The Origins of the Spa: The Watery Jewel"Do you know Woodhall Spa?" "No, where is it?' "So, you are not a golfer...you are not familiar with the Dambuster Story.. ..you are not a cinema buff and...you have not read about English Spas?" "Well, there is Bath and Harrogate!" "Yes, well at one time... but I will begin at the beginning."In 1772, a baby, named John, was born to a Mr. Parkinson who was land agent and steward for the famous Lincolnshire naturalist, Sir Joseph Banks. When he grew up, John, reputedly, had three dreams. He wanted to plant a forest, to sink a coalmine and to build a city. The last ambition may have been because of vanity but there were good reasons for the others. Two hundred years ago agriculture was a profitable business, partly owing to the Napoleonic Wars and the fact that woodland was decreasing because of land clearance. Consequently, firewood was becoming costly. At the same time the Industrial Revolution was in full swing, so wood and coal were needed for use both domestically and in industry. Coal was transported to Lincolnshire from mines in the Pennines, which was both slow and expensive. Surveyors attempted to trace coal seams in Lincolnshire, based on the limited geological knowledge of the time and entrepreneurs sank exploratory bore shafts in areas where they were told coal might be found. In 1821, one such entrepreneur was John Parkinson. By this time he was a speculator in land and owned some in the parish of Woodhall, a small settlement in the flat fen country about 20 miles S.E. of Lincoln. Here, men with their picks and shovels began to dig, bricking the sides of the shaft as they went. At about 170 yards (155.5m.) they came upon a fissure full of salty water and a conduit was built to divert it round the back of the shaft. It was soon forgotten. After a while faith in the venture lessened and there are stories that men took coal down the shaft in their pockets to produce it triumphantly later! At a certain depth, dynamite was needed to penetrate the rock and, unfortunately, there were two serious accidents, resulting in three men being badly injured and one killed. A while after this fatality, with no sign of coal and with money running short, the mine was abandoned and heavy timber planks were laid across the shaft. John Parkinson became bankrupt and had to accept that this ambition had failed. By the following year water was overflowing from the closed up shaft and strange rumours began. It was said that cattle drinking from this overflow were cured of ailments and then people, also sampling the water, found rheumatic and other conditions dramatically improved! Consequently, Mr. Hotchkin, the Lord of the Manor, tried the spring and found it aided his gout. So, he erected a small bathhouse over the well and then, with an eye to the future, a hotel, described as "a neat, unostentatious edifice." Woodhall Spa was bom! When a Dr.Granville visited the Spa, he suggested that Mr. T.J.S. Hotchkin should have the water analysed. This was done, with spectacular result, for it was found to contain large quantities of iodine and bromine, greater than that of any British Spa. This information spread amongst the Spa going public (of whom there were many) and people began to arrive from afar. The Bath House was enlarged, the hotel became a fashionable place in which to stay and the village prospered. The water, later termed "the watery jewel," was proving its worth and after the railway arrived in 1855, more and more visitors of rank began to choose this Spa... but that is another story! As to John Parkinson, sadly, his other ambitions also failed and he died, aged 86, having seen the growth of a spa, of which he was the accidental instigator but from which he received neither cash nor credit. Marjorie Sargeant |