Battered by torrential rain, buffeted by icy winds and chilled by the coldest winter for a century, there is nowhere better to retreat at this time of year than the Turkish bath. Peel off the thermals and progress from the balmy warmth of the tepidarium through to the blistering heat of the caldarium, followed by the cooling repose of the frigidarium – a journey punctuated by hot or cold splashes from attendant taps, or a brave dip in the cold plunge. That we have such temples to heat in this country is thanks to the enthusiastic campaigning of Scottish diplomat David Urquhart, whose 1850 book, The Pillars of Hercules, recounted his travels in Morocco and Spain, with vivid descriptions of the Moorish baths he encountered. He advised on the first experimental bath constructed at St Ann's Hydropathic Establishment in Ireland in 1856, from where the model spread to northern industrial towns. Promoted in pamphlets as a cure to innumerable ailments – including an "antidote for the cravings of the drunkard" – more than 600 such baths were built across Britain before the first world war, "diffusing themselves like asteroids" as the Reasoner journal put it. Only 14 establishments now remain in operation. From the elaborate painted ceilings and Moorish archways of Harrogate's Victorian baths, to the coloured faience mouldings and terrazzo flooring of Carlisle's Edwardian complex, they stand as fascinating monuments to an age of exotic orientalism – and a perfect way to rejuvenate for the new year.