Early Public Baths

According to an article in The Sentinel (Saturday November 30^th 1996, page 19) the first public baths were provided in 1852 and were located in School Street. However the venture failed to pay for itself and after four years of showing an annual loss they were closed. The buildings were sold and converted for use as a school. Do know which school this was or is?

King Edward VII Memorial Baths

King Edward VII Memorial Baths Source Staffordshire Past Track August 2011

In 1906 the King Edward VII Memorial Baths was opened in Brunswick Street at a cost of £15,574 (Campbell, Agnes (B.A.) Report on Public Baths and Wash-Houses in the United Kingdom The Carnegie United Kingdom Trust (Edinburgh 1918)

The building comprised;  Two Swimming Pools 100ft x 35 ft; 50ft x 20ft, Turkish Baths, 12 Wash Baths.

In 1935 Newcastle Baths were described as the finest in the district, with the water ‘aerated, cleansed and purified’ by an up-to-date filtration plant. However, during the winter season the main pool was emptied and used as tennis and badminton courts. (The Sentinel Nov 30^th 1996)

Alterations were made in 1921, 1938-9 and 1946 (‘Newcastle-under-Lyme: Local government and public services’, A History of the County of Stafford: Volume 8 (1963), pp. 24-39.)

The building originally had two Cornish Steam Boilers that were replaced by Lancashire boilers in the 1960’s.

The building was refurbished during the 1970’s and opened as Jubilee Baths (Pool) in 1977. (Information provided by John Martin, Retired Chief Officer Newcastle-under-Lyme Borough Council April 2011)

‘Norman Wainwright, former Olympic swimmer and son of a Hanley Baths Superintendent, recalls that Newcastle Baths were always regarded as being a cut above the rest in North Staffordshire.

“They were far superior to anything in Stoke-on-Trent,” he says. “Before the war the big pool was the only one in the area with a Water Shute. Also, the Turkish baths were exceptionally good.”

“At the time I plated water polo and competed in the Staffordshire championships in the main pool, which was 33.5 yards long, much longer that any on the Potteries”.

“My parents were friends of the baths superintendent, George Baker. We went on Boxing Day. I remember our two families played cricket with a tennis ball in the empty baths”. (The Sentinel Saturday November 30^th 1996, page 19)

To mark the 90^th anniversary of the opening, a celebration was held at the baths, and by then renamed Jubilee Pool, on Saturday December 7^th 1996.

Further information and photographs can be found at the Staffordshire Past-Track.