Cold Bath House

Cottam's Mill by W N Tollerton
(Lincoln Central Library Collection)

Cold Bath House parish was created in 1837.  It had an area of one acre and was situated at the top of the Arboretum at the junction of Lindum Terrace and Sewells Road.
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​A windmill, Cold Bath Mill, had been on the site for many years.  Robert Cottam had been the miller until his son, George, took over in the late 1830s: George probably died about 1865.  By this time windmills were becoming redundant and steam powered mills were taking over.

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Henry Kirk Hebb, solicitor, clerk to the urban sanitary committee, town clerk to Lincoln Corporation for 30 years and chairman of the Lincoln and Lindsey Bank had Cold Bath House built in about 1867.  ​

Image © THE BRITISH LIBRARY BOARD. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

The house was designed by Michael Drury, the Lincoln Architect and built by Robert Young, builder and contractor.  The location of the house perched on the cliff edge must have been very impressive. There was a room in the house designed to entertain the entire City County.  A spring ran the cellar, possibly the reason for the name of the area.
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Hebb lived at the house until his death in 1902.

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The site of Cold Bath House

In 1905 Mrs Matilda Richardson lived at the house, she was the widow of William Wright Richardson, a director of Doughty, Son & Richardson Ltd.

In 1907 all the Lincoln parishes were incorporated into a single Lincoln parish, after 70 years Cold Bath House parish was relegated to the history books.  Cold Bath House was the only building in the parish and the number of residents stayed static at 5.  This 1 acre, single house parish was the smallest in Lincoln both in size and number of residents.

During the First World War the house became home to the headmaster of the Lincoln School and its boarders.

The bombed ruins of Cold Bath House
Lincoln Central Library

After the First World War Cold Bath House became Mrs Swan’s Nursing Home.  The nursing home continued until 2nd August 1942, when the County Hospital and the nursing home were attacked by a German bomber.  The main damage at the County Hospital was to the Nurses home, the operating theatre, the board room and the massage room but windows of two of the wards were damaged and some of the patients suffered injuries from flying glass.  Mrs Swan’s Nursing Home was almost totally destroyed, the building was demolished in 1945.

A bomb also dropped on the allotments nearby on St Anne’s Road.  It is thought the crew of the aircraft spotted the chimney at the hospital and thought it was a factory.

Unfortunately I have not located an image of the undamaged house.

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​A list of the dead and injured:
Deaths

• Lt. Harry Sidney COLLARD, Royal Engineers.  He is buried at Newport Cemetery, Lincoln.  The Royal Engineers occupied part of the house during the Second World War.

​Injured

• R.S.M. Fred LEGGE, Royal Engineers
• Lt Cpl. William James PRINCE, Royal Engineers
• Sister D.M.B. CURRY
• Nurse WARNER, 20,
• Miss G.M. JAMES, a masseuse
• Nurse Myra RANDS, 20,
• Nurse GRUNELL

Injured patients 

• Mrs Irene HIGGINGS, 22
• Mrs Daisy HORSFIELD, 25
• Keith HINCH, 3 weeks.

Map of Cold Bath House and Arboretum in 1904

Reproduced with the permission of the National Library of Scotland

The site was cleared and was a small holding until late in 1952.
The southern part of the grounds of Cold Bath House was landscaped and incorporated into the Aboretum to celebrate the Coronation of H M Queen Elizabeth II in 1953.

Return to: The Lost Houses of Lincoln

Click to read an eyewitness account of the bombing of Cold Bath House and the County Hospital

The Former Gazebo

Location of the spring. The spring is below the dome shape. The sound of water can be heard when listening at the gate.

Entrance to former basement

A view into the basement

A view into the basement showing part of a wall and wooden beam

All colour images © Phil Gresham 2016, all rights reserved