Leicester History

Updated March 19th 2012

Step back in time and discover the history of swimming in Leicester.

Quoting from the Leicester Mercury:

Yet this is what has happened to the city's great swimming tradition.

Our swimming stadiums – Abbey Park, The Bede House, Kenwood Lido, Humberstone Lido and even St Margaret's Baths – are now nothing but a memory.

There was a time, not so long ago, when these places were packed with swimmers, young and old. Leicester has been the cradle of some great names in the world of swimming.

These, along with the likes of Thomas Cook and Daniel Lambert, are featured in a fascinating book by local author Chris Ayriss.

Hung out to Dry: Swimming and British Culture puts flesh on the bones of this aspect of our history, exposing for the first time the dramatic impact swimmers have had on culture and morals.

Readers will discover why our Roman baths closed, why swimmers were chased out of Abbey Park and how bathers helped to reshape not just British culture but that of the world.

The book is full of interesting snippets of social history and covers a wide field.

It ranges from hygiene and cleanliness to the growth of British seaside resorts and the curious lengths to which the Victorians and Edwardians went to ensure privacy while changing for a dip.

British swimmers once filled the lakes and waterways of England and the author poses the question: How did these sportsmen, the pride of the nation, find themselves chased out of the water, rounded up and confined to indoor swimming pools?

He answers it very thoroughly, in a very readable, informative and entertaining way.

We can discover how pride turned to prejudice as swimmers "sparked the development of the unique British culture of prudery".

Chris Ayriss lives in Western Park, Leicester, and a keen swimmer.

His book is the result of a decade of research.

It contains many excellent illustrations and is available from both branches of Waterstones in Leicester and via the website with free delivery: Leicester's swimming history"

Looking for a window cleaner in Leicester?

Leicester Historian 2010

"Chapter 6 uses Leicester as a case study to explain how the 'British swimmer' came to be 'hung out to dry'. It charts the different swimming facilities available in the town over the last 150 years and the increasing restrictions placed on river swimming. This chapter is the most convincingly researched and historians of Leicester leisure and urban government will find it particularly interesting..." Lucy Faire