# Long Bridges bathing place, Oxford, May 2008



## batroy (May 12, 2008)

The latest in a series of reports from me dealing with Oxford's river bathing places. Last December I visited the most intact survivor, Tumbling Bay, a river lido on Oxford's west side. I stumbled on Tumbling Bay almost by accident but a resulting discussion reminded me that it wasn't Oxford's only bathing place and set me on the trail of the others.

Long Bridges is the site of a former open air river bathing place on a backwater of the River Thames close to Donnington Bridge, Oxford. It takes the form of a stretch of water with concrete walled banks and the overgrown site of a set of changing rooms on an island. This was one of several public river bathing places in Oxford and like most of the others it was closed at the end of the 1980s. It's not as intact as Tumbling Bay but it boasts some interesting survivals.

The southern bank is part of a nature reserve while the island on the northern bank is heavily overgrown. This was much larger than Oxford's other bathing places with a shallow pool as well as the deper water in the channel. Now it serves as a convenient place for Oxford's canoeists to learn their craft.







This bank has few reminders of its past other than its concrete edge and the sight of a solitary bathing ladder visible in the undergrowth on the opposite side. 






On the other bank however it is a different story. Over there three decades of abandonment has left the entire island covered in dense undergrowth. It's not without interest to the explorer though, as you pick your way through it you find the concrete bases where the changing rooms once stood.






The best is yet to come though. Pushing further through the trees, here are the toilets provided for the swimmers. Roofless and half full of rubbish, but still standing. The only remaining building on any of Oxford's river bathing places.






Long Bridges is not a challenging explore. Beyond dodging a few student boaties more intent on shouting at their mates as they attempt to make Eights week you won't be bothered by anyone. It's not without hazards but the river's pretty safe in the summer and if you're put off by brambles then you shouldn't be exploring in the first place. The interest in places like Long Bridges lies instead in the window they give us into a lost world where people brought their families here on summer weekends and bathing in the river was seen as a healthy exercise rather than a risky one.

Long Bridges has survived the last two decades untouched but the structures may not last much longer. The council own the island and are considering selling it. It is likely that the buyers would be one of the several local conservation charities so it would become a nature reserve, however the chances of the buildings remaining are probably not high.

Here's the Flash Earth link: 

http://www.flashearth.com/?lat=51.737709&lon=-1.244953&z=17.9&r=0&src=msl

And finally, an urban exploring cliché, the abandoned toilet shot.


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## Foxylady (May 13, 2008)

batroy said:


> ...site of a set of changing rooms on an island.



Um...so if people change back into their clothes on the island after swimming, how do they get back to the river bank? 
Nice explore, batroy. I do like these bathing places...unusual and interesting.


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## batroy (May 13, 2008)

Foxylady said:


> Um...so if people change back into their clothes on the island after swimming, how do they get back to the river bank?
> Nice explore, batroy. I do like these bathing places...unusual and interesting.



I should have explained. It's an island, but the Thames towpath crosses the top end of it so there's a footbridge. Otherwise how would I have explored it without getting wet? 

I have a bit more to do with Oxford's other bathing places in the pipeline. They're not exactly hardcore but they're one of those things that I want to follow to its logical conclusion.


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## Foxylady (May 13, 2008)

batroy said:


> I should have explained. It's an island, but the Thames towpath crosses the top end of it so there's a footbridge. Otherwise how would I have explored it without getting wet?



Thumbed a lift from a canoeist?  Heehee. Thanks for the info. It did seem rather strange at first.


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## Neosea (May 13, 2008)

Nice bog shot! Oxford does have its treasures. Thanks for the photo's


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