Origins of Baths and Bathing

Old Postcard Image of Salthill

Old postcard image of Salthill, Co. Dublin. Many swimmers and bathers can be seen enjoying this popular swimming spot, and a kayaker can also be seen in the water. The train can be seen in the distance, and the old Salthill Hotel. Many walkers can also be seen on the path alongside the railway tracks.

Old Postcard Image of Salthill

Old Postcard Image of Salthill

Old postcard image of Salthill, Co. Dublin. Many swimmers and bathers can be seen enjoying this popular swimming spot, and a kayaker can also be seen in the water. The train can be seen in the distance, and the old Salthill Hotel. Many walkers can also be seen on the path alongside the railway tracks.

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Kingstown Gents' Bathing Place

Old postcard image of Kingstown gents' bathing place, Dun Laoghaire, Co. Dublin. This is from the era of segregated bathing areas, common during the late 1700s and early 1800s. This was left over from the Victorian attitude to modesty.

Kingstown Gents' Bathing Place

Kingstown Gents' Bathing Place

Old postcard image of Kingstown gents' bathing place, Dun Laoghaire, Co. Dublin. This is from the era of segregated bathing areas, common during the late 1700s and early 1800s. This was left over from the Victorian attitude to modesty.

Enlarge image

Bathing has a long history, going back to Ancient Rome and beyond. Many records of bathing exist from the middle of the eighteenth century in the area of Dun Laoghaire Rathdown. During the Georgian period, around the late 1700s, many seaside resorts in Britain were developing.

The cult of spas, popular in the early 1700s with the wealthier classes, began to die out when people began to sea-bathe regularly. Around the same time, the health-giving benefits attributed to sea swimming and salt water were being celebrated, along with the taking of sea air. Boating and yachting were also growing in popularity and were arranged into races and regattas.

A famous map of the area from 1756, known after the man who compiled it, John Rocque, shows there was a bathhouse at Killiney Beach, perhaps where the old tearooms now stand. This map also shows two seperate bathing areas marked 'baths for men' and 'baths for women' at Salthill.