Revealing forgotten landscape identities: the healing waters of Essex and their spa landscapes

While the curative qualities of water are evident in pre-Roman history, their therapeutic properties are often connected with the excesses of the Georgian period. Essex waters were acquiring their own reputation during this period as adjudged by physicians, including Trinder. By the early twentieth century, their status had declined. Christy and Thresh determined that there were only twenty-two significant mineral springs remaining across the county. This article examines the reasons behind this decline, their loss of connection and identity within their community. Landscape and place related theories and models are explored to discover the connections formed between communities and locations, allowing a model to be presented that evaluates the lost spa landscape through archival evidence. Sites discussed by Christy and Thresh are evaluated using this model allowing the development and disappearance of Essex spa landscapes to be examined and awareness of a neglected and vanished landscape tradition revealed.