Photographs of  Inside  the building
Straight to photographs of  Outside  the building

This splendid building dating from 1891 is a unique part of not just Swindon's heritage but is a show piece to the world about public health.  Yet it is unassuming and is easy to pass it by un-noticed.  But if you do have the chance to see it, do take that opportunity and savour the things you see and what this building has meant, first to Swindon and later to Britain and beyond.

The building is Grade II* listed.  The  Historic England  website has details of the listing and information about the history of the building.

Having lived in Swindon all our lives this building has always been there and to be honest we probably hadn't taken as much notice of it as we should have - it was just a place to see the Doctor and where we went to as kids to learn to swim, as did our daughter and, well, most Swindonians in the past!  Sadly the teaching pool has been closed for a number of years with no plans to repair it in the foreseeable future.

But we have learnt so much about the building since a threat of closure hit the local press in 2017 and locals were worried it would be turned into apartments and thus be forever lost to the general public.  We have come to appreciate more and more what an important building it is not just to Swindon but to Britain's history too.

Great Western Railway workers and their families in Swindon had their own health scheme back in 1891.  Yes, 1891.  Back when seeing a doctor and treatment was too expensive for most people, we in Swindon had this state of the art facility.  Each employee had to pay into the medical scheme and then they and their family could see a doctor and be treated for free.  According to Mark Child's 'The Swindon Book' it has offered services as a dental surgery, psychological clinic, dispensary, ophthalmic practice, a chiropodist, physiotherapy, paediatric clinic, skin clinic, massage and even at one time hairdressing.  And of course (for a fee) various other health and well-being activities could be enjoyed including two swimming pools, turkish and steam baths and a gym.

More than fifty years later this scheme was used as an example of how public health care can work and the National Health Service was established.

During the war, boards were put over the swimming baths and it was used as a hospital - there are some photographs of this on  Filckr.  It was also used for concerts, sales, meetings and even roller skating.

In June 2017 the building was open to visitors as part of Civic Open Day and we much enjoyed a guided tour of areas the public don't usually get to see.  Wow!  What a building this is - original tiles, stained glass windows, fancy iron work (all made in the GWR Works), all unique treasures of history.  It is a building of quality materials and workmanship and something to be proud of.  We are grateful we were permitted to quickly go around again by ourselves before the next tour started and take photographs (without lots of people in them!) to go on this website.

It is now a building we notice every time we pass by.