Ivanhoe Baths (Ashby-de-la-Zouch)

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The site of Ivanhoe Baths.

View to Ivanhoe Baths / postcard, from Leicestershire and Rutland Gardens Trust website.

By Henrik Thiil Nielsen, 2017-05-08. Revised by Henrik Thiil Nielsen, 2018-07-12.

Ivanhoe Baths, housed in a Neoclassical building on Station Road in Ashby-dela-Zouch, opened in 1822. The building was derelict by 1960 and demolished in 1962. In 1805, a saline spring was discovered during coal mining at Moira Colliery, c. 5 km west of Ashby. Baths and a hotel were built, but after a few years it was decided to convey the water to Ashby and establish the business there instead under the name of the Ivanhoe Baths.

The spa was designed by Robert Chaplin and built by the 1st Marquis of Hastings. The building had a 45 m wide collonade in front and a classical dome which let in light for saloon and pump room. There were card rooms, a billiards room as well as private baths for ladies and gentlemen. Remarkably the mineral water for the baths was transported to Ashby by boat and horse-drawn tramway from the spring at Moira colliery. The Bath Grounds included a carriage drive and walks used for recreation.

Barrie Cox discussed Ivanhoe Baths in the English Place-Name Society's seventh volume on Leicestershire, referring to trade directories of 1846, 1863 and 1877 as well as an O.S. map dated 1835.

Gazetteers

• Not included in Dobson, R. B., ed.; Taylor, J., ed. Rymes of Robyn Hood: an Introduction to the English Outlaw (London, 1976), pp. 293-311.

Sources

• Cox, Barrie; Watts, Victor, introd.; Coates, Richard, gen. ed.; Cavill, Paul, production ed. The Place-Names of Leicestershire (English Place-Name Society, vols. LXXV, LXXVIII, LXXXI, LXXXIV, LXXXVIII, XC-XCI) (Nottingham, 1998-2016), pt. VII, pp. 8-9, 10, 12; pt. VI, p. xxvii, pt. VII, p. xxvi, for sources
• Friends of Ashby Bath Grounds
• Wikipedia: Ashby-de-la-Zouch.

Maps

• 6" O.S. map Leicestershire XVI.SW (1886; surveyed 1881-82)
• 6" O.S. map Leicestershire XVI.SW (1904; rev. 1901)
• 6" O.S. map Leicestershire XVI.SW (1904; rev. 1901) (georeferenced)
• 6" O.S. map Leicestershire XVI.SW (1925; rev. 1920).

Postcards

• Close up of Baths Spa (Leicestershire and Rutland Gardens Trust)
• Grounds to Ivanhoe Baths (Leicestershire and Rutland Gardens Trust)
• Ivanheo Baths Spa (Leicestershire and Rutland Gardens Trust; reproduced on this page).

Notes