The development of scarborough spa
Dr. Robert Wittie of York came often and wrote books to publicise the waters. He reported cures for "melancholic vapours, nightmares, apoplexy,catalepsie, epilepsie, vertigo, nerves,yellow and black jaundice". Where the sick went for waters,the healthy followed. The waters "nimbly purging" offered them equal benefits. "Obstructions were pierced,humours evaporated, melancholy and windiness relieved,weight lost ,blood purified, the stomach cleansed, lungs opened" and "pregnancy fostered", or so it was claimed .A languishing clergyman drank deep and became a cheerful man.
By 1667, "people of good fashion" were coming to Scarborough. The sick and the healthy alike consulted the doctor on their first day. He advised a stay of four to five weeks, between mid-May and mid-September, with daily drinkings of five to eight pints of water, early in the morning. After two half pints between six and seven,you walked the sands for half an hour. Pints of water and walks continued half hourly till about ten o-clock, followed by "innocentre creations". After dinner ,you exercised on foot,on a horse or in a springless carriage.
Other articles that you may find interesting
•1000 years of fishing
•A general history of Scarborough
•Sea bathing was pioneered at Scarborough in the late 17th century.
•Seabathing in scarborough - an article by John Rushton
•The history of the Scarborough Spa pump rooms
•Scarborough newspapers - a rich source of history
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•Master mariners in scarborough in 1665 - John Rushton
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•Smuggling timeline - Scarborough smugglers
•Article by John Rushton on scarboroughs early industries
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•Article by John rushton on scarborough cargoes
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