Pump Rooms_2




The Rev. Hall, Vicar of Tenbury, had sent a concentrated sample of the Tenbury Water to Dr. Daubney for analysis. It doesn't seem a very scientific method of analysis as the water was left standing around for some time and it had been concentrated.
With the opinion of Dr. Grenville , Dr. Daubney and others they decided to open the well having built a small brick bath house next to the stables of the court.
They held a public meeting with Dr. Davies of Presteigne in the chair, at which they decided on a scale of charges. Septimus Godson, the owner of the well, gave the first years profits towards building the west gallery of the Church. This was badly needed as all available seating was owned by the gentry and there were no free seats in the Church.
In March 1841 they published the rules and regulations for using the well. They were now using the grounds of The Court to promenade in after drinking the water or bathing in the minerals. A band was in attendance in The Court grounds, which was amongst the ideas put forward by Dr.Grenville.



Bath And Fountain as Seen In The Town's Museum
The Pump Rooms
Tenbury's spa water could be either bathed in or drunk. The early bath seen here, complete with four taps, was originally installed in the Pump Room but is now in the town's museum. Next to it is an ornate drinking fountain, also from the Pump rooms.
A general view of the Pump Room when it was relatively new. The building contained men's and women's bathrooms, consulting rooms in which rheumatic and arthritic visitors could discuss their ailments with the spa doctors


View Of The Pump Rooms From Kyre Bridge
The Pump Rooms In 1905
A closer view of the Pump Room from the Kyre Bridge, showing the ornamental gardens in which it was once set. The Victorian extensions to the Crow Hotel, just seen on the left, were in anticipation of the crowds of cure-seekers who were expected to descend on the town
The Pump Room 1905. These were built in 1862 at the rear of The Crow Hotel by the Tenbury Improvement Company, after trying several sites:
The Swan Hotel and others along the Berrington Lane. It was hoped that the discovery of mineral water and the coming of the railway would make the town another Cheltenham.
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By the 1850's a surgeon from London, Mr. Hall had been appointed to run the Tenbury Spa. The Spa had two wells now with the one found on The Crow Inn premises. Things didn't seem to go very well with Mr. Hall as the following extracts show.

There is a letter from Mr. Hall pleading with Mr. Godson to let Mr. Hall have some money as he was destitute. They had made a disastrous move from Highgate.
There is also, a letter from Mr. Harris to Mr. Godson re, Mr.Hall: " whose conduct has been most infamous towards me and others in this Town and now write to you to know what steps you would advise to enable us to punish him as much as possible. We are aware of Mr. Hall's private residence; furnished with furniture removed from Tenbury and we have the detective police on alert....

The Baths were closed for awhile from 1855 after Mr. Hall's failure to make the Spa profitable.
The railway was coming to Tenbury and business men of Tenbury led by Mr. Norris thought that it would be a good time to resurrect the baths so that the public could use the railway to get to the healing waters. With this in mind the 'Tenbury Wells Improvement Company' was formed in December of 1860 with a sole aim of building a pump room.

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