The ruins of summer - Village Magazine

5 2 June 2017

ROWING UP on the Mill Road in the suburb of

Corbally in Limerick, I was always intrigued

by what I considered to be the remains of an

entrance to an ancient Greek temple leading

down into the river. A forgotten gathering

place bereft of any purpose. Having moved to Dublin I

discovered other open-air baths in the sea no longer in

use. I learned of their popularity up until the 1960s. With

current proposals for Clontarf, Warrenpoint and Dún

Laoghaire Baths, are we ready to take the plunge or are

they destined to remain seashore antiquities?

Taking the Waters

While swimming in the sea has always exercised atavis-

tic appeal for humans (and dogs), it was during the

eighteenth century that sea bathing became particularly

popular and fashionable. Sea bathing was seen as ben-

eﬁcial to health, in much the same way as taking the

waters was at spas in Lisdoonvarna and Mallow. The ear-

liest designated bathing spots were recorded on

Rocque’s 1756 map, for men and women, at Salthill near

Monkstown as well as a bathhouse on Killiney Beach.

The increased popularity of sea-bathing during the

eighteenth century saw many towns in Ireland and Brit-

ain develop as resort towns frequented by the upper

classes during the summer months. While the south

coast of Dublin beneﬁted from an impressive sandy

expanse, a disadvantage was the shallowness of the

shoreline and the fact that at low tide, the water receded

for a distance of as much as two miles. Certain locations

along the coast, such as the Forty Foot at Sandycove,

were prized for the fact that they were largely unaffected

by the tides.

The best-known sea-bathing places of today were

established by the railway companies to encourage

coastal businesses. The construction of the Dublin to

Kingstown (Dún Laoghaire) line saw the closure of the

baths at Booterstown and Blackrock, as the bathing huts

there were now cut off from the sea by the railway, which

ran along an embankment across the shallow bay. While

the arrival of the railway did spell the end for some bath-

ing spots, it opened up other parts of the coast for

bathing. Man-made baths became increasingly popular

during the nineteenth century with the earliest sea-bath

or ‘lido’ (an Italian word for beach, bespeaking elegance

and cosmopolitan excitement) erected in 1833 at Lym-

ington in Hampshire, England. The bathing pools at

Clontarf, Sandymount and Dún Laoghaire all followed

the style of the Lymington baths.

Signiﬁcant for their maritime heritage and 20th cen

tury maritime recreation tradition.

Bathing in Blackrock

As early as 1754 a proposal was put forward to build a

bathing place at Blackrock. When the Dublin and Kings

town railway was opened in 1834 Blackrock was the

principal village between the termini. The Blackrock

Promenade and Pier Company Ltd decided to establish

“a promenade Pier and suitable Bathing Place for the

by Emma Gilleece

The decline of the country’s public baths is

a symbol of our lack of interest in common

spaces and the common good

The ruins

of summer

The earliest

designated bathing

spots were recorded

on Rocque’s 1756

map, for men and

women, at Salthill

near Monkstown as

well as a bathhouse

on Killiney Beach

ENVIRONMENT

Blackrock baths, Interprovincial

Water Polo Ulster v Leinster 1955,

photo: National Library of Ireland

June 2017 5 3

residents in the locality and for the use of the

public at a point near Blackrock Railway Sta-

tion”. This followed public outcry that access to

the sea had been cut off with the building of the

Railway line. The baths were completed by 1839

and a special integrated train ticket also permit

ted entrance to them. In 1887 the baths were

rebuilt in concrete with a large gentlemen’s bath

and a smaller ladies’ bath to the designs of archi-

tect and engineer William Kaye-Parry.

In 1928, the Urban District Council bought the

Blackrock baths for £2,000 and readied them for

the Tailteann Games, a Celtic Olympics. The

baths, with a 50-metre, eight-lane pool, were

well known for their swimming galas and water

polo and could accommodate up to 1,000 spec

tators. They boasted dramatic 10m and 3m

springboards, as well as two smaller children’s

pools.

The decline in use of the baths started in the

late 1950s when indoor heated swimming pools

started to appear in hotels and local authority

facilities. Dún Laoghaire Corporation closed the

Blackrock Baths to the public in 1987. The

Leinster branch of the Irish

Water Polo Association made

private use of the pools, dili

gently carrying out extensive

cleaning and repair work to

make the baths usable again

after a year of exposure to the

sea – but succumbing to the

need to withdraw the 10m diving platform from

use for safety reasons.

At this point, the estimated running losses for

a summer season were £10-30k, depending on

admission fees. By 1992, due to lack of mainte

nance, parts of the baths were dismantled. In

1997 they were sold by Pembroke estates hold-

ings to developers Treasury Holdings who failed

to get planning permission for a shopping mall

encompassing the baths site and DART station

in 2001. An earlier (and greedier) redevelopment

proposal which came from a council ‘ideas’ com-

petition in 1999 comprised 54 apartments and a

restaurant with retail and leisure facilities.

In 2013, the baths were demolished due to

safety concerns following a routine inspection

by Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council. It

was found that the diving platform had been sig-

niﬁcantly corroded and detached from the pool

base. However, the bay in Blackrock is still used

for swimming and board sailing.

Sandymount Swim

Another massive seawater baths was built at

Sandymount, designed by Frederick Morley, and

erected as the Merrion Pier, Promenade and

Baths in 1863. The baths did not operate all year

round but were usually open from late May until

September. Serviced by both tram and rail it

became very popular. 33,000 bathers used the

facility at its height over the summer of 1890,

Blackrock baths were completed

by 1839 and a special integrated

train ticket also permitted

entrance to them

Blackrock Baths: now gone

5 4 June 2017

splashing around in fresh seawater baths and

reveling in ancillary pleasures such as music and

refreshments. However, frequent ablution was

not within the grasp of the unwashed poor. The

Irish builder in 1863 noted that the cost of admit-

tance was well beyond what a labourer could

afford, particularly if accompanied by his wife

and children. It noted that these bathers ‘were

compelled to shelter themselves in a [communal]

bathing box close by with the scum of society…

and were supplied with ragged garments called

“bathing dresses” at one penny per head.’ In

other parts of the city, such as at the North Wall,

male bathers tended to swim in the nude.

The baths measured approximately 40 by 40

metres, with a 75-metre pier added in 1884. It

changed hands towards the end of the nine-

teenth century, and was owned and operated by

a limited company (Merrion promenade, Pier and

Baths Co) which fronted for the West Family, until

its closure. Having fallen into a dilapidated con-

dition, a motion was placed before the Pembroke

Urban District Council in 1912, proposing that the

Council purchase the Merrion Pier and baths but

it was voted down. Nevertheless the pier fea-

tured a bandstand halfway along it and summer

concerts were regularly held there for many

years.

In 1918 the baths were put up for sale. How

ever, it does not appear that the baths found a

new owner and instead remained in the owner

ship of William West’s widow. By 1920, the pier

had deteriorated so much that the seaward wall

of the bathing pool collapsed, and it had to be

demolished. The baths were dismantled

between 1920 and 1922. They formerly consisted

of a cast-iron and timber pier which ran from the

shore out to the mass concrete bathing pool. The

storm damaged concrete baths section, which

resembles a small harbour out on the sands,

remains.

Battle for Clontarf

Dublin’s bathing was not restricted to southsid-

ers. Clontarf public baths were constructed in

1864 and remodelled in 1886 by Frederick

Morley and John S Sloane, an architect and engi-

neer with the Commissioners of Irish Lights.

Elliptical in plan, the swimming baths were 120ft

by 120ft equally divided for ladies and gentle-

men with graduated depths from 9ft down. The

sea water is brought from a distance of nearly

600ft out by engine and pump. The baths were

emptied and reﬁlled each day to ensure that the

bathing water within the swimming baths was

pure and clean

. This would have ensured that

the water did not become stagnant. Today,

modern sea-bathing baths tend not to be emp-

tied on a daily basis, requiring addition of foul

chlorine to the water to pre

vent it stagnating.

On Christmas day every

year a race across the baths

was also held for those

brave enough to swim in the

cold. sadly in 1996 the Baths

closed. There are plans to

rebuild them. Planning per-

mission has been granted to

a consortium to redevelop

the site. The baths struc

tures are set back c 50m

from the Clontarf Road to the

north where views of the

existing site are obscured by

the existing mature land-

scaping. The bathing area is

more open to view via the

Clontarf Road approaches

and even more so from the

coastal pathway.

Many schemes have been

put forward for the 5.5 acre coastal stretch since

the baths’ closure in the early 1990s. including

one proposal in 2001 by former Olympic swim

mer Stephen Cullen, of Abbeybeg Ltd. He

commissioned McCullough Mulvin Architects to

design a two-storey, ﬂat-roofed structure incor

porating a cafe and restaurant, craft centre,

shop and art gallery. A boardwalk would skirt the

perimeter of the site, enclosing a sheltered

ENVIRONMENT

Dun Laoghaire baths now

Dun laoghaire proposal, rejected

1. Bernadine Ruddy ‘Clontarf Baths and Assembly

Rooms’ in Dublin Historical Record, vol. 62, no.1

(Spring, 2009), p.32

An Bord Pleanála’s inspector’s

report on Clontarf baths notes

that commercial facilities are

commonly used to subsidise

the primary recreational facility

Proposed ground ﬂoor

plan for Clontarf Baths

June 2017 5 5

garden to the rear. The walls of the new structure

would be less than two metres higher than the

existing walls of the baths, and all trees and

shrubs on the site would be retained.

There is currently an application by from the

Clontarf Baths and Assembly Rooms Company

Ltd, approved by Dublin City Council, awaiting a

decision from An Bord Pleanála. The scheme

sists of:Demolition of the existing derelict

one-storey structure on site; the provision of a

ﬂood defence wall to protect the baths; the refur-

bishment and reinstatement of the existing

seawater swimming pool area including the

refurbishment and upgrading of the existing

perimeter swimming pool wall and the provision

of changing cubicles; construction of a single-

storey lifeguard viewing platform at the existing

baths upper level; construction of a pavilion res-

taurant and café bar with a covered terrace area.

An Bord Pleanála’s inspector’s report notes

that such facilities are commonly used to subsi-

dise the primary recreational facility. The

situation in this case would appear to be no dif-

ferent. The applicant has made it clear that the

proposed restaurant and café bar is necessary

to fund and sustain the maintenance and opera

tion of the seawater baths which is unlikely to

happen without this element of the proposal.

Dún Laoghaire dip

Bath areas in old Dún Laoghaire have been noted

in maps dating from the 1790s. sources mention

baths in Kingstown being built by the Royal Hotel

in 1828. They were probably removed to make

way for the construction of the railway in 1836.

In 1843 John Croswaite built baths in the corner

of Scotman’s bay. Originally known as the Royal

Victorian baths, they were only used by those

who had the means to afford them. They were

extremely popular and Dún Laoghaire became

one of the best and most popular places in Ire-

land to bathe. These were rebuilt in 1864. In

1896 Kingstown Urban District Council pur

chased the baths site and the ﬁrm of Alexander

Fraser was engaged to build the new baths on

today’s site. This is the site of today’s Dún

Laoghaire Baths. Kingstown Urban District

Council bought the baths in the late 1890s and

renovated them between 1907 and 1908 to the

designs of W Kaye Parry. These baths were con

structed throughout with Vectis brand cement

and granite aggregate. The current derelict

Edwardian entrance dates from this time. There

was a range of bathing options including sea and

fresh water, hot and cold. Children had their own

pond and paddling pools and there were medi-

cal baths. These included sulphur, seaweed and

Russian and hot sea-water. Moderate charges

helped to increase their popularity as well as the

fact that they were maintained to a high stand-

ard. Service was excellent and included the

provision of hot towels if required. Crosthwaite

also built baths at Seapoint, which were pri-

vately owned. During the 1970s heated indoor

pools were added as well as a water fun park

(Rainbow Rapids). In 1997 the outdoor baths

were closed when a proposal was made to

develop a huge water complex on the site. This

proposal did not come to fruition, due in part to

the huge public outcry, but the baths remained

closed. In 2005 proposals were made available

for members of the public to view regarding the

development of the baths.

One of the great features of the site of Dún

Laoghaire Baths is that it is on an elevated spot,

with great views towards Dún Laoghaire Har-

bour, Dublin Bay and the Forty Foot.

In recent years a number of redevelopment

plans have been put forward including a €140m

plan to build an eight-storey building with 180

apartments. These plans fell through leaving us

now with a development that will bring together

the seafront area from Sandycove to the Pier.

SOS

The issue of Dún Laoghaire Baths has been stag-

nant for many years because of difﬁculties with

a foreshore licence that would allow the Council

to carry out the necessary works. This part of

south Dublin has the most efﬁcacious of cam-

paigners, particularly the successful Save our

Seafront (SOS), supported by local association

of An Taisce, whose protest march on 18 Septem-

ber 2005 stopped the eight-storey scheme. They

oppose the ﬂoating baths proposal to be installed

inside the East Pier. Fergal McLoughlin of SOS

explained “We are in favour of the limited plans

for Dún Laoghaire Baths, particularly as we have

been campaigning for years for the restoration of

the baths at their original site. We would prefer if

the actual baths or a modern version were

included in the new plans, which is unfortunately

not the case. “We will continue to press for the

baths as part of the new development…It is on

hold and hopefully will vanish, or sink”.

The plans which eventually got the green light

are by A2 Architects in conjunction with Dún

Laoghaire Rathdown Architects Department,

due to be completed by Summer 2018. Under the

scheme, estimated to cost €2.5m, the existing

Baths Pavilion will be retained and refurbished

for use as artist workspaces, a gallery café and

for the provision of public toilet facilities. and

Existing dilapidated structures to the rear of the

pavilion will be removed to permit the creation

of a new route and landscaping that will connect

the walkway at Newtownsmith to both the East

Pier and the People’s Park. It is proposed that

the existing saltwater pools will be ﬁlled in, cre-

ating new enhanced facilities for sea swimming

and greater access to the water’s edge by means

of a short jetty.

A new jetty and a changing area will be created

to provide enhanced access to the water for sea

swimmers and to provide a landing point for

kayaks and canoes and other small marine craft.

This jetty will be linked by new steps to the ‘café

terrace’ at the Baths Pavilion and to the pedes

trian crossing point leading to the People’s Park.

It is also hoped that jet water fountains could be

installed in the area next to the pedestrian

routes, between the Baths Pavilion and the sea.

Dublin and Kingstown Railway companion, drawn

and engraved by John Kirkwood, Dublin, 1834

It is remarkable how

well some of these

structures have stood

the ‘test of time’, particularly

where they have been subject

to minimal maintenance

5 6 June 2017

Limerick bathing

As with most things Limerick the Corbally Baths

is an unusual anomaly. It was built as the munici-

pal swimming pool on the river Shannon and

opened in 1947. A City Engineer’s letter dated 13

of March 1946 noted:

“I send you herewith plans and estimate for

the proposed construction of a swimming pool

at Corbally. The proposals include for the erec

tion of a concrete retaining wall along the

foreshore with two wing walls running out into

the river 50 yards apart. The ground will be exca-

vated to provide depth of from 3’ to 6’ together

with a diving pit at one end of the pool. Concrete

terraces will be provided between the surround

of the pool and the existing concrete footpath,

and dressing shelters will be erected at the rear

of the existing footpath. My estimate of the cost

of this work would be approximately £4,060”

When the baths were built Corbally was open

farmland with one avenue of eighteenth-century

mansions. Swimming in the mill race was already

very popular, and the construction of the baths,

provided modern clean facilities. The baths

themselves consisted of three terraced concrete

steps at the river’s edge, with ladders to ease

access into the water. Fifty metres cross the mill-

stream, a platform was constructed on the weir

and the distance divided into lanes by ropes and

ﬂoats. The central area contained the shop, two

arms containing the changing facilities and a

locker room at the end. Small pools located here

were alternately used to wash feet off after

swimming, or as children’s paddling pools.

Usually the running of the Baths was let to a

couple, with the husband looking after the men’s

changing and lockers and the wife the women’s.

The Corbally baths were massively popular cli

maxing in the 1950s with galas held continually

throughout the summer by swimming clubs from

around the city. What remains is the learners’

pool which was added in 1968. The pool relied

on the rising and falling tide to change the water.

1960s Corbally was beginning to see its ﬁrst

housing estates, the effect of which was falling

water quality as untreated sewerage was

pumped directly into the river 1.5 kilometres

upstream of the baths. The baths sadly closed in

the early 1970s and were torn down around 1980

due to vandalism.

Warrenpoint

The public baths and pier at Warrenpoint were

built in 1907 on the north-west shore of Carling-

ford Lough, connected to Warrenpoint’s elegant

seafront. The baths were a popular retreat and

enjoyed their heydey during the 1950s and

1960s. The pier was elevated over the swimming

areas which were separated into ladies’ and gen-

tlemen’s areas. Apparently the ladies got the

best deal with the Southern facing pool. The

actual “baths” both “cold, tepid, warm and sea-

weed” variants were inside the main building.

Having been long derelict they were latterly used

as an ‘adventure centre’.

Newry, Mourne and Down District Council is

behind a development but there has been criti-

cism that the work might not actually include the

reopening of the baths for swimming. The devel-

opment will see the refurbishment and extension

of the existing adventure centre. At ground-ﬂoor

level the building will also contain a community

function room, seaweed baths/spa, and a coffee

shop.

Have Baths had their day?

So has our preference for indoor swimming over-

taken our love of outdoor baths? Maritime

structures such as these seabaths are tangible

physical evidence of the popular historic prac-

tice of sea-bathing in Dublin. They are exposed

to particularly extreme weathering conditions

and have to cope with salt-loaded wind and

water, the pounding and abrasive action of

waves and tides, and constant wetting and

drying where they are located within the tidal

zone. All of these factors can cause defects in a

concrete structure. However, it is remarkable

how well some of these structures have stood

the ‘test of time’, particularly where they have

been subject to minimal maintenance.

The construction and maintenance of these

largely public amenities are incredible when one

considers the economic climate in which they

were conceived, particularly the example of Lim-

erick built just after WW2. Up until recent years

local authorities have adopted the ‘ do nothing’

approach. The baths have survived to the pre-

sent day without any apparent form of

maintenance. Plans for Clontarf and Dún

Laoghaire are encouraging.

In 1840 the average wage of Dubliners was

one hundredth of what it is today. It is extraor-

dinary that the leisure infrastructure of the

capital and of the country in this epoch of leisure

and ostensible good taste, have fallen into

disuse. They are symbols of our real priorities.

ENVIRONMENT

Corbally baths

Corbally baths sadly

closed in the early 1970s

and were torn down around

1980 following vandalism

2 McNamara, C (2009) Corbally Baths; Reimagining

with the River in Suburbia, B.Arch thesis, Dublin

Institute of Technology.

Warrenpoint baths

June 2017 5 7

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