by local historian Nick Colley, chairman of Northwich and District Heritage Society

LOVE it or loathe it, if you want to go for a swim in Northwich, the Memorial Court is probably your first choice.

But don't forget there are also swimming pools in Marbury and Weaverham and of course at Sir John Deane's College and before the Memorial Court there was Moss Farm. But what about earlier still?

Many of you will clearly remember the Brine Baths that used to be at the bottom of Victoria Road. There are houses there now but in their day they were incredibly popular and many local children first learned to swim there.

These baths opened in August 1915 with a well-attended opening ceremony. As it was wartime the building was designed to be utilitarian in design with no signs of excessive waste, designed for use not ornament as it was referred to at the time.

It was constructed from red brick, and the only hint of architectural flourish being the classical doric columns at the front entrance. In addition to the main swimming pool there were 18 slipper baths for individual bathing.

From the start it was intended to make the most of the building once it was constructed.

With this in mind the swimming pool could be covered over to convert it into a dance hall.

The pool was usually closed in early October then covered over and the hall hired out for dancing and other functions across the winter months until the pool reopened at the end of March.

Interestingly there was a passageway underneath the swimming pool, presumably as part of the access required for maintenance. This passageway was also intended to provide a source of income to the baths as it was intended to be let it out as a shooting range!

These brine baths replaced an even older public baths.

At the top of Verdin Park alongside the statue of Robert Verdin once stood the Verdin Baths. In 1887 Queen Victoria had been on the throne for 50 years and many towns around the country set about planning how they would celebrate her Golden Jubilee year.

Robert Verdin was a wealthy salt proprietor as well as being a Member of Parliament. In January 1887 at a meeting to discuss these plans Robert Verdin announced that to celebrate the Jubilee he would present an estate to the town consisting of a gentleman's residence set in extensive grounds.

The house he would convert to become the Victoria Infirmary, the grounds he would turn into a public park and he would also build public brine baths in the grounds.

He had earlier purchased the Winnington Bank Estate at auction specifically with the intention of doing this.

Sadly Robert Verdin never got to see the end result as he died unexpectedly in July 1887, but the plans went ahead and the baths were built and were officially opened in October 1887.

You have to bear in mind that at this time plumbing in the home was quite primitive and bathrooms didn't really exist so a visit to the public baths was sooner, or later essential.

The baths were incredibly popular with 20,000 visitors each year. In the early part of the 20th century many well-known football teams visited to benefit from the waters before playing important matches. The pool itself was cast iron with five individual slipper baths with further slipper baths and additional dressing rooms added in around 1904.

Not long after the extension was added the dreaded subsidence began to show, and by 1912 the decision was made to demolish the baths and to build a replacement at Victoria Road.

Contrary to much that has been written, the baths in Verdin Park were not the first public brine baths in Northwich.

In July 1834 a subscription scheme was created to build brine baths. They were built on land in John Street adjoining the garden of the Talbot Hotel and were opened in July 1836, and consisted of warm and cold salt water baths, plunge baths and slipper baths using the naturally found local brine that apparently benefited a whole host of ailments.

They were only there until 1842 when the Methodists built a chapel on the site. That chapel then became the Victoria Club so the first Northwich public brine baths were right opposite where the new Memorial Court Swimming Pool is today.

Nick Colley also manages the Northwich History Past & Present Facebook group.