The School Pool: Through the Archives

Last year, we celebrated the 140th Birthday of our Outdoor Swimming Pool! Although much improved and adapted since its origins, in the Spring of 1885 Chigwell School opened what some sources claim is the oldest wooden swimming pool in England. This Archives Newsletter looks back at some photographs and memories of the Pool over the years.

19th Century Opening

For a century or more, pupils had walked the mile to the River Roding to swim.

However, in 1884, the proposal to build a swimming pool onsite had been made, and taken up by J. L. Norton, an assistant master, who started fundraising for the project. It cost around £250 to build and, in Spring 1885, Chigwell School's Outdoor Pool opened.

Outdoor Swimming Pool and Lifeguard Chair, c1885

The early years of the Pool included some humorous moments: F. J. Allen (Old Chigwellian 1886-90) wrote about the time the young R. N. White (OC c1893-1900) accidentally pulled Headmaster Swallow into the Pool:

'The picture of the incident remains vividly in my mind's eye. A young boy swimming close to the side of the bath, Canon Swallow leaning over apparently telling the boy to keep away from the side; the boy suddenly putting his hands on the side, pulling himself up, catching hold of the Head, & pulling him in. I can distinctly see the Head, his cap floating alongside, his gown like a huge balloon on his back, slowly making his way to the steps'.

Copy of a Letter from F. J. Allen, 1890s

20th Century Development

Swimming Lesson, 1908

Indeed, as many pupils learned to swim for the first time, time spent in the Pool was not without its incidents. The July 1919 issue of The Chigwellian reported that a 'lady member of staff plunged in, fully dressed, to rescue a small boy in difficulties'. This teacher was not named, but the moment recalls the need for supervision during swimming: today, a lifeguard is always present whenever the Pool is in use.

Meanwhile, other records testify the popularity of the Swimming Pool amongst the school community, and its ongoing influence. Minutes from a School Levée (a meeting with the Headmaster) on the 11th of May 1926 mention the election of a new 'Captain of Swimming', and the record the proposal of a 'Swimming Committee'.

Minutes from Levée, 1926

Pupils Swimming, 1930s

The presence of an onsite pool also allowed for further practice, performance, and prizewinning in regards to swimming, as other artefacts from the Archives show.

Swimming Award, 1934

Audience at Outdoor Pool, c1948

In the later 1940s or 1950s, fêtes were held by the School to fund the restoration of the Swimming Pool.

Hence, in his History of Chigwell School (1960), Godfrey Stott wrote that the Outdoor Pool was:

'still in use, though recently enlarged and modernised, it is said to be one of the oldest in Essex. It is difficult to think of anything that at so small a cost has given so much pleasure to so many'.

The important and popular position that Swimming held in the School also led to a new Swimming Pool being built offsite, at Grange Court, in 1962.

Grange Court (Front), 1976

When the School's Outdoor Pool was originally built, records indicate that it was constructed in such a way that 'a roof and heating [could] be added' at a later date. One half of this hope was fulfilled in 1972, when the Pool was heated.

Swimming Lesson, 1970s

Another Swimming 'first' came in 1989, when the School entered a girls' swimming team into the West Essex Swimming Gala for the first time.

21st Century Evolution

The Pool also became the site of charity challenges. For example, the March 2003 edition of The Mitre reported that:

'One of the more unique ideas was to swim 2071 lengths of our pool, the equivalent of the English Channel, for the Breast Cancer Campaign. This remarkable feat was achieved by a group of our sixth formers'.

Then, in 2022, the most significant change to Swimming at Chigwell since 1885 occurred: the School opened its new Sports & Wellness Centre, which includes a 6-lane Indoor Pool. Not only do pupils use this space for swimming lessons during and after school, but the facilities are also available via membership to staff and Old Chigwellians.

Indoor Pool, Sport & Wellness Centre, 2022

These new provisions have offered further opportunities for Swimming at Chigwell School, while the Outdoor Pool is used in the summer months. So it is that -- thanks to developments and evolution over the years -- the Pool continues to be enjoyed 140 years on.

Swim Gala at Outdoor Pool, 2022

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