TEMPLE to the SUN the History and Significance of Saltdean Lido
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TEMPLE TO THE SUN The History and Significance of Saltdean Lido Part of the Saltdean Lido Conservation Management Plan BY JEREMY LAKE September 2016 TEMPLE TO THE SUN: The history & significance of Saltdean Lido CONTENTS PREFACE INTRODUCTION 4 This document supports and is an integral part of the Conservation Management Plan (CMP) for Saltdean Lido. The CMP sets out a vision for PART 1 the long-term management of the Lido and summarises its development UNDERSTANDING THE SITE 5 and significance.Saltdean Lido: Temple to the Sun sets out the historic development, context and significance of this nationally-important 1.1 INTRODUCING THE RESORT lido. It will also be of interest to those who want to learn more about AND ITS LIDO 5 Saltdean and the history of lidos in a national and international context. Beginnings 5 Jeremy Lake, a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries, is the author of both Introducing Charles Neville 5 documents. He has worked in the historic environment field since the early The resort takes shape 9 The rotunda and the fountain awaiting restoration, in August 2015. Photo © Saltdean Lido Archive. 1980s and has – through involvement including the writing of a Conservation The lido and the Ocean Hotel 15 Management Plan for Sandford Parks Lido in Cheltenham – developed a strong The lido’s history 20 personal interest in the history of open air pools which has been used in the preparation of these reports. He is especially grateful for the encouragement 25 and support of Deryck Chester, one of the volunteer directors of the Saltdean 1.2 HOW THE LIDO DEVELOPED Lido Community Interest Company (SLCIC). Deryck has supplied many of 1937-8 25 the photographs and historic images used in both documents, credited to the 1963-4 29 Saltdean Lido Archive: he has also conducted some of the original research used 1965-70 31 in this document. The Saltdean Story, by local historian Douglas d’Enno, has also 1980s and 1990s 31 been a valuable source document. Historic England, the other SLCIC volunteer directors, Conran and Partners, and the team involved in the project (see 1.5) have provided useful feedback since the Conservation Management Plan was PART 2 first drafted in the summer and of autumn 2015. Particular thanks are due to SALTDEAN LIDO’S SIGNIFICANCE 32 Neil Reddick of Conran and Partners and Alma Howell of Historic England. Eleanor Barber has also provided invaluable assistance in editing the text. 2.1 SURVIVAL OF THE SITE AND FABRIC 32 Illustrations, plans and other original materials Copyright and permissions 2.2 HISTORIC SIGNIFICANCE 32 are used by permission of the copyright owners and acknowledged where appropriate. Jeremy Lake retains copyright as the author of this report, under Historical background - Swimming to 1914 32 the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 with all rights reserved. However, Saltdean and inter-war history 37 all of the material in this and the associated report can be used by SLCIC for A temple to the sun 38 its own purposes, with due acknowledgements and on the usual understanding Landscapes for all and landscapes that such licence does not cover commercial use of the material by the applicant for display 40 or any third party. 2.3 ARCHITECTURAL STYLE 42 Disclaimer This report and its findings should be used a whole; the authors will not be held responsible for any information extracted from this report and 2.4 THE RESORT LANDSCAPE 46 used out of context. Jeremy Lake 2.5 INTERNATIONAL COMPARISONS 48 September 2016 SOURCES 49 Front cover image. This advertising image conveys a sense of the spirit of place which the lido was intended to afford. The caption to the image states: ‘In its luxurious equipment and surroundings, it is without a rival in Southern England. Magnificent Swimming Pool 140’ x 66’, with ample space for 500 bathers. The blue coloured tiled bottom and sides give a beautifully coloured effect to the water, which is heated when required. Continuous treatment by latest system of filtration and purification’. 1 TEMPLE TO THE SUN: The history & significance of Saltdean Lido View of the lido from the south east. Photo © Saltdean Lido Archive. View of the lido from the south west in summer 2015, showing in the foreground part of the screen placed around the main pool as part of the 1963-4 remodelling of the lido. Photo © Jeremy Lake This image of the lido is taken from an undated insert from 1937 in The Daily Telegraph which advertises Saltdean. Image from the Saltdean Lido Archive. 2 3 TEMPLE TO THE SUN: The history & significance of Saltdean Lido INTRODUCTION PART 1 UNDERSTANDING THE SITE Saltdean Lido is one of the most well-preserved The strength of feeling prompted by local campaigns, Two critical factors converged in the decades around examples in England of an outdoor public swimming such as the fight to keep London Fields Lido in Hackney 1.1 INTRODUCING SALTDEAN 1900. One was a sharp decline in the profitability pool or lido. These were built in great numbers in the and Brockwell Lido in Brixton open, is testament to AND ITS LIDO of downland farming and the value of farmland in 1920s and 1930s. The great majority have closed down the values placed on lidos by their communities.4 Beginnings this area, a direct result of the farming depression since the 1970s due to declining public demand and In 2002 English Heritage (since April 2015 Historic starting in the late 1870s which hit corn-producing also falling investment from local authorities who Despite Saltdean’s proximity to the seaside resort England) led a debate on the values of sporting areas particularly hard. The other was the continuing were increasingly minded to invest their resources of Brighton, the area had remained undeveloped heritage alongside the launch as a joint venture expansion of Brighton, its continuing development as in multi-purpose leisure centres. It was designed until the second decade of the 20th century. Until a resort close to London and the increasing desire of with Malavan Media of the Played in Britain series as a single building combining a large café, sun then, the principal occupations were fishing, farming working and retired people to live along the south coast. of publications on sporting heritage.5 Awareness decks and changing areas, and extended with a and hunting with hounds across the gorse-dotted of the cultural significance of lidos, with Saltdean library and community facilities in the 1960s. This downland. It is located within the South Downs, an Into this scenario stepped Charles William Neville included as a case study, was also heightened by the flexibility of use was undoubtedly a significant factor area known as having some of the richest potential for (1881-1960), freshly arrived from work as a real publication (as part of the Played in Britain series) of prehistoric archaeology in Europe. Trial trenches in estate developer in Australia and Canada and as in ensuring Saltdean’s survival as an historic lido. Janet Smith’s Liquid Assets. The lidos and open air the lido site and at the Ocean Hotel have not yielded an adventurer on the South Seas. It did not take Lido landscapes and architecture provided new swimming pools of Britain. There are now several web any archaeological finds.6 There is, however, rich long for this spirited entrepreneur, who early in venues for community and family-based sport and sites devoted to outdoor swimming and lidos, notably: evidence in this area – including from recent work 1914 had with his wife first laid his eyes on the area 7 recreation. For Roger Deakin, author of the acclaimed at Peacehaven – for medieval and Romano-British from his ‘sturdy Hupmobile car’, to visualise the • The Outdoor Swimming Society, who are Waterlog. A Swimmers’ Journey Through Britain, cultivation terraces on the downland slopes, and on the area between Newhaven and Brighton ‘as ideal for promoting and fighting for the right to open air 9 lidos encapsulate ‘a modernising trend towards a higher ground for a rich profusion of burial sites, stock development as a coastal resort’ linked to Brighton. swimming. www.outdoorswimmingsociety.co.uk enclosures, settlements and field boundaries broadly democratic concern for a freely available, healthy, 8 The first development at New Anzac-on-Sea was • Oliver Merrington and Andy Hoine’s site on dating from the Bronze Age to the Roman period. convivial environment, putting pleasure and health stalled due to the compulsory acquisition of the land lidos in the UK, www.lidos.org.uk. This site also firmly at the centre of civic life’.1 Interest in open air There is a comparative lack of evidence for the coastal by the Government for agriculture. The settlement links to the Reviving Lidos Campaign and to lidos swimming and lidos has deepened since the 1990s, area in the post-Roman period, indicating that the was renamed Peacehaven in 1917 in view of the which are being reopened, restored or are open 2 pasturing of animals had by then developed as the loss of ANZAC life at Gallipolli, and development in parallel to a growing interest in sporting history. over the winter months. Farewell My Lido, a report published by The Thirties predominant use for its thin and flint strewn soils: into recommenced after the war. A significant milestone • Sites hosted by other individuals such as Society (now the Twentieth Century Society) in 1991, the 20th century the manure from downland sheep was marked by the opening in October 1922 of the www.prstubbs.btinternet.co.uk/swimming.htm heightened awareness of the significance and threats folded on the fields and cattle based in farmsteads Hotel Luxurious at Peacehaven, Neville enraging • Local campaigns, such as in London to lidos as distinct from swimming pools which had and isolated outfarms helped to boost production of the Daily Mail (since the 1900s a major promoter of (www.londonpoolscampaign.com).