"In the mid 19th Century, Victorian sensibilities required the adoption of a more structured, regulated approach to river bathing, and the Oxford City Council formed a new Committee for Public Bathing Places in 1846 . A number of official and public Bathing Spaces were developed in Oxford on or around The Thames starting with St Ebbes in 1846." (Source: Richard Mills, Local Historian )
During the course of a project in 2022, looking at the relationship between my home city of Oxford and its waterways, I became aware of these spaces for the first time and set out to explore them. Despite having lived in and around Oxford for all my adult lifetime I had never come across these places before and was blown away by them and the stories I heard from people when I went to photograph them.
This is an ongoing project to visit and interpret these historic leisure sites.
Long Bridges
"Long Bridges started life as the University Bathing House, first records of it from around 1867, often referred to as Harveys Bathing place. Throughout much of the 20th Century, Long Bridges was popular and successful, used for a wide range of school, social and other events." (Source: Richard Mills)
On one trip here, I met a man who used to swim here all the time when he was a child.
Tumbling Bay
Tumbling Bay was opened in 1853 and eventually 'officially' closed in 1990, thought like Long Bridges, people still use it today
