Public Swimming Baths, Seaview, Warrenpoint, Newry, Co Down, BT34 3NJ

Public Swimming Baths, Seaview, Warrenpoint

This early 20th-century swimming pool has been much altered and retains little of its original fabric, though it remains symbolic of Warrenpoint's development as a bathing resort in the late 19th century.

The baths were built on the beach on the seaward side of the coast road, opposite the junction with Queen Street. The structure is low, constructed mostly below sea wall level and projecting into the tidal zone. It is topped by a kiosk that overlooks the pool and is accessed from the street by a slightly inclined concrete walkway bounded on each side by a three-bar steel railing. The walkway forms the roof of a building underneath with a large double-door and infilled window on its north side and a tongue-and-groove doorway on the right side at the right end.

The kiosk has a square shallow swept lead-sheeted roof with a metal finial and deep projecting eaves carrying modern plastic gutters. The walls are smooth rendered and painted, probably over concrete. The street elevation is canted, with modern timber windows on three faces and the left cheek. The rear elevation facing the pool has a projecting chamfered chimney breast at the centre and a fixed window to the right. The right elevation has a metal entrance door.

Quarter-turn concrete steps lead down at the left of the kiosk to a semi-basement below the kiosk and flanking changing rooms. The lower floor of the kiosk has a modern metal door to the right and a small window to the left on the pool elevation. The ladies' changing room is to the north, with a flat tarred concrete roof and concrete block coping. The walls are smooth rendered and painted, probably concrete. The pool elevation has a metal door to the right, with a small rectangular window to its left. A concrete screen wall with a metal door leads to the outside and a concrete walkway across the beach to a ramp up to street level. This room also has a small window to the north elevation and two smaller windows to the street facade.

The men's changing room is to the south side of the kiosk. It has a flat tarred concrete roof without coping, with walls like those of the ladies' changing room. Two metal doors open onto the pool elevation with a small window to the south face.

The area in front of the kiosk and men's rooms is paved with contrasting coloured hexagonal concrete flags, flanked to the south by a high painted concrete wall and to the poolside by modern timber parapet. Three wooden benches overlook the pool. At the north, a wide flight of concrete steps opposite the ladies' changing rooms leads down into the pool, which is now dry. The pool has a uniform operating depth of 90 centimetres (3 feet). The pool is enclosed by shuttered concrete walls and walkway, with slightly projecting seaward faces. Six stainless steel ladders lead down into the pool. The seaward side of the walkway has a vertical metal parapet. The street entrance comprises a curved strap-pointed granite screen with a pair of painted steel gates at the middle, over which is a modern sign reading "East Coast Adventure Centre".

The baths were instigated by Warrenpoint Urban District Council in 1905, with financial backing from the Great Northern Railway Company, which owned the nearby hotel. The foundation stone was laid by Mrs Hall of Narrow Water Castle in 1906. Construction was carried out by H&J Martin at a cost of approximately £5,000, and the baths opened on 8 June 1908 following a ceremony conducted by Captain Roger Hall of Narrow Water Castle. A celebratory lunch was served in the pavilion of the Great Northern Hotel following the opening.

Originally, gentlemen and ladies bathing pools were separated by changing boxes topped by a raised promenade deck. The principal structures were timber kiosks constructed in the Moorish taste. Historical photographs show there were two small octagonal kiosks to the street with domed roofs and glazed cheeks. Timber swing gates led to a concrete walkway enclosed by timber balustrading. On the walkway was a small square ticket kiosk with a swept lead roof and a larger similar kiosk (still remaining) to the rear. The viewing area of the bathing ponds was enclosed by timber fencing, with small open pavilions at the land-facing corners. The central promenade deck was enclosed by timber fencing and was originally intended for extension as a pier, which was never built.

Hot baths were added and formally opened by Lord Aberdeen, Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, on 1 June 1909. The introduction of mixed bathing in the mid-1930s caused such public outcry that segregated bathing was immediately reintroduced. Following the Second World War, extensive renovations were carried out at a cost of £12,548. The baths reopened on 24 June 1950, having been reopened by the Chairman of the Northern Ireland Tourist Board. The existing structure largely dates to this post-war refurbishment. The baths closed in the 1960s, though they were briefly reopened in 1984.

The architects were Kaye, Parry & Ross of Westminster.