Jubilee Pool

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Jubilee Pool
Penzance Jubilee pool and harbour by Kernow Skies cropped.jpg
The pool from the air in 2021
LocationBattery Road, Penzance, Cornwall, England
Coordinates 50°06′53″N5°31′53″W / 50.114784°N 5.531454°W / 50.114784; -5.531454
Built1935
ArchitectFrank Latham [1]
Listed Building – Grade II
Official nameJubilee Pool
Designated4 March 1993
Reference no.1221190
Cornwall UK location map.svg
Red pog.svg
Location of Jubilee Pool within Cornwall

Jubilee Pool (Cornish: Poll Jubile) [2] is an Art Deco lido in Penzance, Cornwall. It is Grade II listed, being recognised as the finest surviving example of its type with the exception of Saltdean Lido. [3] With a capacity of 5 million litres and 600 swimmers and measuring 300 feet long and 160 feet wide, it is the UK's largest seawater pool. [4] [5] [6]

Contents

History

The pool from its west end in 2011 Jubilee Pool (7376).jpg
The pool from its west end in 2011

Construction and opening

The plan to build a pool in Penzance became something of a political issue, with local councillors seeing it as a choice between the pool or improving the town's water supply. [7] One town councillor predicted the project would be "the biggest white elephant Penzance has ever had". [8]

The lido was designed between 1931 and 1934 to be built on Battery Rocks, which was already a popular bathing spot, to designs by Captain Frank Latham, the Borough Engineer of Penzance. [9] [10] Its design has been described as "Art Deco", "Art Nouveau-styled" and "cubist-inspired", [11] [8] [12] and is reportedly influenced by the shape of a seagull in flight. [13]

It was opened on the 31 May 1935, as part of the Silver Jubilee celebrations for King George V. [8]

Use and decline

The pool was damaged by the Ash Wednesday Storm of 1962 which hit the UK on 13 March 1962, with the lido's far wall being breached. [10] [14]

Visitor numbers declined after the 1970s, when the popularity of lidos waned, and the pool fell into disrepair. [12] It was closed in 1992, [15] but was restored and made a listed building after the formation of the Jubilee Pool Association (later called the Friends of Jubilee Pool). [16]

Revival

The pool had a revival in 1994 with a 'Grand Re-opening' and Penzance-born actress Jan Harvey launching the lido's new season. [17]

The lido suffered "serious structural damage" during the winter storms in February 2014, with changing rooms and terraces being demolished and the floor of the pool being destroyed. [12] [18] It was repaired at a cost of £2.94m which was raised by the local community as well as with grants from the Power to Change Trust and the Coastal Communities Fund. [19] Jubilee Pool re-opened in May 2016. [12] In both 2016 and 2017, the lido had around 40,000 visitors. [20]

With the help of a £1.4m European Regional Development Fund grant, [21] Jubilee Pool became the UK's only lido heated with geothermal energy in 2019 after a 410m deep geothermal well was drilled into the rock below the pool. [22] In 2020, Parkdean Resorts named Jubilee Pool the UK's best lido. [23]

As of 2021, Jubilee Pool is owned by 1400 local shareholders and is run as a social enterprise. [24] Design writer Dominic Lutyens included Jubilee Pool in his collection of the best public swimming pools in the world in August 2022. [25]

See also

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References

  1. ↑ "Frank Latham's grave". Jubilee Pool Stories. Retrieved 7 December 2021.
  2. ↑ "Jubilee Pool (EN) - Henwyn Tyller". Akademi Kernewek . Retrieved 6 December 2021.
  3. ↑ "JUBILEE POOL". Historic England . Retrieved 6 December 2021.
  4. ↑ Amelia Ward (11 June 2021). "Cornwall Is Home To The UK's Largest Outdoor Sea Water Pool". LADbible . Retrieved 6 December 2021.
  5. ↑ Sarah Turner (20 June 2021). "10 of Britain's best lidos". The Guardian . Retrieved 6 December 2021.
  6. ↑ N. P. Cooper (2020). A Cornish Almanack. Lulu.com. p. 170. ISBN   0244254028.
  7. ↑ "Debate over building Jubilee Pool". Jubilee Pool Stories. Retrieved 6 December 2021.
  8. 1 2 3 "Captain Latham, His Monument". Penwith Local History Group. Retrieved 6 December 2021.
  9. ↑ "8. Jubilee Pool, Penzance". The Twentieth Century Society . Retrieved 6 December 2021.
  10. 1 2 Greg Martin (7 June 2020). "85 years of Cornwall's iconic Jubilee Pool celebrated in wonderful pictures". Cornwall Live. Retrieved 6 December 2021.
  11. ↑ Laurie Havelock (22 November 2021). "Cornwall had one of its busiest summers, but St Ives is perfect for a winter break". i News . Retrieved 6 December 2021.
  12. 1 2 3 4 Jon Axworthy (31 May 2016). "Making a splash: Penzance's Jubilee Pool reopens". The Guardian . Retrieved 6 December 2021.
  13. ↑ "Then One Day: Storms, community shares and the lido that keeps surviving". Power to Change Trust . Retrieved 6 December 2021.
  14. ↑ India Vaughan-Wilson (26 February 2014). "A Stormy History". Morrab Library . Retrieved 6 December 2021.
  15. ↑ "Jubilee Pool lido in Penzance reopens after storm damage". BBC . 28 May 2016. Retrieved 6 December 2021.
  16. ↑ "The Jubilee Pool". Cornwall Guide. Retrieved 6 December 2021.
  17. ↑ "Jan Harvey at the 'Grand Re-opening' of 1994". Jubilee Pool Stories. Retrieved 6 December 2021.
  18. ↑ "Fears as Jubilee Pool in Penzance suffers 'serious structural damage'". Falmouth Packet . 12 February 2014. Retrieved 6 December 2021.
  19. ↑ "Jubilee Pool Penzance". Power to Change Trust . Retrieved 6 December 2021.
  20. ↑ "Jubilee Pool: Devolution of a council asset". Cornwall and Isles of Scilly Growth Programme. Retrieved 6 December 2021.
  21. ↑ "European funding secures geothermal energy for Penzance's Jubilee Pool". Cornwall Isles of Scilly Growth Programme. Retrieved 4 May 2023.
  22. ↑ Olivier Vergnault; Gayle McDonald (30 November 2019). "This is the day Jubilee Pool's geothermal spa is due to open". Cornwall Live. Retrieved 7 December 2021.
  23. ↑ Olivier Vergnault (1 June 2020). "Jubilee Pool in Penzance voted best lido in the UK". Cornwall Live. Retrieved 6 December 2021.
  24. ↑ Cat Olley (4 August 2021). "The great lido revival: why are Britain's outdoor baths booming?". ELLE . Retrieved 6 December 2021.
  25. ↑ Dominic Lutyens (2 August 2022). "The best public swimming pools around the world". BBC . Retrieved 2 January 2023.
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