Bath House?
Does anyone know where the concept of the females bath house (which figures prominently in season 1) comes from?
There were municipal bath houses around in London when I was a kid, but not like that. The ones I knew were for both sexes, had cubicles, and were combined baths and wash houses - where the women could come to do their washing more easily than at home.
The establishment in "The Village" seems to be just for women, where skivvies, servants, farmers wives, shopkeepers and the minster's daughter could luxuriate in a communal atmosphere. One mystery is where these (mostly) working class women could find the time to do this - and the money, Grace seemed to keep attending even when she couldn't afford a loaf of bread for the table.
Personally, I think a gaggle of sweating women in a wash-house would have been more "realistic".