<< Text Pages >> St Rhadegund's Bath - Holy Well or Sacred Spring in England in Kent
Submitted by HOLYWELL on Monday, 28 February 2011 Page Views: 5165
Springs and Holy WellsSite Name: St Rhadegund's BathCountry: England
NOTE: This site is 0.173 km away from the location you searched for.
County: Kent Type: Holy Well or Sacred Spring
Nearest Town: Canterbury
Map Ref: TR150583
Latitude: 51.283245N Longitude: 1.081660E
Condition:
| 5 | Perfect |
| 4 | Almost Perfect |
| 3 | Reasonable but with some damage |
| 2 | Ruined but still recognisable as an ancient site |
| 1 | Pretty much destroyed, possibly visible as crop marks |
| 0 | No data. |
| -1 | Completely destroyed |
| 5 | Superb |
| 4 | Good |
| 3 | Ordinary |
| 2 | Not Good |
| 1 | Awful |
| 0 | No data. |
| 5 | Can be driven to, probably with disabled access |
| 4 | Short walk on a footpath |
| 3 | Requiring a bit more of a walk |
| 2 | A long walk |
| 1 | In the middle of nowhere, a nightmare to find |
| 0 | No data. |
| 5 | co-ordinates taken by GPS or official recorded co-ordinates |
| 4 | co-ordinates scaled from a detailed map |
| 3 | co-ordinates scaled from a bad map |
| 2 | co-ordinates of the nearest village |
| 1 | co-ordinates of the nearest town |
| 0 | no data |
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St. Radegund’s Bath which is believed to have originated as a Roman bath, and latterly possibly associated with the cult of St. Radegund. Why it should be associated with this Sixth Century saint and queen is unclear, although it is known that her cult was present in the area, as there is a monastic site near Dover dedicated to her.
It is first noted by Gosling (1777), when it was adapted to cold bath and thus it is worth recording the description in full:
“St. Radegund's Bath, a fine spring built over and fitted for cold bathing....in altering a very ancient dwelling house near the bath some hollows or pipes were discovered, carried along in the thickness of an old stone wall, which seemed a contrivance for heating the room in former times, and making a sudatly or sweating room of it.”
Records do show that the City Corporation bought this bath in 1793, and it was consequently leased to Messrs. Simmons and Royle for 28 years. This bath house was extensively repaired in 1794, and its basin was enlarged and divided in two. The baths were originally covered by arched roofs and lighted from above by two turrets. Separate dressing and waiting rooms were also installed to facilitate the customs. Yet by 1825, sadly both the building and the bath became dilapidated, and hence only occasionally used. The Dolphin Inn, lay above the bath and its popularity undoubtedly precipitated its destruction. By the 1930s the site was only remembered by the ruins of the Bath house cottages and as Gardiner (1940) notes that the:
“Healing waters in the adjacent well or bath of St. Radegund recently (most deplorably) filled in, in making a car park.”
Hence regrettably nothing remains of the site to record what appears to have been a historically fascinating site.
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![TR1558 : Canterbury houses [159] by Michael Dibb](https://s2.geograph.org.uk/geophotos/07/09/98/7099854_d30e55a4_120x120.jpg)
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