Friends of Carlisle Victorian and Turkish Baths

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Friends of Carlisle Victorian and Turkish Baths

We are a charity campaigning to reopen & develop Carlisle's Victorian & Turkish Baths as a health & wellbeing centre

Carlisle City Council closed the Victorian & Turkish Baths on 12 November. The future of the Northwest’s last fully operation Turkish Baths is now uncertain.

04/09/2026

Our this week is Glenogle Swim Centre, Edinburgh, a beautifully preserved Victorian baths which opened in 1900.

The 25-yard pool sits in a tall-roofed room with arched windows and a wrap-around balcony with cast-iron gallery railings and original changing cubicles lining the sides. The building also has a fitness gym upstairs in what was originally a communal bathing pool, known as the "high level pool".

The building narrowly escaped demolition in the 1980s, thanks to local campaigners who recognised its architectural significance, and it underwent a major renovation in 2010.

Originally designed by Robert Morham (City Architect) and built between 1897 and 1900, the building retains some interesting period features including the ceramic tiled floor in the entrance halls. The original timber payment booth and window are now used as an office and display cabinet.

03/09/2026

This week's Carlisle listed building is Devonshire Chambers, Nos.6, 8 and 10 Devonshire Street (south side).

The 2 shops with offices above were built in the 1860s and are Grade II listed. Calciferous sandstone ashlar with bracketed sill band and eaves cornice. Slate roof, partly mansard with C20 dormer windows.

There are 3 storeys and 6 bays with an off-centre 20th century door and a fanlight in the original moulded round-arched surround under a carved name panel, 'DEVONSHIRE CHAMBERS'.

The 20th century shop windows are within original stone surrounds. The first floor has paired round-arched sash windows, those over the shop windows have a central colonnette with leaf capitals. The sash windows above on the second floor are in stone architraves.

The interior of the ground floor has been altered.

02/09/2026

to discover that there is a new sauna in Edinburgh that is also a theatre! A magical space in which to experience art and culture 😍

Sauna Theatre is the UK’s first purpose-built sauna arts centre seating 80 people with state-of-the-art lighting and surround sound. It is also the UK’s largest sauna - saunasessionsartsclub.com/

It opened its doors in August as part of Summerhall Arts' Edinburgh Festival Fringe line-up with a programme of Aufguss, rave, ritual, theatre, literature, music and more.

01/09/2026

Like Maggie, many people are missing the relaxing experience that a visit to Carlisle's provided - and this is why is working to

31/08/2026

It makes us happy to be immersed in water. It also makes us relaxed, calm, de-stressed and has many other health benefits 😊

30/08/2026

Please help secure the future of the last working in the north west of England with a .

Every penny donated will help us fund the renovation and reopening of this historic building👉 justgiving.com/friendscarlislebaths

We are very grateful for all donations 🥰

29/08/2026

We have lots of themed merchandise for sale, including our tea towels, postcards and tote bags.

Every purchase raises funds that go towards our work to . Shop online: carlislebaths.co.uk/shop/ 🥰

28/08/2026

This week's is Helmsley Open Air Swimming Pool, Yorkshire’s only 25m heated open air pool.

Situated in the North York Moors National Park, the open air pool is run by a charity and volunteers to provide outdoor swimming to the local community and visitors. The pool also now offers a sauna at the poolside.

Opened in 1969, the charity started renovations in 2019 to celebrate the 50th anniversary. The work includes re-rendering the pool tank, re-tiling the pool, fencing the compound and re-turfing the grassed areas, larger and more effective filters to increase the water quality, a new south facing roof, and solar panels for renewable energy and to reduce electricity costs.

27/08/2026

Our listed building in Carlisle this week is Nos.1-9 The Crescent (south east side).

The nine Grade II listed houses were built in the early 19th century in two phases - six houses and then three houses - and form one continuous crescent.

All are three storeys with two bays each, except those over through archways which are of three bays. The first phase has a central archway. Now shops with offices above, the ground floor all have 20the century shop fronts. The second phase has been made to look identical and has a right archway.

A tour of the city c1820 mentions the houses in the crescent and John Woods' Map of Carlisle 1821 shows the first phase complete. Newspaper references suggest that the second phase could have been under construction in 1824. An 1870s photograph shows the second phase as only two storeys, by 1899 these had been raised to 3 storeys.

26/08/2026

to find an historic poster from 1879 for Morecambe's sea water baths.

The Morecambe Baths and Winter Gardens Company, formed in 1876, developed a piece of land on the sea front for new swimming baths. The facilities included three plunge baths, 24 private, and two medicated baths.

Alongside the baths, the building offered entertainment and music with performers including Arthur Lloyd and the famous swimmer and performer Ada Webb, whose act included diving 60 feet into the pool.

In 1896, the ‘Morecambe Winter Gardens Company’ was created to improve the building by removing the aquarium and the sea water baths, and building a new theatre, the Victoria Pavillion (now known as the Winter Gardens), which opened in 1897.

Address

James Street
Carlisle
CA25AH

Website

http://carlislebaths.co.uk/

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