Ben Rhydding was opened on 29 May 1844 by Hamer Stansfield, a former Mayor of Leeds. He had visited, and been impressed by, Graeffenberg Spa and built his own in Ilkley at a cost of £30,000.

The Turkish baths, or Roman baths as they were more correctly called, cost a further £2,000 and were built at the establishment some time around 1859, only three years or so after the first Turkish baths were built at St. Ann's by Dr Barter.