ABSTRACT
This chapter explores the ambivalent geographical and cultural status of spas in Britain. However, most spas were established in rural locations and remained small. In 1766, Thomas Benge Burr, the early historian of Tunbridge Wells, whose waters were first discovered by fashionable society in the early seventeenth century, declared the place had 'now become a populous and flourishing village'. The ambivalence in this account lies at the heart of the British spa's identity and appeal to visitors and tourists. Indeed, in some respects, the indeterminate and fluid identity of spas stands as a symbol of the dilemma facing British culture from at least the seventeenth century, a predicament that was only accentuated as urbanization. One factor which strengthened the spas' rural credentials was the extent of and value attached to green space within their boundaries. The spa's role in promulgating an urban culture was not simply confined to patterns of behaviour.
