Bury St Edmunds historian, author and tour guide Martyn Taylor looks into the history of town’s swimming baths

Personal hygiene was very important to the Romans, this being very evident with their usage of naturally occurring hot springs, such as those in Bath.

As time progressed, the idea of washing your body to remove the grime you were likely to accumulate during your daily activities was frowned upon. In fact, the use of perfumes etc to mask body odours was the best way among the upper classes. I nearly said sweat – hardly likely for the upper echelons of society, for this was something the working classes were more likely to do and, consequently, reek of body smells.

The proverb ‘cleanliness is next to godliness’ is not a direct quote from the Bible, though the concept of cleanliness, both physical and spiritual, is emphasised in scripture. It is thought to have been used in the writings of ancient rabbi Phineas ben Yair and later attributed to well-known preacher John Wesley, in 1791.

Gradually, washing became popular, with shifts occurring over several centuries.

In the 18th century, public opinion began to favour more frequent bathing, particularly for health reasons. By the 19th century, periodic bathing was becoming common as body care became a way to distinguish yourself from the hoi-polloi.

Apart from having the opportunity to wash yourself via water drawn from your own well in the privacy of your own home, here in Bury, the Lark and Linnet rivers offered a way forward to perform your ablutions unless you could use a local public pump.

That was until an enlightened builder by the name of Lot Jackaman decided to provide for Bury St Edmunds its very own swimming baths.

Lot was born in Norfolk and arrived in Bury in the 1840s as foreman to renowned local builder Thomas Farrow. Lot’s best-known building in the town was the Corn Exchange of 1861.

He had visited Germany and was impressed with the municipal swimming baths in that country. So, in 1870, Lot built covered-in swimming baths at the top of Maynewater Lane behind a house appropriately called Bath Cottage, with his baths supervisor living there.

In 1893, the pool was taken over by the Bury Town Corporation and later acquired by the Greene King brewery as a private pool for its employees.

A lovely story told to me for my book Bury St Edmunds Memories was by one of the Ransome sisters (Betty, born in 1921, and Joan, in 1923): “One of the funniest things I recall is swimming among frogs which got into the brewery swimming baths in Maynewater Lane.”

I digress, because Lot built a fine house around the corner at No 1, Westgate Street, in 1884. Sadly, he died a year later. His house, displaying all of his building talents, is still there. Under the eaves is written JACKAMAN, BUILDER, STONE & MARBLE MASON.

Strangely, another facility used as swimming baths were the retting tanks at the flax factory, off Cullum Road. In 1918, in and around what we know today as Cullum Road, meadows were purchased by the Board of Agriculture to grow flax so that its end product, linen, could be used for the covering of aeroplane wings. Though the factory was in full production by 1919, the war’s end meant a cessation of any further involvement in this linen making process, with the factory closing down in 1923-24.

The workforce had consisted mainly of women, whose job was to break down the flax plant, remove seeds for future planting and then use a scutching machine to separate the long flax fibres, known as tow, and the waste woody matter, called shive. The flax was then soaked in large retting tanks to soften the cellulose for around 20 days. The factory had its own spring so the water supply was not a problem. With the factory closing, the tanks were used for swimming in.

The next swimming pool in the town was on The Playfields, just off Prospect Row. It was opened in 1922 by the mayor, Cllr J P Parkington.

As it was unheated, you could describe it as a lido. The difference between a swimming pool and a lido is that the latter was always open to the elements. Here in Bury you could consider getting water at 60°F fortunate!

Included at the lido were slipper baths so members of the public could also get a hot bath. This was courtesy of the nearby turbines for the town’s electric supply, powered by the town’s refuse collections. Hire of a towel and soap would cost you 9d.

The pool closed in winter, but hot baths were still available on Saturdays and Sundays. An example of the charges you were expected to pay in 1968 were: adults, 1s 6d entrance; juveniles under 15, 6d; and spectators would have to pay 6d. However, you could buy a season ticket for £1 15s (juveniles 15s).

There was a group of doctors who had their own season tickets; they used to go up to this open-air swimming pool early in the morning to swim when nobody else was about. Some would arrive in their dressing gowns ready to go straight in!

Bury Corporation plumber Frank King was the superintendent and, when he was on duty, he taught hundreds of children how to swim.

Some other swimming pools in the town were: Beech Hill, Hospital Road courtesy of the NHS, Westgate School, St James (Grammar School?) off the Vinefields and Sports Direct Fitness. Currently, the following are still with us: Bannatyne Health Club, off Horringer Road; David Lloyd Club at Marham Park and Moreton Hall Health Club. I apologise if I have missed any.

With the opening of the Bury St Edmunds Sports and Leisure Centre in 1975, with its indoor pool, the swimming baths at The Playfields were no longer used and subsequently demolished in the same year.

The sports centre was to enjoy several years trouble-free until it was burned down on March 19, 1980 – part of several arson attacks within the town.

Unfortunately another fire, this time accidental while refurbishment was being carried out, in 2004, resulted in more than £1 million worth of damage to the sports centre. It reopened after 17 months.

The original swimming pool was 33⅓m long, designed to enable a swimmer to do three lengths for 100 metres. However, with an Olympic swimming pool being 50m long, it was decided to reduce the pool in its refurb to 25m.

A learner pool is adjacent to it and next to this is the children’s play pool, complete with two flumes and a pirate ship.