Portobello Bathing Pool

Category

Library Item

Item no

5688

Title

Portobello Bathing Pool

Description

Spectators watch people swimming in the outdoor swimming pool at Portobello, Edinburgh. People are seated behind a large diving board with many platforms and a flagpole on top. Swimmers stand around the poolside while others are cutting through the water.

Artist / maker

Rushbrook, A. H.

Date

1937

Size

58.2 x 40.7 cm

Type

Photograph

Location

Edinburgh and Scottish Collection

Portobello's outdoor swimming pool was opened in 1936. It was equipped with diving boards and a wave machine, and was open between May and September. The pool's proximity to a power station gave it access to heated water, but also meant that it had to be covered for the duration of World War II to prevent it being used as a marker by German bombers. The actor Sean Connery served as a Portobello lifeguard in the post war period. The pool was closed in 1979, not long after the power station, and the area is now used for five-a-side football.

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Related subjects

People > Entertainment and sports > Spectators

Places > Edinburgh areas > Portobello

Places > Scotland > Edinburgh

Sport and leisure > Activities > Sitting

Sport and leisure > Activities > Swimming

Sport and leisure > Sports and recreation facilities > Diving boards

Sport and leisure > Sports and recreation facilities > Swimming pools

(55°57′22″N, 3°7′5″W)