The swimming baths of London / by R.E. Dudgeon.

  • Robert Ellis Dudgeon
Date:
1870
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The swimming baths of London / by R.E. Dudgeon. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

    9/36 page 9
    all these with the exception of three, and in these it is only- allowed at such inconvenient hours as practically to exclude all but a few from using them. London has many canals, but bathing is forbidden in them,'and though it is impossible to keep the boys out of them, they bathe in peril of being seized by some policeman and of being fined by some magistrate for “ indecent exposure of the person.” In the absence or dearth of open-air swimming baths London is pretty well supplied with covered swimming baths, mostly tepid, but some few cold. With only one exception (and that because it was closed) I have inspected, and with six exceptions (four of these,because there was no water in them at my visit, two, because they were so re- pulsively dirty) I have bathed in all these baths, so that I can describe them from personal experience. I shall begin with the cold baths, these being entitled to the first place by reason of their antiquity. And here let me pay a tribute of regret to the memory of the only open-air swimming bath London ever possessed, specially constructed for that purpose and available at all hours of the day—I mean the ancient Peerless Pool, in Baldwin Street, City Road. It measured fifty yards by thirty, was built of stone, and several flights of steps led down to its bottom. It was amply provided with open bathing boxes, and was a secluded spot in a densely populous neighbourhood. Its water was clear and cold, and it was large enough and deep enough for swimming purposes. Its site is going to be built over, the more’s the pity, as London is now absolutely without a real open-air swimming bath. Old Roman Bath, Strand Lane, Strand.—The ancient Roman bath which gives its name to this bath is not the place used for bathing. It is where the spring rises. It is in a cellar, is built of brick, and is about 3 yards long by wide. It is said to be near 2000 years old. The water, which rises at the rate of 10 tons per diem, from a spring at one end, is cold and as clear as crystal; it overflows through a pipe into the more modern bath, which is in an adjoining cellar, low-roofed, whitewashed, and obscurely lighted by a dimmed glass window. This bath is said to
    digitised image 1
    digitised image 2
    digitised image 3