Hydropathic Establishment & Hotel, Wharfedale, Yorkshire.

Hand-coloured engraving (possibly 1860s) showing a view of the Hotel, the country’s first Hydropathic Establishment & Hotel, the Ben Rhydding, which opened on the 29 May 1844 in Wharfedale, above Ilkley in Yorkshire, offering the fashionable hydrotherapy or water cure, general bathing, Turkish or steam baths (from 1859), massage, fresh moorland air baths, and eventually electrotherapy. Ben Rhydding station was created in 1866 to serve the Hotel. Charles Darwin was staying in the nearby Wells House undergoing a 2 month hydropathic cure in late 1859 for a swollen leg, eyes, rash and boils at the very time his Origin of species was published. As the fashion waned the ‘hydros’ advertised themselves more as retreats offering relaxation and rest cures. By the 1930s the hotel had acquired two massive new wings and was referred to as the Ben Rhydding Golf Hotel, finally closing in 1939. The view shown here is against the Wharfedale hills, rising up to Ilkley Moor with trees, lawn and pathways in front. Men and women are taking healthy walks in the grounds in front of the building.