Description

WESTBURY

929/0/10013 CHURCH STREET
03-NOV-10 (Northwest side)
Swimming Baths

II
Public baths, 1887, by Halliday and Anderson of Cardiff.

MATERIAL:
All elevations and chimney stack are of red brick with Bath stone dressings and detailing. The roof to the pool hall is covered in corrugated plastic sheeting (late C20), with the roofs of the ancillary ranges being clay tiled.

PLAN:
The building is orientated north-west / south-east. The changing accommodation, reception area and plant room (added in the late C20) are located to the south-west. There is a first-floor gallery overlooking the pool with a small room used as a health suite. The second floor, which was once the caretaker's accommodation, is now used as staff rooms.

EXTERIOR:
The main elevation fronts onto Church Street and is orientated north-east / south-west. It comprises three principal sections: a tall Flemish, gable end to the pool hall; a central section of two storeys in which the original entrances were located, and a single-storey range with a central gable. The sections are separated by rusticated and fluted pilasters terminating in gablets. The pool hall section has a mullioned two-light window to the centre, with single-light windows to either side on the first and second storeys. There is a stone string-course running beneath the ground-floor windows above the plinth, and drip-moulding at the top of both sets of windows, continuing along the length of the elevation. There is an oculus with a keyed architrave in the gable-head. All the windows have moulded stone surrounds. There are various stone plaques featuring royal heraldry and crests, and a profile of Queen Victoria. String courses in the gable apex bear the inscriptions: 'VICTORIA REGINA' and 'PUBLIC BATHS 1887 AD'.

The central section is of three bays separated by pilasters. To the ground-floor right-hand bay is the women's entrance and on the left the men's (both no longer used). They have moulded stone surrounds; the women's is topped with a triangular pediment, and the men's has a rounded pediment, which protrudes to form a shallow canopy. The former decorative gablet above the entrances is now missing. The single-storey end section has four bays and a central pedimented gable with ball finials to either side, beneath which is a keyed oculus.

The south-west and north-east elevations continue the motifs of the principal elevations. The rear is dominated by red brick lean-to extensions added in the late C20.

INTERIOR:
The interior of the pool hall has plastered walls to the first stage, with red brick rising to the roof. The south-west wall has blind arcading with keyed arches. The windows, all at second-storey height use the same motifs as the exterior, with apron moulding in Bath stone. There is a doorway with a triangular pediment to the north-west end. The roof is supported by cast-iron, round-arched trusses featuring decorative patterning and the heraldry of the benefactor, WH Laverton. The tiled, round-cornered pool covers most of the floor space, and has a modern tiled poolside. The gallery balustrade and first-floor window sills have decorative metal work containing a repeated 'WP' motif (for 'Westbury Pool', added later). The male and female changing rooms, reception area and toilets were re-ordered and refitted in the 1980s. The first-floor health suite and second-floor staff rooms are similarly refitted but retain their original layout.

HISTORY:
Westbury Baths was presented to the town by the local woollen mill owner William Henry Laverton Esq, who owned the adjacent Angel Mill (designated at Grade II), on 11 May 1887, the day of Queen Victoria's Golden Jubilee. The Baths opened to the public on 24 May. Laverton conveyed the Baths to a charitable trust whose stated aim was: 'the provision and maintenance of a swimming pool for the benefit of the inhabitants of Westbury without distinction of political, religious or other opinions with the object of improving the condition of life for the said inhabitants'. The public baths were built to the designs of architects Halliday and Anderson of Cardiff.

Architectural drawings of circa 1886-7 show the building as having one large rectangular pool with curved corners, partitioned seats to one side and stripping boxes set into an arcade to the other. At the far end was a gallery and separate male and female entrances which led to segregated rows of slipper baths grouped along the south and east sides of the pool, indicating the baths offered sport, leisure and washing facilities. The drawings show the engine room as a single-storey wing to the far south corner of the building. During the winter months, as permitted by the 1878 Swimming Baths Act, the water was drained and the pool covered over by a removable wooden floor, in order to use the hall for athletics and dancing.

In 1954 Westbury Baths was modernised, including re-arranging the sanitary accommodation, the removal of three out of seven remaining slipper baths, the removal of the stripping boxes along the poolside and alterations to the caretaker's office. In 1984 Westbury Baths was extensively refurbished. The facility was given a new plant room, a new roof (retaining the original cast-iron work), new lighting, changing rooms and disabled access.

SOURCES:
Gordon, I and Inglis, S, Great Lengths. The historic indoor swimming pools of Britain (2009), 82-3

The following documents, held at Wiltshire & Swindon Archives, Chippenham:
Architectural proposal drawings of 'Swimming Baths: Westbury: Wilts: for W.H. Laverton Esq ½ Scale', c1886-7 (undated)
Architectural drawing of proposed alterations, West Wiltshire District Council (1982)
A letter dated 30 September 1947 signed by Charles Frobisher, Surveyor
Westbury Urban District Council, 'Report on the proposal to modernise the Westbury Swimming Bath', signed by SH Prophet, Surveyor, 16 February 1954

REASONS FOR DESIGNATION:
Westbury Baths, Church Street, Westbury, Wiltshire is designated at Grade II for the following principal reasons:
* ARCHITECTURAL INTEREST: the building displays good quality late-Victorian style architectural detailing and decorations and makes a strong architectural statement in the town.
* DATE: Opened in 1888, it is an early example of a Victorian indoor swimming pool that has remained in use as a public pool.
* HISTORIC INTEREST: it was a gift to the town of Westbury from the local mill owner William Henry Laverton, and built in celebration and commemoration of Queen Victoria's Jubilee.
* GROUP VALUE: it forms an important group and is historically associated with the Grade II designated Angel Mill.

Reasons for Listing

Westbury Baths, Church Street, Westbury, Wiltshire is designated at Grade II for the following principal reasons:
* ARCHITECTURAL INTEREST: It displays good quality late-Victorian style architectural detailing and decorations and makes a strong and positive architectural statement in the centre of Westbury.
* DATE: Completed in 1887, it is an early example of a Victorian indoor swimming pool which has remained in use as a public pool.
* HISTORIC INTEREST: It was a gift to the town of Westbury from the local mill owner William Henry Laverton, and built in celebration and commemoration of Queen Victoria's Jubilee.
* GROUP VALUE: It forms an important group and is historically associated with the Grade II designated Angel Mill, which was also owned by Laverton.

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q26689015

External links are from the relevant listing authority and, where applicable, Wikidata. Wikidata IDs may be related buildings as well as this specific building. If you want to add or update a link, you will need to do so by editing the Wikidata entry.

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