Camberwell Public Baths

Camberwell Public Baths opened in 1892 and has been in continuous operation as community baths and more recently as a public leisure centre.

Camberwell Public Baths - now Camberwel Leisure Centre (2005)
Credit: Wiki Commons/Fin Fahey

Camberwell Public Baths is more recently known as both Camberwell Baths and Camberwell Leisure Centre. The facilities now include a gym as well as a swimming pool.

Commissioners were commissioned in 1887 by the Vestry of Camberwell to establish three Public Baths and Wash-houses in the Parish of Camberwell - one in each of the parliamentary divisions of North Camberwell, Peckham and Dulwich.

The Camberwell Public Baths officially opened on 1 October 1892 and had cost £28 575.

The original facilities were:

- Men’s First Class: 24 private baths, one public swimming bath 120 feet by 35 feet with 81 dressing boxes at the side
- Men’s Second Class: 40 private baths, one public swimming bath, 120 feet by 35 feet with 65 dressing boxes
- Ladies First Class: 12 private baths
- Ladies Second Class: 20 private baths
- Public Laundry: 78 compartments
- Establishment Laundry

Camberwell was one of the first baths with electric lighting, powered by its own generator. The Flemish Renaissance-style facades are Grade II listed.

The baths underwent extensive refurbishment and reopened in early 2011.

Main source:	Wikipedia
	Further citations and sources

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CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE LOCALITY

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Wren Road, SE5

Added: 6 Jul 2021 05:38 GMT

Wren Road in the 1950s and 60s
Living in Grove Lane I knew Wren Road; my grandfather’s bank, Lloyds, was on the corner; the Scout District had their office in the Congregational Church and the entrance to the back of the Police station with the stables and horses was off it. Now very changed - smile.

Reply

LATEST LONDON-WIDE CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE PROJECT

Mike Dowling Undercliff Road, SE13 Added: 15 Jun 2024 15:51 GMT	Family ties (1936 - 1963) The Dowling family lived at number 13 Undercliffe Road for Nearly 26 years. Next door was the Harris family Reply
Evie Helen Erith Added: 13 Jun 2024 00:03 GMT	Vicker Road The road ’Vickers Road’ is numbered rather differently to other roads in the area as it was originally built as housing for the "Vickers" arms factory in the late 1800’s and early 1900s. Most of the houses still retain the original 19th century tiling and drainage outside of the front doors. Reply
Paul Harris Ellen Place, E1 Added: 12 Jun 2024 12:54 GMT	Ellen Place, E1 My mother’s father and his family lived at 31 Ellen Place London E1 have a copy of the 1911 census showing this Reply
Wedlake Street, W10 Added: 10 Jun 2024 19:31 GMT	Toll gate Close Did anyone live at Toll Gate Close, which was built in the area where the baths had been? Reply
Charles Black Middle Row, W10 Added: 24 May 2024 12:54 GMT	Middle Row, W10 Middle Row was notable for its bus garage, home of the number 7. Reply
Farm Place, W8 Added: 2 May 2024 16:14 GMT	Farm Place, W8 The previous name of Farm Place was Ernest St (no A) Reply
Tony Whipple Frank Whipple Place, E14 Added: 16 Apr 2024 21:35 GMT	Frank Whipple Place, E14 Frank was my great-uncle, I’d often be ’babysat’ by Peggy while Nan and Dad went to the pub. Peggy was a marvel, so full of life. My Dad and Frank didn’t agree on most politics but everyone in the family is proud of him. A genuinely nice, knowledgable bloke. One of a kind. Reply
Theresa Penney Whites Row, E1 Added: 16 Apr 2024 18:08 GMT	1 Whites Row My 2 x great grandparents and his family lived here according to the 1841 census. They were Dutch Ashkenazi Jews born in Amsterdam at the beginning of the 19th century but all their children were born in Spitalfields. Reply

LOCAL PHOTOS

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The Brandon Estate, Kennington. Built for the LCC in 1957-8 Credit: Flickr/Reading Tom TUM image id: 1683033112 Licence:	Burgess Park being created (1973) Credit: Greater London Council TUM image id: 1651159167 Licence:	Chartist meeting, Kennington Common. Widely thought to be the earliest London photograph depicting a crowd (1848) More info: www.wcml.org.uk/about-us/timeline/kennington-common-chartist-meeting/ Credit: William Kilburn TUM image id: 1556887885 Licence:	Demolition of the Heygate Estate and the construction of Elephant Central, May 2014. The Heygate Estate had been completed in 1974. The estate was used extensively as a filming location, due in part to its brutalist architecture. Credit: Wiki Commons/Zefrog TUM image id: 1637796469 Licence: CC BY 2.0	Metropolitan Tabernacle (1890) The Metropolitan Tabernacle is a large independent Reformed Baptist church in Elephant and Castle. It was the largest non-conformist church of its day in 1861. TUM image id: 1702062866 Licence:
The Swan, 82-86 Old Kent Road. Demolished in 2004. Old London postcard TUM image id: 1620671536 Licence:	East Street market, Walworth in 1908 The market, in operation since the 1880s, featured in the title sequence for Only Fools and Horses Old London postcard TUM image id: 1669906466 Licence:	Amelia Street, SE11 This originally consisted of late 19th century tenement blocks built by James Pullen between 1886 and 1901. During the 1980s the buildings between Manor Place and the south side of Amelia Street were demolished. The demolition of the rest of the Pullens Estate was prevented when squatters, intent on preserving the remainder of an individual late Victorian estate, occupied some of the blocks. The south side of Amelia Street is now an open space - Pullens Gardens - created following the demolition of a tenement block. Credit: Ideal Homes TUM image id: 1536959890 Licence:	Bellenden Road, Peckham (2011) Bellenden Road was laid out along with neighbouring streets from the 1870s on what had formerly been largely fruit gardens serving the City of London. Credit: Geograph/Malc McDonald TUM image id: 1637795144 Licence: CC BY 2.0	Shop on the corner of Brook Drive and Hayles Street (2013) This unobtrusive corner shop near Elephant and Castle was the filming location for ’Come On Eileen’ by Dexys Midnight Runners. It’s no longer a shop and - to my horror - my walk from Elephant & Castle to Lambeth North passes it at 7:24 and doesn’t note it as I found out only afterwards. Grrr https://youtu.be/R-e GEXb4M4 Credit: Wiki Commons TUM image id: 1689771844 Licence:
Coldharbour Lane seen from Acre Lane (2007) Credit: Wikicommons/Claret TUM image id: 1604061379 Licence: CC BY 2.0	East Street, Walworth is likely to have been the birthplace of Charlie Chaplin, although no birth certificate exists. It could therefore also have been the inspiration for his similarly named 1917 seminal short film Easy Street, a suggestion made as early as 1928 in the film ’The Life Story of Charlie Chaplin’ by Harry B. Parkinson. The famous trousers and boots of Chaplin’s trademark tramp costume may have been inspired by the every-day clothes Chaplin saw worn in what he called East Lane market. East Street Market also features in the title sequence to the television programme Only Fools and Horses. Credit: Wiki Commons TUM image id: 1638107581 Licence: CC BY 2.0	Elephant Road TUM image id: 1702056801 Licence: CC BY 2.0	This iconic photograph of Lyndhurst Way (then Lyndhurst Road) was taken in 1915 by Frederick Alfred Finch of Rye Lane. Credit: Frederick Alfred Finch TUM image id: 1705670753 Licence:	Trafalgar Avenue (then Road) in 1925. The bridge on the left went over the Grand Surrey Canal and the Victory pub was on the corner of Trafalgar Avenue and Waite Street. TUM image id: 1509625819 Licence: