Skegness Magazine

Remember back in 2006 when Skegness was excited at the ‘historic find’ of Victorian hydrotherapy equipment in the cellars of the Royal Renaissance Hotel in Skegness? Let’s take a trip down memory lane and find out what all the excitement was about…

Victorian Hydrotherapy Equipment Discovery at Royal Renaissance Hotel Skegness

Historical Find

news story date 21st November 2006

Victorian equipment of great local historical interest is being uncovered at a Skegness Hotel.

The owners of the recently refurbished Royal Renaissance Hotel hope to uncover old Victorian Hydrotherapy equipment in the cellars. The cellars have been sealed for many years.  They housed hydrotherapy baths which were used by the Victorian holidaymakers. The equipment is currently lying beneath thousands of tonnes of sand, blown in and built up over the past decades.

The Bola family, the present owners of the hotel, have started an excavation project to remove the sand.

The work to clear the vast basement area of sand will be a slow process as other items of interest could be discovered such as pottery and artifacts from World War 2 as the hotel was used by the Royal Air Force during the war years.

The hotel, on South Parade Skegness, was erected in Victorian times during the late 1890s and was initially named ‘The Hydro’.  (picture left)

It later became known as the Seacroft Hotel.

It has recently been refurbished and restored to its former glory, being renamed ‘The Royal Renaissance’.

Mr TK Bola, the managing director of the Royal renaissance, plans to restore the Victorian Baths. “We are keeping our fingers crossed that the spa baths can be incorporated into the next phase of our development plans for the hotel which are for a three million pound leisure and spa complex with an indoor swimming pool, techno gym, sauna, steam and beauty treatment rooms”, he said.

TK Bola is pictured below with the Mayor of Skegness, Coun Phil Kemp outside the Royal Renaissance Hotel.

Pictured below is the container lorry which is powering the removal of the sand.

The transfer pipe weaves its way though the kitchen areas of the hotel and towards the cellar doors.

The next two photographs are of the the sand as it’s being sucked from the cellar.

The Victorian hydrotherapy equipment is thought to be buried under this sand.

Skegness News on Video asked the Mayor of Skegness, Coun Phil Kemp, what impact this discovery would have on Skegness.
The Mayor said that he was very pleased that this discovery had been made. Particularly so because he had recently donated an old postcard of the hotel to the owners. The postcard, postmarked 1908, depicted the hotel when it was called ‘The Seacroft Hydro’. The discovery of the hydro equipment now explains why it was called ‘The Hydro’.
The Mayor said he was pleased that the Bola family had decided to restore and reuse this equipment.
“The find will have an effect on the town’s tourism as Skegness can now be promoted as a Health Spa, and also from a historical aspect”.
The Mayor also said that “people can not only see the history that’s still around in Skegness, they will be able to experience it as well – a living history! An important discovery in Skegness!”

Enter the password ’skegness’ to view the video below.

Hydro Royal Renaissance Hotel from Angela Gooch on Vimeo.

Many thanks to Coun Phil Kemp for this interview, contributing to the valuable record of the History of Skegness.