Victoria Baths hit the headlines in 2003 by winning the BBC's Restoration competition. This magnificent complex was described on opening as "the most splendid municipal bathing institution in the country". It houses a wealth of beautiful tiling, stained glass, mosaic flooring and other decorative detail. After a decade of disuse, the work of bringing it back to life is beginning. While campaigning to save the Baths, the Friends of Victoria Baths researched its history. Ths book is the result, telling of how the Baths were conceived, their construction in 1903-6, and variety of uses of 87 years. The richest information source has been the memories of people who swam, bathed, danced and worked here over the years. They shared their memories and stories with Prue Williams, and the resulting book adds much to the social and architectural history of a great industrial city.

Proceedings for 1903/04-1950/51 accompanied by separately paged volumes with title "Appendix to Council minutes, containing reports, etc., brought before the Council" (varies).

Victorian Turkish Baths is the first book to bring to light the hidden history of a fascinating institution - the 600-plus dry hot air baths that sprang up across Ireland, Britain and beyond, in the 19th century. Malcolm Shifrin traces the bath's Irish-Roman antecedents, looking at how its origins were influenced by the combination of physician Richard Barter's hydropathic expertise, and idiosyncratic diplomat David Urquhart's passion for the hammams of the Middle East. The book reveals how working-class members of a network of political pressure groups built more than 30 of the first Turkish baths in England. It explores the architecture, technology and sociology of the Victorian Turkish bath, examining everything from business and advertising to sex-real and imagined. This book offers a wealth of wondrous detail - from the baths used to treat sick horses to those for first-class passengers on the Titanic. Victorian Turkish Baths will appeal to those interested in Victorian social history, architecture, social attitudes to leisure, early public health campaigns, pressure groups, gendered spaces and much else besides. The book is complemented by the author's widely respected website victorianturkishbath.org, where readers can find a treasure trove of further informationVictorian Turkish Baths is the first book to bring to light the hidden history of a fascinating institution - the 600-plus dry hot air baths that sprang up across Ireland, Britain and beyond, in the 19th century. Malcolm Shifrin traces the bath's Irish-Roman antecedents, looking at how its origins were influenced by the combination of physician Richard Barter's hydropathic expertise, and idiosyncratic diplomat David Urquhart's passion for the hammams of the Middle East. The book reveals how working-class members of a network of political pressure groups built more than 30 of the first Turkish baths in England. It explores the architecture, technology and sociology of the Victorian Turkish bath, examining everything from business and advertising to sex-real and imagined. This book offers a wealth of wondrous detail - from the baths used to treat sick horses to those for first-class passengers on the Titanic. Victorian Turkish Baths will appeal to those interested in Victorian social history, architecture, social attitudes to leisure, early public health campaigns, pressure groups, gendered spaces and much else besides. The book is complemented by the author's widely respected website victorianturkishbath.org, where readers can find a treasure trove of further information

Healing with water provides a medical and social history of English spas and hydropathic centres from the early nineteenth to the mid-twentieth centuries. It argues that demand for healing rather than leisure drove the growth of a number of inland resorts which became renowned for expertise and treatment facilities. These aspects were actively marketed to doctors and patients. It assesses the influence of these centres on broader patterns of resort development, leisure and sociability in Britain. The study explores ideas about water’s healing potential and the varied ways it was used to maintain good health and treat a variety of illnesses. Water cures were endorsed by both orthodox and unorthodox practitioners and attracted growing numbers of patients into the twentieth century. It examines how institutions and skilled workers shaped the development of specialist resorts and considers why the NHS support for spa treatment declined from the 1960s.