Sir John Floyer’s History of Cold Water Bathing (1715) provided plentiful evidence of people using immersion in cold water to treat various ailments, from canker to ‘Hypochondriac Melancholy and Windiness.’

invading Roman soldiers using swimming as a military tactic and appropriated native sacred springs

Anglo Saxon literature ( Beowulf in particular) and the Viking sagas gave dramatic accounts of warriors engaging in swimming competitions in the open sea.