History of the baths
A Penny off the Pound
Built in 1934 during the Great Depression, a period of acute poverty and hardship, Bath Brynaman embodied a whole community’s hope for a brighter future – and an escape from the harsh realities of coal mining. Located on the site of a brickwork factory, bounded by a slag-heap, the site for the Baths is thought to have been donated to the local community by one of the wealthy local mine-owners. Miners gave ‘a penny off the pound’ from their wages and other funds were raised, lifting community spirit and investing in facilities to give their families and future generations a special place to enjoy, socialise and keep fit.
Ein Pwll Saffir
Unearthed in our archives a few years ago was a poem – Pwll Nofio – narrated by the white-haired daughter of one of the incredible Brynaman men, ‘no flesh to spare on their bones’ and nothing in their pockets, who built the Baths, a ‘sapphire pwll’ where water from the river could flow ‘into that clean blue pristine space, that they together had created.’
‘Use what we Have’
Perhaps unsurprisingly there is no surviving evidence of the design of the Baths – no blueprint or plans. With a simple construction, using traditional forms and a mishmash of readily available materials, Bath Brynaman along with many other open-air pools across Wales was constructed using timber and brick, bonded with coal dust mortar and dressed in white painted render. This ‘use what we have’ approach to the construction was common, and piecemeal changes are documented on maps and in photographs, as the site evolved from a simple pool with playing fields and a playground adjacent to the Baths.
What was the pool like when it was first built?
To enter the pool at Brynamman, visitors climbed ten steps from the pathway onto a concrete platform where they waited to pass through the turnstile and ticket office. Men and women separated to change and occasionally a foot dip was used to remove grains of sand and stone from their feet.
The outbuildings were made of timber studwork and siding, canopied by corrugated roofing sheets which sheltered the users up until the 1970s, when new single-skinned brick outbuildings were introduced. Within the 46 changing rooms, a double hinged timber door allowed for privacy above ankle height, complete with a twin battened timber bench. A raised terrace west of the water was introduced around 1950 – a place to relax and ‘sunbathe’ – with the new fashion for bronzed skin.
tokens of communty
The Amman Valley is a landscape profoundly shaped by the South Wales coal industry. Extractive industries formed close alliances between people, geology and landscape. Communities were formed around coal stockpiles; building wealth for the owners, hard lives for the men and boys working in the mines.
Across South Wales in the early 20th century the demand for recreation was satisfied by a combination of philanthropist donations and the labour of local miners – waste grounds were transformed into sites of recreation and open-air pools became tokens of community, whilst promoting the need for improved health and wellbeing. Miners’ committees and organisations such as the Miners’ Welfare Fund and the Special Areas Commission would often contribute to the construction of these pools, yet challenging times were ahead. The economic depression in the 1930s saw the coalfield’s workforce halve by 193,223 but open-air pools continued to be built by a workforce comprised of unemployed miners, thanks in part to the availability of labour caused by the temporary collapse of the mining industry. Grandfathers, fathers and husbands re-applied their skillsets and joined together to produce these pools, providing spaces of recreation for their children.
Brynamman Baths was one of 57 open-air pools built in Wales in the 20th century, and today is the last remaining pool in its original condition.
A Unique Survival
The Baths serve as reminder of the immense impact of the collective effort, of making do, ‘using what we have’ and creating lasting joy and improved wellbeing from a wasteland: something from nothing. As a unique survival, its historic and cultural status is significant – and in 2023 it was described by Lido expert Joshua Jones as “one of the final physical representations of the communal values found within the South Wales Coalfield which can be recovered and conserved as a reminder of the immense impact of a collective workforce which gave life to villages, towns and cities throughout Wales, the United Kingdom and the world.” (Heritage Impact Statement, Joshua Jones, January 2023)
Huge thank to Joshua Jone, historic lido expert, our friend and longstanding supporter of the project from whose Heritage Impact Statement all of this history is taken. Watch Josh’s talk on historic lidos for the C20 Society here.
