Victorian Bathhouse Photo Heavy

Derelict Places

Help Support Derelict Places:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

SPEXTC

Well-known member
Supporting Member
Joined
Nov 23, 2020
Messages
53
Reaction score
105
First of all thanks to that special person you know who you are.

Never thought we would get to view inside this 1842 Victorian building but we were surprised just how much history this place has to offer so it was well worth the journey. Once inside we were blown away, the building is steeped in History and is mostly in its original state although electricity has been added to the Bathhouse area.

Set well back from the main road this quirky explore had us drooling. Such a shame that it is being left to deteriorate on such a grand scale. The upper "Hotel Floors" are sodden and rotten (roof not weather worthy at the gable ends) and just too dangerous to enter so we had to stick to the bath house itself and the surrounding area.

The local council seem totally uninterested in providing any funding for the buildings upkeep and so it is left to the role of the vital volunteers to keep this property breathing.

Hope you enjoy the picz.

Thanx for peeking.

The Bathhouse was built for Charles Herbert Pierrepont, 2nd Earl Manvers and the Lord of the Manor of Beighton in 1842, and initially it was a hotel with spa baths below for the guests to use. Eventually, it became for many years as private dwellings. In the 1973 it was given Grade II listed building status.

During the mid 1800s a committee was created consisting of Thomas Staniforth from the Thomas Staniforth & Co Sickle works, Edward Hobson, George Cox of Beighton and John Tillotson, schoolmaster of Beighton. A man named George Eadon was selected from eleven applicants who applied for the post of manager of the 'Bath Hotel', and was paid a salary of twenty pounds and was provided free rent and coal.

By 1895 the baths were failing to make a profit (to expensive for the common man of the times on low wages and were being aimed more at the aristocracy) and only a single plunge bath remained in use, it appears the hotel itself was closed around 1878 and it is believed that the Earl Manvers removed the marble from the building himself for personal use.

Around 1895 John Platts was the proprietor of the property, he was a well known gardener and a farmer.

By the time of the 1920s and 30s, the grounds of the bath house were transformed into a Pleasure Ground for children. Mr Moulson and William Smith were the proprietors at this time. The grounds featured a wishing well, a sand pit, swing boats, a paddling pool and the large lake behind the house was used for boating and fishing. There was also a 'wonder tree' in the wooded area beside the house, which was a large oak tree said to be over 1,000 years old. When WWII began in 1939, the grounds were closed.
The grounds was transferred to Sheffield Corporation in the 1950s, and in the early 2000s it became part of the Shire Brook valley Nature reserve.

The building was restored in 2000/2002 and for a time was open for tours by the public, but this has recently ceased.

In June 2018 renewed interest was brought to Birley Spa due to its neglect, and a Friends of Birley Spa group was formed.

The Friends Group was formed in response to the Councils intention to sell the building. The sale was withdrawn and the Bath House has been made an Asset of Community Value. Talks are ongoing with the Council to secure a sustainable future for the Spa. The building requires extensive repairs, due to lack of maintenance and neglect. Plans are underway for fundraising events, and applications to funding bodies will be submitted. Work has started with volunteers, supported by Park Rangers, to restore the grounds. IMG_6290.JPGIMG_6315.JPGIMG_6316.JPGIMG_6318.JPGIMG_6319.JPGIMG_1120.JPGIMG_6320.JPGIMG_6323.JPGIMG_6324.JPGIMG_6326.JPGIMG_6327.JPGIMG_6329.JPGIMG_6330.JPGIMG_6331.JPGIMG_6333.JPGIMG_6344.JPGIMG_6345.JPGIMG_6350.JPGIMG_6351.JPGIMG_6352.JPGIMG_6353.JPGIMG_6354.JPGIMG_6355.JPGIMG_6356.JPGIMG_6357.JPGIMG_6358.JPGIMG_6359.JPGIMG_6360.JPGIMG_6361.JPGIMG_6362.JPGIMG_6363.JPGIMG_6364.JPGIMG_6365.JPGIMG_6373.JPGIMG_6375.JPGIMG_6376.JPGIMG_6377.JPGIMG_6378.JPGIMG_6380.JPGIMG_6381.JPGIMG_6382.JPGIMG_6383.JPGIMG_6384.JPGIMG_6385.JPGIMG_6386.JPGIMG_6387.JPGIMG_6388.JPGIMG_6389.JPG
 
Ty Sir
What a treasure. Thanks for photographing it.
my Pleasure. 😄
Where does the water come from please?
The water comes from a natural spring through the enclosed wall of the Batthouse, enters via a sluice gate in the side of the pool, the sluice can be closed and the pool plug pulled out so that it runs down into the pond in the grounds of the property. Obviously also closed when the pool is full so that it does not overflow.
 
Birley Spa Bathhouse, in a south east suburb of Sheffield. I visited last September on the Heritage Open Days. It has had a Lottery Grant many years but the tenants left and a new group has taken over. They have cleared the undergrowth, but do not have permission to use it as a bathhouse as the spring has not been declared 'safe' (which it is)
 
Birley Spa Bathhouse, in a south east suburb of Sheffield. I visited last September on the Heritage Open Days. It has had a Lottery Grant many years but the tenants left and a new group has taken over. They have cleared the undergrowth, but do not have permission to use it as a bathhouse as the spring has not been declared 'safe' (which it is)
Many thanks for the info.
 

Latest posts

Back
Top