Turkish baths in Ireland

Stokes' Baths

There were baths on this site since around 1870,  latterly carried on by the Misses Baker, but by 1885 they had been purchased by George Stokes. He spent the first part of the year installing different types of bath in the building which adjoined the open-air sea water swimming baths at the rear.

The work did not always meet with approval. A few weeks before the baths were due to open, Stokes was taken to court by the Town Commissioners for improperly disposing of around 30 tons of rubbish. It seems that the old brick walls and mortar had been dumped into the sea just beyond the baths and was likely to be hit by tacking vessels on their way into the harbour.

Tickets for the bathing pool and the various baths were purchased at a single ticket office, from which there were several doors leading to separate men's and women's changing rooms for the bathing pool, to the separate sets of bathrooms, and separate Turkish baths. The facilities for the men and women were exactly the same both in size and fittings.

The women's baths were on the ground floor and the men's immediately above them. Both had first and second class baths, with separate waiting rooms, each with a fireplace, and 'from each of which magnificent views are obtainable of Dungarvan harbour, Balinacourty, Abbeyside, and the Comeragn mountains' through stained glass windows.

Unlike some municipal baths in England, where the taps were outside the bathrooms—so that they could only be operated by the attendant—in Stokes's establishment, 'At the end of each bath are the taps hot and cold and at the sides, the hot and coald [sic] taps for the shower baths, all of which can be worked in the simplest possible manner.' The first class bathrooms were lined with pitch pine and mahogany.

Accessible from the slipper baths, and also directly from the ticket office, a passageway led to the Turkish baths. This comprised a spacious dressing/cooling-room, a douche room, and a single tiled hot room. The heat was provided by an external furnace with a hot air duct running horizontally through the end wall.

The Town Commissioners may not have seen eye to eye with Mr Stokes during the building of the baths but, once they were open, it was generally conceded that, according to the local paper, 'The opening of the premises presents a new era in the history of Dungarvan as a sea-bathing resort.'

The baths must have been reasonably successful from the start since Stokes went on to open Turkish baths in Dungannon the following year. It is not known when the baths closed. No advertisements later than 1892 have so far been found, but the building is clearly indicated on the main drainage map of the area, dated 1901.

This page revised and slightly enlarged 23 November 2018