Adjacent to the fabulous Midland Hotel (Oliver Hill, architect), this massive pool with circular ends was built to accommodate water polo as well as swimming competitions and diving. The pool met its demise when structural cracks, present since it was built, proved too much for the technology at the time to deal with and closure in 1975 was followed by demolition in 1976.
An indoor leisure pool called The Blue Lagoon opened on the site as part of the Morecambe Leisure Park in 1979. Bubbles opened on the site in 1991 and images suggest that some of the original external walls were still intact but this only lasted until 2001 when it too was demolished.
Historic aerial images from Google Earth show a small outdoor paddling pool affair that seems to have been drained or filled in some time between 2003 and 2010. Thereafter a concrete slab.
The site has now been earmarked for a northern Eden Project.
| Name | Morecambe and Heysham Super Swimming Stadium |
| Built | 1935/6 |
| Opened | 27th July 1936 by Bank of England governor Sir Josiah Stamp |
| Cost | £130,000 |
| Dimensions | 330′ x 110′ excluding rounded ends (396′ overall) |
| Capacity | 1,090,000 |
| Max depth | 3′ 6″ to 6′ |
| Diving | 15′ diving pit |
| Second pool | |
| Designer | Messrs. Kenneth M. Cross, M.A., F.R.I.B.A., and Cecil A. L. Sutton, A.R.I.B.A., |
| Address | Marine Road Central, Heysham, Morecambe, LA4 5BY |
| Date closed | 1975 |
| Status | Demolished 1976 |
| Notes | Seawater |
| Links | Super Swimming Stadium, Morecambe – The Twentieth Century Society The story of Morecambe’s famous Super Swimming Stadium |
From Baths and Baths Engineering, September 1935
Building announcement
The new bathing pool, which it is understood will be ready for the 1936 swimming season, for the municipal corporation, will have a water area, exclusive of the circular ends, of 330ft. by 110ft. , including a championship swimming course 110 yd. by 20 yd., varying in depth from 3 ft. 6 in. to 6 ft., and having a central space for the regulation area 90 ft. by 60 ft. for the water. polo matches, this area being 6 ft. deep. The pool will contain 1,090,000 gal. of water. In addition, there will be accommodation for ordinary bathers and for children. A special diving pool 15 ft. deep will also be provided, and the high diving stages will comprise platforms fixed at heights varying from 12 ft., 16 ft. 3 in., 24ft. to 32ft. 6 in. above water level. Springboards will also be provided at 3 ft. 3 in. and 9 ft. 9 in. above water level. The bath surrounds, restricted to bathers only, will be 16 ft. wide. Dressing-room accommodation will be provided with a system of dressing boxes and lockers· Showers and footbaths are planned at the door openings from the dressing-rooms to the swimming bath surrounds, so that no bather can obtain access to the pool surround without first passing through the footbath.
The turnover of the filtration plant will be six hours, the water treatment comprising chemical treatment, filtration and aeration. Ample storage space for sea water, which will be introduced into the settling tanks, will be provided.
The spectators ‘ gallery is planned on the amphitheatre system, and accommodates 1,500 persons, all of whom can obtain an unobstructed view of the swimming pool.
The establishment laundry will include washing machines, hydro-extractor, drying machine, power mangle and electric motors. The boiler house for hot water supply and general heating will include one high pressure steam boiler and three low-pressure cast iron sectional boilers, two pumps and two calorifiers.
The swimming pool and buildings generally will be constructed in ferro- concrete; the interior walls and floors of the pool will be rendered in white cement. The swimming pool sidewalks will be finished in colour concrete, and on one side of the pool the sidewalk will have a gentle slope into the water as the sand slopes into the sea. The buildings will have their concrete walls treated with a special concrete paint. Windows will be in steel, and all joinery ·work exposed to water is to be of teak.
Messrs. Kenneth M. Cross, M.A., F.R.I.B.A., and Cecil A. L. Sutton, A.R.I.B.A., are the architects for the scheme.
Baths and Baths Engineering, September 1935
Morecambe Leisure Park 1983
