visited the building in 1858 and signed the visitors book. His comment seems to suggest he found the habits of people staying in Harrogate to be quite odd and not to his tastes. He wrote "(Harrogate is) the queerest place, with the strangest people in it, leading the oddest lives of dancing, newspaper-reading and dining." In 1911,
Tsarina Tsarina or tsaritsa (also spelled ''csarina'' or ''csaricsa'', ''tzarina'' or ''tzaritza'', or ''czarina'' or ''czaricza''; ; ; ) is the title of a female Autocracy, autocratic ruler (monarch) of Bulgaria, Serbia, and Russia, or the title of a t ...
Alexandra of Russia who was the wife of
Nicholas II of Russia Nicholas II (Nikolai Alexandrovich Romanov; 186817 July 1918) or Nikolai II was the last reigning Emperor of Russia, Congress Poland, King of Congress Poland, and Grand Duke of Finland from 1 November 1894 until Abdication of Nicholas II, hi ...
visited the Pump Room. On 2 December 1987, the Duke of Gloucester formally re-opened the Royal Pump Room Museum. A stone tablet recording this event is set in to one of the building's walls. In 2013, Harrogate-born actor Jim Carter gave a talk at the museum in which he discussed his life and acting roles.


See also

* Grade II* listed buildings in North Yorkshire (district) * Listed buildings in Harrogate (Low Harrogate Ward)


References


External links


Royal Pump Room
at
Harrogate Borough Council Harrogate ( ) is a spa town and civil parish in the district and county of North Yorkshire, England. Historically in the West Riding of Yorkshire, the town is a tourist destination; its visitor attractions include its spa waters and RHS Harlow ...

Aeden Plus: The Royal Pump Room
Archive images of Pump Room {{Authority control Buildings and structures in Harrogate Museums in North Yorkshire Tourist attractions in Harrogate Grade II* listed buildings in North Yorkshire