Penarth : the old public baths

On a wet and blustery winter’s day, the idea of a swim in the sea doesn’t appeal much but how about a swim in a pool filled with heated sea water? If you had visited the south Wales seaside town of Penarth from the late nineteenth through to the mid-twentieth century, you could have indulged in just such a luxury.

The concept of public swimming baths was much discussed in Penarth in the 1870s, and took its first step to become a reality in October 1881 when the local Board of Health made the decision to proceed. Initial ideas for an open-air pool developed into something much more grand so that, when the Public Baths were opened to the public in 1884, the extensive facilities were housed within the rather magnificent building shown below.

The Western Mail of 21 July 1884 takes up the story:

The new Bath-house at Penarth, which boldly rears its front on the, as yet, unfinished esplanade and commands an uninterrupted view of the sea, forms one of the many works of improvement which have been carried out in that thriving town within the past few years. The history of the structure is worth telling.
About two years and a half ago the agent of the Windsor Estate (Mr. Robert Forrest), who ever since his appointment has manifested a laudable anxiety to make a popular watering-place of Penarth, turned his attention to the task of providing sea-water baths for the town, “dipping” in the open sea being decidedly unpopular in consequence of the roughness of the beach and the muddiness of the water. He began by instructing the Atkin’s Water Softening and Purifying Company to experiment as to the possibility of clearing the Channel water of mud without, at the same time, taking away its saline property. The experiments, which were carried out at the sole expense of Lord Windsor, proved entirely successful.

Sketch, Western Mail, 21 July 1884

About this time the Penarth Local Board, being moved thereto by Mr. T. R. Thompson, one of its members, took the matter up in the interests of the public and resolved to construct a bath. With this object they obtained from Lord Windsor a lease of a piece of land on the corner of Bridgman-road, fronting the beach and running some distance up the hill behind. Designs for a swimming bath 50 feet long were then prepared and the board applied to the Local Government Board for permission to borrow the money necessary to carry out the work. Mr. J. Thornhill Harrison, a Government inspector, was thereupon sent to Penarth to hold an inquiry into the matter. The project was opposed by some of the ratepayers, but the inspector decided to report in its favour, and at the same time to recommend the addition of a second swimming bath.
This recommendation led to a re-consideration of the whole scheme, and the board subsequently instructed Mr. H. C. Harris, A.I.B.A., their surveyor, and Mr. Harry Snell, the architect and surveyor to the Windsor Estate, to prepare a joint design for a first and second class swimming baths – Lord Windsor having generously consented to defray the cost of the former – and a number of slipper baths. From these plans the baths were built by Mr. John Jones, of Arcot-street, Penarth, who has carried out his contract on the most efficient and satisfactory manner. The total cost has been £7,500, the amount paid by Lord Windsor being about £3,000.

The article continues with a description of the exterior of the building, which, unfortunately, now lacks some of its distinguishing features:

The exterior is designed in the Renaissance style, the elevation being decidedly handsome. The structure is composed of blue lias stone, with Bath stone and white brick dressings. From the south-west corner rises a rather imposing octagonal tower, surmounted by a cupola. This tower is in reality nothing more than a glorified chimney stack, for its sole use is to carry away the smoke ascending from the boiler fires. The architects are to be congratulated on the success of their expedient for preserving the ornate appearance of the building, which would have been sadly marred by such an unsightly object as an ordinary chimney stack.
The upper stage of the masonry portion of the tower is enriched by sgraffito work, an effective kind of decoration, of which this is said to be the only example in South Wales. The subject of the design in each of the eight panels is the same – a boy driving a pair of dolphins – but the details are varied in every instance. The sgraffito work was executed by Mr. H. Wormleighton, of Lower Cathedral-road, Cardiff, who also sculpted an elaborate nautical design on the tympanum over the large front window.

Sadly, the boys and dolphins have now disappeared from their panels, though the nautical design on the main front tympanum still exists and is quite splendid. There are also sculptural designs in the tympanums over the side entrance to the building and above two front windows, though these have all been much eroded by the weather in the 125-plus years since they were carved.

Now for the Western Mail’s description of the interior of the building:

After mounting the flight of broad stone steps which leads up to the entrance the visitor finds himself standing in a lobby, and before him a pair of swinging doors with stained-glass panels, made by Messrs. Bell, of College Green, Bristol. Passing through these doors he enters the hall. The ticket-office will then be directly in front of him, while the first-class slipper and swimming baths will be on his right hand and the second-class baths on his left. The roof of this hall and the woodwork of the ticket-office, as well as the partitions and doors of the slipper baths, which stand on either side, are of varnished pitch pine. There are three hot and cold water (or slipper) baths of the first-class, fitted with lavatories and other conveniences, and four of the second class. All these baths are made of Stourbridge ware, and can be kept scrupulously clean without any trouble. The basement underneath the entrance-hall contains the engine and boiler room, the well containing the pumps and a chamber for washing and drying towels. The manager’s residence is on the south side of the building.

Sketch, Western Mail, 21 July 1884

Unfortunately, I have not been inside the building so have no personal photographs to share but there is a delightful series of watercolours by artist Mary Traynor in the collection of Glamorgan Archives, some of which you can view in a blog on their website. 

The plug was finally pulled on Penarth’s old Public Baths in the 1980s when a modern leisure centre, with swimming pool, was built in neighbouring Cogan. For a few years, the old baths became a pub and restaurant, the nattily named ‘Inn at the Deep End’ but, when that closed, the building fell gradually into disrepair until it was converted into four separate apartments sometime in the early 21st century. Fortunately, many of the original interior features were retained during the conversion, as you can see in the gallery of images that accompanies this WalesOnline article from March 2013.