Municipal Swimming Baths, Stamford Street, Ashton Under Lyne, Greater Manchester
This building was a municipal swimming baths. It was built in 1870 to the designs of Henry Paull and George Robinson. The baths were the largest of their kind when they opened, thanks to a £16,000 donation by the mill owner, socialist reformer and local MP Hugh Mason. As was the norm at the time, the main pool, 100 x 40 feet, was reserved for men, apart from one three-hour session on Thursday afternoons. The women's pool measures a modest 25 x 18 feet. Other parts of the building housed a Turkish bath, a police station and a fire engine. In winter the main pool was boarded over for the use of roller skating and for concerts. It could hold an audience of up to 4,000 people. The baths closed in 1997.
