While you may take Epsom Salts for granted these days for relaxing those aches and pains, did you know that they were first discovered in water with medicinal properties on Epsom Common in Surrey?
In fact, Epsom was known as one of Britain’s earliest spa towns and thrived, particularly during the Georgian era, with people visiting from near and far to discover their healing powers. Some were said to make the journey from as far as Cornwall.
Without the discovery of Epsom Salts and its subsequent spa town era, the chances are that Epsom would not be the thriving town it is today - and a regular inclusion into “best places to live” lists every year.
The source of the salts
The story goes that, at some point around 1618, a villager called Henry Wicker was looking after animals on Epsom Common in a dry summer. As a shortage of water threatened his cattle, he stumbled upon a new source.
His cows wouldn’t touch the water due to its mineral taste, but Henry and generations after him would go on to enthusiastically promote its medicinal qualities.
While Henry Wicker is said to have discovered the salts, it is local entrepreneur, John Livingstone, an apothecary who had recently moved into Epsom, who has said to have promoted them to national renown and opened up new wells at a more central site.
Samuel Pepys wrote in his diary of 1667: “We got to Epsom by 8 a-clock to the Well, where much company; and there we light and I drank the water.”
When a new Lord of the Manor, John Parkhurst, took over the area in 1707, the Epsom Salts wells were upgraded and housed in a large light brick-built room - there was even a coffee house, two rooms for gaming, bowling greens and shops selling food and drink. Reading back, it almost sounds like Epsom became the precursor to the modern country estate hotel.
Spa town status
New taverns were built for the entertainment of visitors to this previously unassuming corner of Surrey, one of which is now a Wetherspoon pub bearing the original name of The Assembly Rooms.
According to Epsom and Ewell History Explorer, the writer John Toland, who took summer lodgings in the area (1710 to 1718) after an eventful career as a spy and theologian, “Epsom reminded him of the civilised towns where he had stayed in Holland, rather than the crude English countryside. The place was much frequented for its most healthy air and excellent mineral waters, he described it as full of convenient houses in the latest style built for the entertainment of strangers, set in a beautiful countryside, with tree shaded side walks where you may meet the people you expect at the Exchange or St. James’ Park.”
So, for a time, Epsom found its place at the height of High Society as a spa town before rival towns such as Bath and Tunbridge Wells were able to latch on to the formula and recreate it with more modern facilities and a little more distance from London.
Daniel Defoe, most famous for his novel Robinson Crusoe, wrote that “the nobility and gentry go to Tunbridge, the merchants and rich citizens to Epsom … the common people chiefly to Dulwich and Streatham.”
While its status as a spa town diminished, chemists had established what gave Epsom’s water its medicinal quality and the name Epsom Salts lives on today as a commercially available bathing product.
Those heady days had brought the area to prominence, however, and Epsom changed from a small farming community to a booming town of fine houses with elegant retreats for wealthy London merchants and early adopter commuters.
Discovering Epsom's past, today
While most signs of Epsom’s spa town past have long since disappeared, with a little imagination you can revisit those times and the town is full of fascinating architecture and hidden history.
The old well at Epsom Common is marked by a monument; Livingstone’s new well was likely to have been in the area known as Mounthill Gardens off South Street, which can be visited by the public, although the exact location is unknown; and the "New Tavern" is a fine building of late 17th century on the South end of the High Street.
In recent years, a grassroots charity called MGSO4 has been set up to promote arts in Epsom and Ewell. The name is inspired by MgSO4 (magnesium sulphate), the chemical formula for Epsom Salts. Their new home at The Horton, a brand new arts venue, opened in 2022.
A quick stroll around the idyllic Downs or a relaxing break at one of the town’s coffee shops will quickly persuade you of the restorative nature of a visit to Epsom, either way.
