Regency Hot Spots: Peerless Pool

Re-reading one of my Heyer favorites, Friday’s Child, I noticed once again mention of the scandalous Peerless Pool.  Sherry most certainly does not think it appropriate for Kitten to go there with friends, no matter how droll.

Here is a description from the 1896 “London’s Pleasure Gardens”:

In other words, Peerless Pool was a public bathing facility.  Naturally, not a place for a young lady not wanting to be thought fast.

Peerless Pool was respectable, described by Cruchley (1834) as “the most commodious bathing establishment in the-Metropolis.”  However commodious, it was also a social mix

accessible to the lower classes as The Mirror (1844) tells us.

Propriety, would indeed, fall into question when young ladies are required to change in public stalls.  Evidently, a man’s domain, the Peerless Pool also served for swimming lessons (The Guide to Knowledge, 1836).

For more info, check out these informative links!

http://www.plungingintohistory.com/ir-area-water

http://wendywallace.co.uk/2012/01/the-peerless-pool/

http://www.kch42.dial.pipex.com/holywellslond.htm