Torquay Marine Spa
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Torquay Marine Spa | |
|---|---|
 The spa foundations below Living Coasts | |
  Location within Devon | |
| General information | |
| Location | Torquay, Devon, England |
| Coordinates | 50°27′27″N 3°31′28″W / 50.457568°N 3.524378°W |
| Opened | 1857 |
| Demolished | Starting 27 September 1971 |
The Torquay Marine Spa was a swimming bath and entertainment complex situated on a promontory overlooking Beacon Cove in the town of Torquay, Devon, England. The buildings included a ballroom, concert hall, sunlit conservatory and private bathing facilities. There was also a large public swimming bath open to the sea below these.
Early 19th century
In 1817, Dr Pollard built a swimming bath adjacent to Torquay Harbour, which was known as the Bath House, taking advantage of the popularity of sea bathing, but by the 1850s demand exceeded the capacity of those baths, and a new company was formed to build a new facility on Beacon Hill.[1]
It was planned that there would be a large swimming pool, with a large saloon or hall and private bathing facilities.[1] In order to achieve this, under the direction of Lawrence Palk, 1st Baron Haldon, large parts of the beacon promontory hill were cut away, with spoil being used to being the Haldon Pier enclosing 10 acres of the harbour.[1]
Opening and early years
The Marine Spa baths were opened on 3 August 1857.[2] The building was in the Italian style,[2] and the complex included two large halls, one used as a ballroom and the other as a roller rink,[3] along with reading rooms. Charles Dickens conducted a number of two-hour long readings from his popular stories in the reading rooms.[1]
The main pool was 45 feet (14 m) by 43 feet (13 m) in size, with a depth between 3 feet (0.91 m) and 7 feet (2.1 m) and had open arches to the sea, where a ladies' bathing cove with a breakwater was located. This breakwater was washed away by a storm in 1859.[2] The spa area had separate men's and women's areas with hot, cold, plunge, douche, and shower baths.[2]
Despite the status, the project was in almost immediate financial difficulty, resulting in the a sale in 1862 and bankruptcy in 1863.[1] The baths then passed into the ownership of Baron Haldon.[2]
New swimming bath
In 1910, Torquay decided to build a new swimming bath on the site of the spa. The original baths were described as "dark and sunless" and the repeated destruction by storms meant it was costly. The amount of £15,000 was set aside, with a contract signed for £14,912. The onset of World War I delayed the building and by the end of 1915, costs had risen to between £17,000 and £20,000.[1]
The new swimming pool finally opened in late 1916, but following a very short use by the local lifesaving and swimming clubs, was requisitioned for the sole use of the armed forces. This use lasted for nearly 4 years, and the damage and wear required significant remediation, and the baths did not open to the public until 1920.[1]
The new pool took water from the sea below, and was initially heated to 65 °F (18 °C). The sunlight through the roof allowed seaweed to grow and the pool required frequent emptying, with filtration not introduced until 1934.[1]
