Considered as the oldest outdoor swimming pool in the UK, the Fellows’ Bathing Pool at Christ’s College was dug from the alluvial soil in a corner of the college garden in the mid-17th century.
Over the past 20 years the pool has been gradually declining which led to outlining of various measures by the college officials to save the pool. One measure suggested transforming the pool into an ornamental pond.
The college earmarked a sizable donation for the pool from alumnus Richard Barlow-Poole. As the amount was not sufficient, Christ’s Colege’s development director Catherine Twilley launched an appeal to alumni to bring the pool up to modern standards and restore the Palladian-style pavilion.
The college conducted a research into the history of the pool before starting renovation project. The research brought out the fact that it was not Victorian, as had been supposed, but far older. The design of Christ’s pool is stylishly classical with its perimeter decorated by busts of Christ’s scholars including astronomer Ralph Cudworth, poet John Milton, mathematician Nicholas Saunderson and polymath Joseph Mede. Christ’s pool is fed by the mains, filtrated and kept pure by a roving robot.
