Fore Street Swimming Pool
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Fore Street Swimming Pool (formerly known as Fore Street Baths) opened on March 4th 1894. It was designed by Ipswich born architect Thomas Cotmen and built by local philanthropist and builder[1][2] T. Parkington & Sons Builders.[3] Inside the Victorian stone facade, brick building and slate and glass roof the pool measuring 25x7 yards with 5 lanes (originally 6) and had a number of communal baths.[4][5] There were wooden changing cubicles with stairs going to a viewing are around the pool.[5] The modern changing cubicles on each side of the pool are now present and a first-floor communal changing area where the old boiler used to be located.
The poorly built homes for the families of hundreds of workers at the expanding Ipswich engineering companies[6] had no bathrooms, or in many cases running water. The Baths and Washhouses Act 1846 was created to encourage the construction of indoor pools and Fore Street Baths was one of 600 built between 1880 and1914 in Britain.[4][7]
The build was funded by the Corporation of Ipswich[8] (to a sum of £3100[9]) along with a donation of the land plus £1200 from Felix Thornley Cobbold.[1] It was originally opened by Ipswich Mayor Samuel Richard Anness.
Fore Street Swimming Pool is the second oldest operating pool in England.[8]
Fore Street Swimming Pool was fully refurbished in 2001 and is now used for scuba diving, life support lessons, swimming lessons and recreational swimming.[10]
References
- ^ a b "Borin Van Loon: Ipswich Historic Lettering: Fore Street Baths". www.ipswich-lettering.co.uk. Retrieved 2024-02-06.
- ^ "Thomas Parkington 1866-1942". Flatford and Constable. 2020-05-03. Retrieved 2024-02-06.
- ^ "Fore Street Swimming Baths, Ipswich, Suffolk | Educational Images | Historic England". historicengland.org.uk. Retrieved 2024-02-06.
- ^ a b "Fore Street Baths » The Ipswich Society". www.ipswichsociety.org.uk. Retrieved 2024-02-06.
- ^ a b "IpswicGov's X page showing photos of then and now Fore Street Baths".
- ^ "Days Gone By: Memories of Fore Street swimming pool in Ipswich". East Anglian Daily Times. 2018-06-23. Retrieved 2024-02-06.
- ^ "UK Parliament - Baths and Washhouses".
- ^ a b "Angel Lane » The Ipswich Society". www.ipswichsociety.org.uk. Retrieved 2024-02-06.
- ^ "Kindred Spirits: Did you learn to swim at Fore Street Baths in Ipswich?". East Anglian Daily Times. 2015-06-30. Retrieved 2024-02-06.
- ^ "Overview - Fore Street Pool - Ipswich - NHS". www.nhs.uk. Retrieved 2024-02-06.