Turkish baths in provincial England

Swindon Turkish Baths: Part 1

Proposed Turkish baths behind the Mechanics' Institution

During the second half of the 19th century there were two Swindons. On a site separated by fields from the original old town, the Great Western Railway Company (GWR) built a village adjoining its huge railway works for those who were employed there. New Swindon was a railway town and, more specifically, a company town.

From 1840, when Isambard kingdom Brunel designed the first row of cottages, until 1906, when the medical centre and baths building on Faringdon road was more or less completed, the GWR built a range of facilities for their workers and their families. Apart from housing, a hospital, schools, a library, a covered market, and a park, there was a Mechanics’ Institution and a Medical Fund Society which, by 1947, was considered to be a model worth following by the new National Health Service.

Those employed in the GWR works became members of the fund, originally compulsorily, though later voluntarily. A weekly subscription, ranging from ½d to 10d, was deducted from members’ pay. In return, they were able to get free first aid and treatment after an accident, together with any necessary hospital treatment. In addition, they and their families could call on a doctor, and obtain medicines, dental treatment, physiotherapy, and a variety of baths.

On 10 February 1858, David Urquhart had been invited to the Mechanics 'Institution to give a lecture on Turkish baths. But due to the sudden tragic death of his baby son William, the lecture was given by Stewart Erskine Rolland in his place.

When questioned afterwards about the cost of building such a bath, Rolland undertook, at a cost of £100,

to build a bath at New Swindon capable of accommodating one hundred persons per day, and costing only from fourpence to sixpence per day for fuel.

Rolland’s offer was not accepted. After all, the first Turkish bath in England had opened only seven months earlier. But, at some time during the following two years, the GWR directors were asked whether Turkish baths could be built at the back of the institution building which, on the first floor, already had eight slipper baths.

It seems that, while the directors gave their permission for the baths to be built, the cost would have to be borne by the fund. Its response was to instruct its secretary to write for more information about the Turkish baths to the newly formed London & Provincial Turkish Baths Company, and to ‘all other sources they possibly could’.

Not until July the following year, after several failed attempts, was the Turkish bath proposal discussed again. With William Gooch in the chair, Mr Burton proposed, and Mr West seconded, that the meeting was,

of an opinion that the erection of a Turkish Bath in New Swindon would confir [sic] great benefits to the inhabitants both in a Medical and Sanitary point of view and that the Sum of 250£ be appropriated for that purpose.

This was a large sum for the fund to find, and an amendment ‘that it is inexpedient to have a Turkish Bath in New Swindon’ was carried ‘by a large majority’. This was a great disappointment to the proposers, and William West would, in due course, return to the fray in a most effective, if surprising, manner.

Seeking approval for Turkish baths in the new bathhouse

It was soon recognised that the provision of only eight slipper baths, with no showers or changing facilities, was totally inadequate for a growing village population. In February 1863, it was decided to build a new bathhouse in the yard of the nearby Barracks. This was not, as might be expected, a military establishment, but a rather severe-looking men’s lodging house in the high Street—today’s Emlyn Square, where the building still stands.

But the baths, now overseen by an elected committee, and managed for the fund by Mr West, had to move again in 1868 when the barracks was converted into a Methodist chapel. A new bathhouse was to be erected on a narrow triangle of land between Taunton Street and Faringdon Road. In the meantime, William West had taken matters into his own hands and, by 1861 (possibly even earlier), he was also running (on his own account) a small Turkish bath at his home in Cromwell Street. This must have been successful because when the Baths Committee of Management met in September, it minuted that it would be ‘advantageous to members’ if Turkish baths were included in the new building being constructed in Taunton Street.

West had played his hand well, and in November was invited to a meeting of the committee ‘to make arrangements about the bath’. By September 1868, the building was almost complete and West met the committee again, this time to hand in his resignation as manager of the slipper baths. Two weeks later, the committee accepted his tender of £30 to run the combined slipper and Turkish baths for a period of 15 months, though he had to agree to provide all the sheets and accessories needed as part of the deal.

The Turkish baths were to be open from 6 am to 9 pm on weekdays, and from 2 pm till 9 pm on Saturdays, while on Wednesdays, the baths were to be reserved for women from 2 pm till 5 pm. There were to be two prices for fund members—though no mention is made of whether this should also apply to non-members.

The Turkish baths open

The new building opened on 1 October 1868, West having closed his own establishment and, by 1869, moved house to Taunton Street.

Proud of its new facility, the 1869 edition of the fund’s rules for members boasted ‘a Bathing Establishment for the Company’s Servants’ with ‘Washing, Turkish, Swimming and Shower Baths’. an unsatisfactory location from a safety point of view.

The bathhouse was divided into two, with an entrance to the slipper baths from Faringdon Road, and to the Turkish baths from Taunton Street. There were two hot rooms, a shampooing room, and a cooling-room with nine changing cubicles.

In 1878, ten years after the baths opened, the fund’s practice of leasing them to be run by others came to an end. They had just been let to Charles F Ponter at £20 per year, plus half the rates of the building but, almost immediately, Ponter had difficulty making them earn their keep and was unable to pay the rent. His ability to manage the baths efficiently was not in doubt and the society wisely cancelled the lease and appointed him their paid manager.

By this time, the Turkish baths opening hours were much shorter—daily from 1 pm till 8 pm—and they were open for women only by prior arrangement. But they were now free for the society’s members and for their wives and families, a small charge being made for ‘tea, coffee, and other refreshments.

By the standards of the time, the society treated its staff fairly. When the baths were closed for maintenance, for example, Mr Ponter was paid 3s 10d per week for the loss of wages. And when, in 1888, Mr T Rice, a member of the Washing and Turkish Baths Subcommittee, designed and installed ‘a new heating device’ for the Turkish bath, he was paid an honorarium of £3.

In 1891, the company built a large new redbrick building opposite the baths, on the corner of Faringdon Road and Milton Road. Designed in a simple ‘Queen Anne’ style by local architect, John James Smith (d 1915), it housed the fund’s new dispensary, treatment rooms, various offices, and separate swimming pools for men and women, all reached from the main entrance in Faringdon road.

It made sense to bring the two sets of baths together and, in 1906, new Turkish and slipper baths were opened with their own ‘Washing & Turkish Baths’ entrance in Milton Road.

Although moving across the road to new premises in 1906, and coming under successive new managements after the NHS began, the Turkish baths are still in operation, though currently (2025) closed for refurbishment. They are, therefore, the longest surviving Turkish baths establishment in the British Isles, even if not the oldest surviving building with Turkish baths still in use. This honour belongs to the home of the Arlington Baths Club in Glasgow which opened in 1871.

This page first published online 28 September 2025