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Huge Roll Top Bath, SEVEN FEET long! Country House Type.

£ 750

Quantity in stock: 1

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DESCRIPTION:

An extremely rare original period bath of the ‘country house’ type: this one being an inch over seven feet long is likely to have come from a great house, a stately home or even a castle or palace. Made of cast iron, it is very long, very wide, very deep and very heavy.
I have seen only one other of this kind in 40 years of being in and around the trade: it was in one of the bedrooms in Castle Leslie in Ireland. I enjoyed a long soak in it and it was glorious, not least because I am six feet tall and that was the first time I had enjoyed a bath without my feet touching the far end.
Until recently this bath was an exhibit of the former Thomas Crapper Museum, a private collection of antique sanitaryware. See statement at end for more details.
This bath featured in a television series in 2009 entitled ‘Desperate Romantics’. The BBC rented the bath from the museum in order that an actress playing Lizzie Siddell could float fully prone, providing inspiration for Mellais’s painting of the drowning Ophelia. As you will see in the photograph from the production (in the images above), for the filming it was painted grey and the exterior was given a few coats of fake rust and grime. The bath retains some of these artful finishes.

DESIGN:
The manufacturer is not known, however the pattern of the bath is the classic British design of the Victorian/Edwardian period; it was an expensive type of bath and was generally seen in large rectories, mansions and country houses. Typically these baths were around six feet long, sported extra-large bath taps and had a ‘plunger’ waste (more properly called a ‘standing waste’). Often this type of bath had incorporated soap-dishes; this example has one either side of the plunger waste.
The standing waste was introduced so that the diameter of the plug-hole could be increased, allowing one to drain such a large bath in short order. The Victorians found that fitting a huge plug and chain in a large-diameter waste was not very practical, as the weight of a full bath of water on the plug’s large surface-area made it difficult to pull out.
In its day, this type was the most desirable of bathtubs. In his biography of Thomas Crapper, 'Flushed with Pride', Wallace Reyburn says of the great man: ‘…naturally he would have the best, including a bath which didn't have a plug but instead a pull-up waste pipe, which was the thing in those days.’
As with the very best of these baths, in this case the standing waste is set into a recess, out of the bather’s way. This is comparatively rare due to a more complex (therefore expensive) casting process, but the most remarkable thing about this particular bath is its sheer size.

CONDITION:
Although the cast iron base material of the bath is in sound condition as per the images, it would require re-surfacing or re-enamelling prior to being put back into service. I can suggest a suitable firm to undertake either process.
The taps will require restoration and servicing. The plunger is not the original from this bath but it is an antique from a very similar bath and it can be adapted to fit by a professional restorer. The previous owners had converted the waste to a chain and very large plug; this could be retained if the new keeper should so choose.
The bath has ornate cast iron feet, two of which were damaged during filming. However exact replacements are being formed from moulds made from the remaining castings. This is being done by a British foundry that I have used for decades; the people there do superb work and, unusually, the replacement castings will be identical in detail and in size.
When restored, if this bath were on sale in a specialist’s shop the price would be around £9,000.

DIMENSIONS:

85 inches long; 33 inches wide; 26 inches high (when standing on its feet).

(Metric: 216 c/m; 84 c/m; 66c/m).

TAPS AND WASTE FITTINGS:
The taps and plunger are not original to the bath but are appropriate in period and scale for a bath of this kind. To work properly a professional restorer would need to adapt the plunger to fit. I can put you in touch with suitable people. Alternatively just fit a large plug! As pictured, the taps have ceramic indices labelled ‘Hot’, ‘Cold’ and ‘Mellowes London’ , who were probably the original retailers.
The taps are very large but they take standard connectors because although our copper pipe was changed to metric sizes, the threads for all the fittings remained Imperial. This applies almost worldwide. The taps simply need connectors in the next size up: one inch B.S.P. instead of three-quarter-inch B.S.P.
Unusually the bath retains its original cast-iron trap on the outlet. This will save a lot of work, especially as the brass connector nut is still in place on the end. The lead pipe needs to be unsoldered and replaced by a copper pipe, that is all. The trap can be set in any direction, except perhaps from pointing back under the belly of the bath.

SUPPORT:
I have over 40 years’ experience in the restoration of antique sanitaryware so I can advise you on how best to do all the work: alternatively I can suggest whom you could employ to have some or all of the work done for you.

VIEWINGS:

Please see my other listings of rare antique baths, which I will be adding to over the next few days and weeks. Interested purchasers are welcome to visit to inspect the bath and discuss restoration.
In addition I have hundreds of original antique loos, washbasins, taps, cisterns, trade catalogues, framed pictures and advertising which I will not find time to list but serious purchasers are welcome to come to see what is available.

COLLECTION:

Collection only, in person or by courier. The bath and the other contents of the former Crapper Collection are stored just outside Stratford upon Avon, Warwickshire. It is on ground level with good vehicular access. This piece is very heavy; a van with a tail-lift is recommended. I regret I have badly damaged my back so I am unable to assist with lifting the bath.

FROM THE FORMER THOMAS CRAPPER MUSEUM:

This is just one item from what was once the largest collection of antique sanitaryware in the country; perhaps anywhere. For many years I owned and ran the famous old firm, Thomas Crapper & Co., established in 1861. When I sold the business nearly ten years ago I retained what used to be the company museum.

Mostly assembled in the 1980s and 1990s, it was a private collection which was seen by relatively few customers and people in the trade. It comprised loos, basins, baths, cisterns, taps, accessories, trade catalogues, salesman’s samples and advertising ephemera; all by many different manufacturers, including Shanks, Bolding, Twyfords, Doulton, Jennings and Crapper to name a handful.
After extensive efforts failed to find a buyer for the whole Thomas Crapper Collection I am dispersing the contents.
It is an opportunity never to be repeated!

Please note this is not a business, I am selling the contents of my museum.

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