Rushton Hall is famous as the home of Thomas Tresham, a family famed for its associated with recusancy and the Gunpowder Plot. North of the Hall is the well-known Triangular Lodge, with its Catholic imagery. However, to the south of the hall is another folly.

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This is a delightful yellow stone rectangular bath house. The site being interesting for it incorporates a holy well called St Peter’s Spring, indeed it is this rather than the bath house which is marked . Of which John Taylor (1895) ‘Rushton and its owners: II’ in Northamptonshre Notes & Queries notes:

“St Peter’s petrifying spring. The head of the water at this spring furnishes the drinking fountain and the adjacent bath. The bath is within a small building now falling to decay. The only door opens directly into the bathroom, the only apartment. The bath occupies the centre; there is a marginal path of about two feet all round. Along the two sides are several niches in the walls serving as seats. The roof is absolutely gone; formerly it was glazed. Steps at the head lead to the bottom of the bath, the water in which is within a few inches of the margin. The floor is of brick. Two posts with iron staples stand in the water. Until recently chains were attached, placed there for the convenience of the bathers.”

Verses engraved around the bath included Campani’s Huius nympha loci reading:

“Huius nympha loci,

sacri custodia fontis,

Dormio dum blandae sentior murmur acquae,

Parce meum quisquis tangis cava Marmora somnum,

Rumpere: sive bibas,

sive lavere taces.”

Which translated as:

“Nymph of this place, sacred guardian of the fountain,

I sleep while the water babbles sweetly,

Beware of breaking my slumber as you approach the marble basin,

Either you drink or you bathe in silence.”

Another plaque taken from Virgil reading:

“Fortunatus et ille, deos qui novit agrestes

Meaning:

“Happy the man who knows the rural gods.”

Holy well or well by a chapel?

The age of the spring is difficult to ascertain. Certainly topographer Morton (1712) knew it:

“as being a Collection of Nine little Springs which gush forth, it’s said, at as many distinct Apertures, within a small Compass of Ground, and are now drawn into a Stone Basin over which a handsome Summer House was built, by the late Lord Cullen.”

Thompson (1917–19b) in his Peculiarities of water and wells in Northamptonshire suggests that the name appears after the church which was located by Rushton Hall was demolished in 1785, when the church was demolished which sat near Rushton Hall. It appears that before this it was called Nine-Spring-Head before this.

Properties of the waters

Many plunge pools and bath house utilise simple springs, some actually streams, most claim no direct healing properties. Rushton’s bath house is unusual perhaps because it utilises a holy well, so perhaps being recusant Catholics this was intentional and it is not beyond reason that it was ceremonially used – even for baptism! The name Nine Springs is also significant, there are many nine springs most numerically difficult to justify. Could it be that the word nine derived from the Roman noon meaning ‘mysterious’. Interestingly, also is Taylor’s statement of the waters being petrifying is also interesting suggesting that the hard water was part of the function of the bath. Unfortunately as with many holy wells little was written down.

The site today

Rushton Hall is now a hotel, but the route to the bath house over an ornate bridge appears to be locked and closed off. No one could help in the Hall, but I was directed to down the lane where there was a local fishing club. One of the members directed me, although stressed it was private property! The bath house is found in a small opening in a copse in the woods, being reached by crossing over an ornamental weir. The bath house although missing a room, a glass one I imagine would have been too expensive and easily damaged, was restored in 2000. Through the main entrance, padlocked, can be seen the large rectangular pool which is still full of water. Indeed the structure was not too different from Taylor’s description above. Above the bath in a niche is a reclining figure of a nymph, two other niches have missing figures. In a niche on the outside wall is a pump which supplied the water for drinking.

Perhaps the most curious structure lies to the south of the bath house, an indent in the ground which is stone lined. This would apparently be the original well. The water however is dry and I would presume may have been such since the bath house utilised its water.