Mr. John Parkinson was one of several entrepreneurs in the early decades of the 19th century who, unsuccessfully, searched for coal in the area. However, after his mine was closed, water escaping from the shaft was found to be beneficial to the health of both animals and people.

Consequently, the local Lord of the Manor, Mr. Thomas Hotchkin, built a small bathhouse, then a hotel and what was to become the famous "Iodine Spa" was born. For half a century from the late 1830s, the Hotchkin family maintained, developed and modernised the increasingly popular spa baths and hotel.

Then, in the late 1880s, the enterprise was sold to a "Syndicate of Gentlemen" and a London architect, Mr. Richard Adolphus Came, was employed; he designed the Broadway and wide tree - lined avenues of the village, which still remain today.