BATH - ITS HISTORIC PAST
PUMP ROOM
"Built for the invalids, in which they might be supplied with water from a covered pump, and afterward take the exercise prescribed to them, sheltered from the inclemency of the weather." The first Pump Room was built in the style of an orangery and begun in 1704, it took two years to build, then enlarged in 1751. As yet more visitors came to Bath in 1796 it was taken down and rebuilt in its entirety. | 
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In the Museum reception hall is a Bath chair dating to around 1840. Although cheaper to operate than sedans, Bath chairs could only take the sick to their door, whereas sedan chairmen were able to take sick passengers into houses, up staircases and into rooms. | |
