Vintage View: Peace and quiet and a view

THE vintage roll-top bath remains a popular inclusion in even a contemporary bathroom.

Their sculptural beauty and quality allow them to sit in state in the centre of a room or linger politely to the side. Yes, poking about beneath the old divil at mop-time is a dose, but the classic-legged bath is still reproduced by every major white ware design house as a perennial favourite for a deep, embracing plunge.

The Victorians made bathing popular following centuries where an annual June bath only preceded an important occasion. For a wedding in the 1700s, one might be expected to have no more than the slap of an old oilskin around the nethers. It was only by the end of the First Word War, that permanent baths with fixed plumbing began to appear in standard homes. Even then, the man of the house would bathe first, followed by a parade of family members down to the smallest baby dipped in the oily familial soup.