As early as 1875, the question of building baths at Gainsborough was being brought up at meetings of the local Board of Health when it was suggested that a piece of land on Lea Road near the Waterworks be obtained for such a purpose. But it wasn’t until 1881 that this discussion would come to fruition.
Lea Road Baths were built utilising council funding at a cost of £1100 and were the first publicly owned baths in Lincolnshire. They were designed by the architects Meers Wilson and Masters of Sheffield with the main contractor being a Mr Bulling of Ollerton. They were opened by Mr Shipham, the Chairman of the Baths Committee when he and other members were the first to take the plunge in the 40’ x 20’ pool. In addition to the swimming bath there were seven private (slipper) baths for ladies and gentlemen, the charge for the baths was 2d per head and a local byelaw stipulated that for ‘securing adequate privacy to persons using the baths – men and boys above eight years old shall bathe from women and girls and children under eight years old.
In 1899 plans were drawn up which ended in the tank having been increased from 23,000 gallons to 42,000 and this improvement was carried out at a cost of £800.
In 1913 the town is treated to further improvements at the baths when the slipper baths are extended from eight baths to sixteen at a cost of £1500 plus £200 for redecorating and improving the swimming bath. It is at this time that we get a detailed account of what the baths looked like.
‘The baths are approached from a spacious hall; the ladies and gentleman’s entrances being separated by a collapsible gate. The hall is tiled, and the woodwork is pitch pine. The managers office faces the entrance hall and from it there is a clear view to the swimming bath as well as the corridors of the private baths of which there are eight on the ground floor and eight on the upper floor. The manager can control the water supply to this in case of leakage. All the floors are tiled, and the ceilings are ornamented with panels and cornices. A turnstile designed by Mr Parker and made by Messrs Baines has been erected at the entrance. The neatly patterned tiling is continued from the hallway along the ground floor corridor and white tiles line the walls to a height of 4ft when the white paint commences. The bottom corridor is lighted from above with Haywood’s prism lights.
The bathrooms are 8ft x 5ft and are fitted with full size porcelain parallel baths with special arrangements for filling by which the hot and cold water are mixed before entering the baths and by regulating the temperature in this way, much of the vapour nuisance is avoided. Fresh air inlets are provided to each bathroom and fan lights open with quadrants. Mirrors and clothes pegs are fitted to the rear of the doors. The eight slipper baths for the ladies are upon the upper floor. At the west end of the ladies suite of baths is the Droitwich Brine Bath and the cooling room connected with it.
The swimming bath presents a vastly different appearance to what was the case. It has been repainted in green and brown and four extra dressing boxes have been erected and on each side of the bath a permanent railed gallery has been placed. The bath will be lighted by eight, three hundred candle power inverted lights and the ventilation has been greatly improved. There is an extra exhaust ventilator in the ridge with a 24ft shaft and two windows have been placed on the west end with casements and fan lights to open.’
In 1946 Mr Jack Hinch became manager at the baths and the Americans were here we know quote from Jacks own memories – ‘They used to queue up first thing in the morning for the slipper baths until five o’clock in the evening. From five until nine o’clock they were open for the privilege of the ladies. The ladies used to go upstairs with full bags. Why? Because hot water was scarce as well as soap so they used to take their washing with them, then take it home to dry. A towel was a penny and soap were a penny and spectators was the same. The swimming baths were originally heated via the surplus steam from the two Lancashire boilers that powered number one pump at the adjoining waterworks but when they closed number one bore, they demolished the boilers so that meant there was no heat in the pool. By this time the water was getting that filthy you couldn’t see the bottom of the pool, so they decided to change the water every other day, but the converted boiler didn’t supply any heat to the water so when it was filled on a Sunday, they charged 2d on the Monday as it was cold water, now on a Tuesday it was lukewarm, so they charged 3d.
In 1956 a filter and chemicalised plant was fitted and it made the water that good that attendance jumped from 29,000 to 60,000.
In 1970 they decided they was going to do away with the slipper baths, and the Gainsborough people were left with nothing. Not even time for themselves or landlords, to put baths in their houses. It was rather a pity that was, as there was little, or no notice given at all.
In 1965 the Council began to consider the possibility of implementing a scheme for the construction of a new pool on a site in Plaster Pitts Field, which, through the generosity of Sir Edmund Bacon had been conveyed to the Council in 1952 for use as a public recreation area. As a result of financial and other difficulties, no further action was taken until November 1967, when the Council decided to instruct Jones, Stocks and Partners, Architects of Leeds to prepare a suitable scheme with working drawings being produced in June 1971 at about the same time as a local committee was formed which was later to called ‘Gain a Swim’ under the chairmanship of Councillor F A Hearn to raise funds for the project.
In September 1973 Albert Barrand took the plunge in Lea Road Baths for the last time before he performed the official opening of the new baths on the Avenue.
April 1978 saw the Victorian swimming baths being demolished to make way for a new block of Council flats and today we know these as McIntyre Court.
