South Cliff Turkish Baths
62 Ramshill Road, Scarborough

Stephen Dunderdale Collection

This rather church-like building was opened in 1876 and originally comprised warm and cold sea water, galvanic, vapour, sulphur, alkaline, other medicated baths. The Turkish baths, which seem in this photograph to be the main facility,  were a later addition and at present we do not know either when they opened, or when they closed.

The baths were built by the South Cliff Scarborough Bath Company Limited which was set up in 1874. Their plans for a building to house 24 separate bathrooms were drawn up by a local architect, John Petch. The cost of the building and the site were estimated at £6,000.

Bulmer's 1890 directory mentions that they were 'fitted up with the usual hot, cold, fresh, sea water, Turkish, and medicated baths'. So it seems likely that the brief fad for galvanic baths had died by this time, when the resident Manager was a Mr William Spencer.