Published: Thursday, 16th October, 2008 12:00pm

Retro: Pangbourne bathing

by David Cliffe

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DURING the summer I have been cataloguing the library's pictures of Pangbourne.

I did actually go for a walk round there, to check on a few points. Some Berkshire villages have hardly been photographed at all, but this is far from the case with Pangbourne - over a hundred pictures, including 25 of the weir.

The photographs of the weir vary in date from the 1860s onwards. In some of them, the view is towards the Swan Inn and Pangbourne Wharf, whilst in others, the camera is pointed more towards Whitchurch, as here.

Whitchurch Mill is clearly visible in the distance: until 1937 it was used to generate electricity for the village. In view of rising energy costs, one can't help wondering whether the power of the River Thames will once again be harnessed in this way in the near future.

What made this picture stand out for me, rather than the 24 other views of the weir, was that strange structure by the pool just below the weir.

Two punts are moored beside it, and if you peer at the original photograph, you can see the curtains on either side the door, and steps leading down into the water. It can't be anything else but a bathing hut.

Bathing in rivers must have been a favourite pastime from time immemorial - though not without its dangers. Reading and Caversham had lidos and bathing places, as well as 'unofficial' places where people went to cool off in hot weather.

In our time, even though the Thames is supposed to be cleaner than it has been for centuries, and salmon and otters have returned to it, river bathing seems to be frowned upon by officialdom.

Sir Rickman Godlee, a famous surgeon who retired to Whitchurch in 1891, wrote a series of articles for the parish magazine on aspects of the history and natural history of his chosen spot. Shortly after his death, they were published in book form, as A Village on the Thames.

Sir Rickman was obviously a keen swimmer, and he recalls "the scores of times we crossed the meadow on the mill island...and plunged into the weir pool...a glorious bathing place...as safe as most weirs are dangerous".

No messing around drawing the curtains on the bathing hut and tiptoeing down the steps for him, then!