Great Lengths

The Victoria Salt Water Baths in Southport were built to attract tourists to the seaside resort. With a French classical edifice and ornate ironwork roof, these were one of the grandest public baths in the country when opened in 1871 - requiring 250,000 gallons of water to fill six pools. Photograph: English Heritage/PR

The North Woodside baths in Glasgow are Scotland's oldest operating public baths. Opened in 1882, they were quite unusual, being rather utilitarian in design with virtually no adornments. The pool was refurbished in 1991 when some off-the-shelf statuettes were added for ornamentation. Photograph: Simon Inglis/PR

The Alloa baths in Clackmannanshire, which opened in 1898, were designed in an exuberant "Scottish Renaissance" style with carved dragon heads and hanging ferns. Attractions included poolside rings and trapezes. Photograph: RCAHMS (Bedford Lemere Collection)/PR

The City Baths in Chester, opened in 1901, were designed in a half-timbered 'Tudorbethan' style. The carved timberwork and brass fittings reflect the standards of the architect John Douglas - a favourite of the Marquess of Westminster, then Britain's wealthiest man, whose Grosvenor estate covered (and continues to cover) large swathes of Chester. Photograph: Simon Inglis/PR

Philanthropist Andrew Carnegie's wife, Louise, prepares to unveil the foundation stone for the new Carnegie Baths in Dunfermline in July 1902. The building is about to be refurbished as part of a £19m project. Photograph: Fife council library and museum service/PR

Rumour has it that an American tourist once offered £10,000 to buy the ornate ticket office at Bramley Baths in Leeds. The building, which opened in 1904, still retains its original ironwork and arched stained glass windows. Photograph: English Heritage/PR

Beverley Road Baths in Hull represented "the crowning achievement of the corporation", declared a booklet published to mark the opening in 1905. Photograph: PR

When opened in 1906, the Victoria Baths in Manchester were described by the Manchester Guardian as "probably the most splendid bathing institution in the country". With terracotta mermaids, decorated tiles, mosaics and stained glass, they have been called the Taj Mahal of British swimming. Photograph: English Heritage/PR

Local paper the Rochdale Observer acclaimed the town's Central Baths as "a positively breathtaking picture of loveliness" on their opening in May 1937. Only a few significant alterations have been made to the baths, which remain in use more than 70 years later. Photograph: PR

The largest indoor pool built in Britain, at Earls Court, London, was only used once - for Henry Sieff's Aquashow. Top of the bill was Tarzan actor Johnny Weissmuller with support from bathing beauties the Aqua Lovelies. Unfortunately the pool, built in 1937, was so big the water was never warmer than 45 F. Photograph: Ian Gordon/PR

The pool at Butlin's Bognor Regis holiday camp, which opened in 1960, was adorned with plastic foliage and vines, complete with fake monkeys and parrots swinging on perches. The Butlin's brochure claimed these lent "an exotic touch to a scene of incomparable beauty". Photograph: Ian Gordon/PR

The Wrexham baths were described on their opening in 1970 as "hyperbolic, parabolic and diabolic". The building required a £4.1m overhaul in 1997, but is now a locally admired landmark. Photograph: Ian Gordon/PR

Resembling a set from vintage Dr Who, Bletchley Leisure Centre in Milton Keynes was Britain's first local authority leisure pool. Under its pyramid frame lay a freeform pool with connecting lagoons, waterslide, sandy beach and palm tree imported from Portugal. It had 500,000 visitors in its first year. Photograph: David Langfield/PA

The Hillsborough Baths, Sheffield, have been converted to supply another form of liquid refreshment - alcohol. The baths, which opened in 1926 and closed in 1990, now house the Rawson Spring pub. Photograph: J D Wetherspoon/PR

The London Olympic Aquatics Centre, designed by Zaha Hadid, is set to be the architectural highpoint of the 2012 Games. When completed it will be the most expensive pool built in Britain. Photograph: London 2012/PR