I miss this, St Augustines Swimming Pool, every time I buy a pork pie or a can of beans in the deep end of Spar I miss it. The cheap hot chocolate, the stinging eyes and the freezing water, those weird “no bombing, no petting…” signs.
A post war development, not perhaps the most attractive building by our strangely skewed modern standards, but not ugly either and beautiful by association for many Norwich and Norfolk residents whose childhoods were at least partly spent here splashing about, the high arched windows filled with bluey light at night were a vast reverse temporally dislocated improvement on the Spar shop, and the takeaways that ultimately killed what was left of St Augustine’s Street’s trade.
Opened in 1961, designed by David Percival. it was what a swimming pool should be, just that, a municipal one, cheap or free for swimming in, it did later have a cheap gym in it too. Demolished in the early noughties. we watched it being dismantled and feeling a bit sad that I’d never actually tried the high diving board because it was high and I don’t do high.
Previously it was St Augustines school, this time looking towards St Augustines gate, 27th/28th April 1942, first night of the Baedeker Raids, 500kg, Bang. Out of use. It was being used as a rest centre, then it wasn’t used for anything. Curiously there a surface shelter just to the right in the original photo, right in the middle of the path, I walk through it nearly every day, didn’t know it was there. You can see more of the rear of the school here.
From David Percival’s Grandson Richard (Via Flickr – I hope he doesn’t mind)
I write this sitting in an office in New York and decided to look up buildings my grandfather David had designed when city architect, sad to see another gone like his library that burnt down. Their modernist concrete style has gone rather out of fashion, and quality was not helped by the sheer scale of building reconstruction they had to do after the war and hence limited budgets however those soaring windows are rather beautiful. I think in time though some of it should also be preserved as it shows where the Country was in the mid 20th Century. He was also responsible for a lot of sympathetic restoration work on traditional Norwich structures such as the Castle and Elm Hill. I was lucky enough to live with him in Norwich for 6 months in 1984 when I was 5 at his home in the Cathedral Close and still have amazing memories of running to Pulls Ferry and the Cow Tower!
Hello Mr Stone. I just wanted to let you know that I enjoyed reading this article. My late dad went to St Augustine’s school and told us the story of turning up for school to find it had been bombed overnight. Dad was born in 1931 in New Catton, Norwich. He died last year in Sydney, Australia at the age of 83. He also said that many of his teachers were men who came out of retirement to teach as the younger teachers were at war. Thanks for your article. The link was posted in “Norwich in the Good Old Days”. Kind regards, Maria Kemp, Sydney, Australia.
It seems that the Tory government seem to focus on shutting down or selling off public sporting services. I grew up with 2 public pools in Norwich. Schools had plenty of playing area’s etc etc
The result will be that children grow up less fitter & therefore will need the NHS more. But the Tories are selling this off.
They are taking us back to the 1930’s
I spent huge parts of my childhood at this swimming pool because my dad worked there, and in the summer at the Lakenham pool.
I loved the SA pool. I loved the thrill of the very deep, deep end. I even went off the high board, no idea how, now, because I’m scared of heights.
I learned to swim and dive in that pool. I even had hot baths in the slipper baths, despite having a normal bathroom at home.
Very happy memories made there.