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Open Air Swimming Pool at Pinchbeck Rd Spalding
On a cold and wet winters day I thought it would be good to have a bit of summer.
Vistor comments
11 Responses
Being strongly allergic to chlorine, I hated this place when I was a Spalding Grammar School pupil in the 1950s, because I was forced to go for weekly swimming lessons every spring.. I spent miserable hours with eyes streaming, and shivering with cold in spite of the fact the water was supposed to be heated. But there was a family connection…
Next to the swimming pool was Spalding’s original water tower, built long before the Chatterton Tower was even thought of. I saw the old tower demolished when I was a trainee reporter on the Lincolnshire Free Press in 1958 or 59, and I joked that it was my ancestral home being pulled down. The fact was that my great grandfather Stimson had been resident engineer at the tower and its surrounding water works round about the turn of the century. Two gas engines pumped water to the top during the day, but were shut down in the evening and re-started in the morning. That was unless there was a fire in the town, in which case one of the engines had to be started to maintain water pressure for the fire brigade.
Now, great grandad liked his pint, or two, or three, and was invariably to be found in the Mailcart pub until closing time, from where he refused to be moved. So it was great grandma who had to manually spin one of the big flywheels to get one of the engines started, and thereby boost the pressure.
The swimming pool, I was told by my mother, was built out of a big filter bed which originally filtered the town’s water supply.
Oh, and at the age of 75 I still can’t swim………….
Geoff, unfortunately I don’t. In fact, it was Googling for pictures of the old tower and of Chain Bridge Forge which led me to this superb picture archive. I have great memories of the blacksmiths, Geoff Dodd and his father, Jim, who were both personal friends and fellow competitive rifle shooters in the now-defunct Spalding Rifle Club. I hope to submit some personal reminiscences of the Dodds and the forge shortly. Regarding pictures of the old tower, there should be some in the Lincs Free Press archive taken when it was demolished. I think 1958 is more likely than 1959.
Thanks I will look forward to the memories of the Dodd family. I met Geoff in 2011 when I started to enquire about the Forge and the possibility of creating the museum. Geoff was a total joy a man generous with his knowledge and cared deeply for his fellow man.
Since writing of my memories of the old swimming pool I have come across a reference to the old water tower on the site. I discovered a small book I didn’t know I owned – Bernard Clark`s “Mid-nineteenth Century Spalding – a Portrait”, published in 1988. Clark writes:
“The new Water Works Company established in 1860 began to lay pipes in the following decade, largely to the more prosperous areas of the town.”
A marginal note in my mother’s handwriting records: “A. Stimson [my great grandfather] was the water engineer for the whole of the period it operated. The Stimson family lived on the premises in Pinchbeck Road, first in a flat in the square tower, then in a house in the grounds.”
Another marginal note by my mother, next to a picture of Foundry Lane, records: “This is the building (Stanton’s Iron Foundry) where Frank Richard Walter Stimson [my grandfather] was an engineering apprentice and lost his left arm in an accident when he was 16 years old. He subsequently trained as an accountant.” Unfortunately, she did not record the year.
I remember my grandfather telling me that one of his duties as an apprentice was making piston rings for a series of petrol engines Stantons made for the Australian government. His arm had to be amputated after he lost an argument with the steam engine which provided power to the works.
I recall my mother telling me that Frank was an accountant at the Gas Works, I think in the 1920s, and later for the local council’s electricity department, to be taken over by the East Midlands Electricity Board. He couldn’t stand the boredom of retirement, and in the 1950s did a spell as accountant to the Deeping Fen and Pinchbeck Internal Drainage Board. I remember him telling me about the first electric pumps to be installed at Pode Hole, lifting water from the North and South Drove drains into the Vernatts.
As a young teenager I knew Harry Kinnersley, the chief engineer at Pode Hole. Anyone remember him?
Ýes I remember Harry and all the Kinnersley family Was friends with Thelma there daughter and was always at the pumping station home I was born in Pode Holeand lived there until my marriage in 1958
Hello Jean,
When I was a teenager I used to fish in Pode Hole basin and the Vernatts, and I often used to talk to Harry Kinnersley. There was also an old chap called Ellis who worked for the Drainage Board. He sometimes gave me odd items of fishing tackle he had found on the banks. A favourite fishing spot of mine was behind Pode Hole school. At some stage, and I can’t remember when, there was a revision of levels in the North and South Droves, which spoiled the fishing. And, of course, Pode Hole School is no more…..
Hello Helen,
It seems we could be distantly related in some way. I would like you to get in touch, but I don’t want to put my email address on a public website so I have asked Geoff Taylor to forward it to you.
Regards,
Mike
11 Responses
Being strongly allergic to chlorine, I hated this place when I was a Spalding Grammar School pupil in the 1950s, because I was forced to go for weekly swimming lessons every spring.. I spent miserable hours with eyes streaming, and shivering with cold in spite of the fact the water was supposed to be heated. But there was a family connection…
Next to the swimming pool was Spalding’s original water tower, built long before the Chatterton Tower was even thought of. I saw the old tower demolished when I was a trainee reporter on the Lincolnshire Free Press in 1958 or 59, and I joked that it was my ancestral home being pulled down. The fact was that my great grandfather Stimson had been resident engineer at the tower and its surrounding water works round about the turn of the century. Two gas engines pumped water to the top during the day, but were shut down in the evening and re-started in the morning. That was unless there was a fire in the town, in which case one of the engines had to be started to maintain water pressure for the fire brigade.
Now, great grandad liked his pint, or two, or three, and was invariably to be found in the Mailcart pub until closing time, from where he refused to be moved. So it was great grandma who had to manually spin one of the big flywheels to get one of the engines started, and thereby boost the pressure.
The swimming pool, I was told by my mother, was built out of a big filter bed which originally filtered the town’s water supply.
Oh, and at the age of 75 I still can’t swim………….
Please keep your memories coming
Regards
Geoff
Do you have any pictures of the old water tower
Geoff, unfortunately I don’t. In fact, it was Googling for pictures of the old tower and of Chain Bridge Forge which led me to this superb picture archive. I have great memories of the blacksmiths, Geoff Dodd and his father, Jim, who were both personal friends and fellow competitive rifle shooters in the now-defunct Spalding Rifle Club. I hope to submit some personal reminiscences of the Dodds and the forge shortly. Regarding pictures of the old tower, there should be some in the Lincs Free Press archive taken when it was demolished. I think 1958 is more likely than 1959.
Thanks I will look forward to the memories of the Dodd family. I met Geoff in 2011 when I started to enquire about the Forge and the possibility of creating the museum. Geoff was a total joy a man generous with his knowledge and cared deeply for his fellow man.
Since writing of my memories of the old swimming pool I have come across a reference to the old water tower on the site. I discovered a small book I didn’t know I owned – Bernard Clark`s “Mid-nineteenth Century Spalding – a Portrait”, published in 1988. Clark writes:
“The new Water Works Company established in 1860 began to lay pipes in the following decade, largely to the more prosperous areas of the town.”
A marginal note in my mother’s handwriting records: “A. Stimson [my great grandfather] was the water engineer for the whole of the period it operated. The Stimson family lived on the premises in Pinchbeck Road, first in a flat in the square tower, then in a house in the grounds.”
Another marginal note by my mother, next to a picture of Foundry Lane, records: “This is the building (Stanton’s Iron Foundry) where Frank Richard Walter Stimson [my grandfather] was an engineering apprentice and lost his left arm in an accident when he was 16 years old. He subsequently trained as an accountant.” Unfortunately, she did not record the year.
I remember my grandfather telling me that one of his duties as an apprentice was making piston rings for a series of petrol engines Stantons made for the Australian government. His arm had to be amputated after he lost an argument with the steam engine which provided power to the works.
I recall my mother telling me that Frank was an accountant at the Gas Works, I think in the 1920s, and later for the local council’s electricity department, to be taken over by the East Midlands Electricity Board. He couldn’t stand the boredom of retirement, and in the 1950s did a spell as accountant to the Deeping Fen and Pinchbeck Internal Drainage Board. I remember him telling me about the first electric pumps to be installed at Pode Hole, lifting water from the North and South Drove drains into the Vernatts.
As a young teenager I knew Harry Kinnersley, the chief engineer at Pode Hole. Anyone remember him?
Ýes I remember Harry and all the Kinnersley family Was friends with Thelma there daughter and was always at the pumping station home I was born in Pode Holeand lived there until my marriage in 1958
Hello Jean,
When I was a teenager I used to fish in Pode Hole basin and the Vernatts, and I often used to talk to Harry Kinnersley. There was also an old chap called Ellis who worked for the Drainage Board. He sometimes gave me odd items of fishing tackle he had found on the banks. A favourite fishing spot of mine was behind Pode Hole school. At some stage, and I can’t remember when, there was a revision of levels in the North and South Droves, which spoiled the fishing. And, of course, Pode Hole School is no more…..
Mike George – Fascinated to read you stories about the Stimson family. I too am related to William Stimson and would love to hear more.
Hi I will ask Mike George if can help. Regards Geoff
Hello Helen,
It seems we could be distantly related in some way. I would like you to get in touch, but I don’t want to put my email address on a public website so I have asked Geoff Taylor to forward it to you.
Regards,
Mike