Bury Baths stood adjacent to St Mary's Place and was demolished as part of the town centre changes of the 1970s. When you consider the site now, and consider how many car users visit the current swimming baths, you can perhaps understand the zeitgeist. Not approve, just see where they were coming from.
What bowled me over was discovering that it was planned and built at the height of the Cotton Famine in the 1860s. Here's part of the newspaper account of the opening, celebrated with a plush dinner in one of the town centre private clubs.
What bowled me over was discovering that it was planned and built at the height of the Cotton Famine in the 1860s. Here's part of the newspaper account of the opening, celebrated with a plush dinner in one of the town centre private clubs.
It cost one shilling for a bath ie a bath tub of hot water, soap, and a clean towel. The lowest estimate of what that means in today's prices is about £5. Many subsequent newspaper articles comment on slow uptake (well derrr! even at the time, the opposition said 'lower the price then!')
The baths committee organised swimming galas and competitions with some pretty serious prizes, like silver watches - prizes serious enough for them to ban awards for competitors from outside Bury.
Need to know / further research you can do......when did women start to use the baths in substantial numbers? Only a trickle (pardon the pun) of laydeez took up this marvellous offer in the 19th century. Needless to say, those 19th century swimming galas and competitions did not have women entrants.
The baths committee organised swimming galas and competitions with some pretty serious prizes, like silver watches - prizes serious enough for them to ban awards for competitors from outside Bury.
Need to know / further research you can do......when did women start to use the baths in substantial numbers? Only a trickle (pardon the pun) of laydeez took up this marvellous offer in the 19th century. Needless to say, those 19th century swimming galas and competitions did not have women entrants.