Myth or fact???

fonecrusher1

I have 2 tales here that ive heard many times. I would like someone to confirm or refute these.

Tale 1 - The Lough (pond) once had a pike (a large sharp toothed type of predatory fish) population but they were removed because these fish started attacking the various aquatic birds that also inhabit the pond. This was about 20/25 years ago supposedly.

Tale 2 - There used to be an open air swimming pool on the straight road (Carrigrohane rd) opposite the county hall.< I know that to be true as i walked past it many times in my youth. However apparently it was closed in the late seventies due to the unfortunate death of a young fella who jumped off the highest diving board of the 30ft platform, was blown off course mid-air by a rogue river wind & he struck the side of the pool & died shortly after. Its was deemed an unsafe structure & the pool was closed never to be re-opened.

Well can anyone back up either of these cork city stories?

omerin

I think there are still pike in the Lough, but not 100%

The old swimming pool was bought for development, can't remember a death.

fonecrusher1

omerin wrote: »

The old swimming pool was bought for development, can't remember a death.

Hi omerin thanks for the reply. I know the pool was bought for development as the Kingsley Hotel & appartments now occupies this area but its strange that the pool sat abandoned for years. From the late 70's to around 1999/2000. Why was it closed in the first place?

omerin

see link, it appears it was due to cost



http://www.corkindependent.com/local-news/local-news/lee-baths-to-feature-in-film/

fonecrusher1

omerin wrote: »

see link, it appears it was due to cost



http://www.corkindependent.com/local-news/local-news/lee-baths-to-feature-in-film/

Right well thats myth number 2 busted anyway. Thanks.

mawk

There are still pike in the lough, though not a lot. There are big carp though. The irish record carp came from there. Thirty odd pounds iirc. Popular fishing spot as its public and therefore free

fonecrusher1

mawk wrote: »

There are still pike in the lough, though not a lot. There are big carp though. The irish record carp came from there. Thirty odd pounds iirc. Popular fishing spot as its public and therefore free

Really? Thats kind of cool. They're a mad fish. Freshwater sharks. There must only be a few because they eat anything apparently although i suppose those monster 20 to 30 lb carp wouldn't be too worried. Pike can reach huge sizes relative to the body of water they inhabit so the lough pikes are probably small enough. Its a relatively small volume of water.

langdang

The carp are definitely massive. Dunno how well pike would survive there even if there were any to start with - they have been moved off the top of the foodchain in recent years by an influx of foreign predators

The story about a fella getting a dive wrong at the pool on the lee fields rings some bells with me but twas before my time I'd say.

fonecrusher1

langdang wrote: »

The story about a fella getting a dive wrong at the pool on the lee fields rings some bells with me but twas before my time I'd say.

I'd say its a load of oul rubbish langdang. Its something that i was told many many years ago by a kid the same age as myself around the late 80's. Im sure such a disturbing accident would have been recorded somewhere.

According to this link; http://www.corkindependent.com/local...ature-in-film/ (submitted by omerin) it was just closed due to a large decrease in customers caused by the opening of a few other swimming pools in the city.

When it was still open to the public i wonder did the place stay open during the winter? Surely not, it would have been freezing.:pac:

gbee

Lee Fields pool, I used to go there, yes a boy died, the top of the tower was closed off and opened only for galas.

It was closed eventually but not because of the accident. My story says he dived badly from the top, I never dived form the top and I hit the bottom from the middle. There was only 15feet of water, you had to be a competent diver to make the top dive.

Lots of people were injured diving from the the gantry ~ we were men in those days ~ I can imagine H&S officers having heart attacks just at the thought of young kids climbing [30 feet?] to the top and just letting loose.

Many dived out too far and most of the accidents were caused by this as the pool was sloped [as I remember] so many dived towards the shallow end. As I said I never dived the top and the middle section gave me a fright as I hit the bottom concrete, despite I knowing the technique and on the School's Mosney Team [all Ireland], I failed to execute.

Fellas and a few girls would be pulled out unconscious routinely. Mad Max stuff, I did not go unconscious but it was a hard swim back to the top, you get disorientated and I was trying to swim down, panicky I eventually made it as the life guards came to my assistance.

That, and the death of the young boy was the end for me and the Lee Baths.

twowheelsonly

Lee Baths was a mad spot alright but I can't remember any deaths there either. Plenty of injuries and people being pulled out unconscious though - including my sister!!!
There was a bridge across the middle to seperate the deep and shallow ends and people were routinely pushed in to the deep side. It was also used regularly for Water Polo and iirc it was open for most of the year.

Another bit of useless information is that it was for many years the largest swimming pool in Europe!!

fonecrusher1

gbee wrote: »

Lee Fields pool, I used to go there, yes a boy died, the top of the tower was closed off and opened only for galas.

It was closed eventually but not because of the accident. My story says he dived badly from the top, I never dived form the top and I hit the bottom from the middle. There was only 15feet of water, you had to be a competent diver to make the top dive.

Lots of people were injured diving from the the gantry ~ we were men in those days ~ I can imagine H&S officers having heart attacks just at the though of young kids climbing [30 feet?] to the top and just letting loose.

Many dived out too far and most of the accidents were caused by this as the pool was sloped [as I remember] so many dived towards the shallow end. As I said I never dived the top and the middle section gave me a fright as I hot the bottom concrete, despite I knowing the technique and on the School's Mosney Team [all Ireland], I failed to execute.

Fellas and a few girls would be pulled out unconscious routinely. Mad Max stuff, I did not go unconscious but it was a hard swim back to the top, you get disorientated and I was trying to swim down, panicky I eventually made it as the life guards came to my assistance.

That, and the death of the young boy was the end for me and the Lee Baths.

twowheelsonly wrote: »

Lee Baths was a mad spot alright but I can't remember any deaths there either. Plenty of injuries and people being pulled out unconscious though - including my sister!!!
There was a bridge across the middle to seperate the deep and shallow ends and people were routinely pushed in to the deep side. It was also used regularly for Water Polo and iirc it was open for most of the year.

Another bit of useless information is that it was for many years the largest swimming pool in Europe!!

Wow so the thread takes another twist. Maybe theres more truth to the tale after all. So some poor young fella did die at the pool? Feckin hell. People being dragged out of the pool unconsious??? Jesus can you imagine the sh!tstorm of legal action that would cause these days.
So generally your saying the place was a bit unsafe? Did it stay open during the winter?

I remember when i was a nipper myself & a few mates took a little look in the place a few years after it had been abandoned. There was a fence that closed off the entire site but someone had cut a hole in it at one corner to gain access. The place was rotten, overgrown & infested with rats. A few feet of brown water remained in the pool itself. The little changing rooms on one side were home to all sorts of wildlife. We didn't stay too long, it was a gloomy oul place & the story of someone actually dying there gave it a spooky sort of vibe.

Very interesting to hear your memories of the place.

gbee

fonecrusher1 wrote: »

So generally your saying the place was a bit unsafe? Did it stay open during the winter?

It was different times. The pool was a fresh water basin filled from the river, it could be drained away too. I liked to go there in the summer after they freshly filled the pool. As I understand there were no additives so that was an attraction, but it wasn't heated so in the summer the best time was late in the afternoon.

It was rather Victorian and made up of four sections, the main baths male & female, the diving pool and I was going to say a toddling pool, but now I'm not sure.

They were just concrete and the men and boys had to stay at each others side, the exception was women with their families, otherwise one ran the gauntlet of being nabbed and thrown out if one ventured too near the border.

themonboys

There's a picture have way down this link

http://mjordan.wordpress.com/2009/12/04/cork-and-flooding/

Padraig Mor

I remember quite some years ago - after the pool closed, but before it was demolished - being in there (why I don't know) and they were giving an elephant from the circus next door a bath in the pool. He was ****ting everywhere!

themonboys

http://www.quinnipiac.edu/other/abl/etext/irish/pictures203/p95.html

fonecrusher1

Seems to be very difficult to get any pictures of the lee baths at all?!

http://karlgrabe.com/CorkCamera/1980s/Cork800/pages/n01kg01StraightRoad85c.htm thats the best i can do. Its a link from the images of cork thread. The long wall on the left hand side of the picture is a boundary road for a little car park. Beyond that You can just about make out the diving platform on the left hand side of the structure. The white sunbathed patch between the lampposts in the foreground. Theres a diagonal shadow cast across it.

gbee

fonecrusher1 wrote: »

Seems to be very difficult to get any pictures of the lee baths at all?!

Seemingly, and I'm pretty sure I took some myself while closed but before the hotel, can't find them, they might be lost.

But I do remember seeing a few ~ either in the hotel or as part of the archives ~ a search brings too many hits back, it should not be this difficult?

fonecrusher1

gbee wrote: »

Seemingly, and I'm pretty sure I took some myself while closed but before the hotel, can't find them, they might be lost.

But I do remember seeing a few ~ either in the hotel or as part of the archives ~ a search brings too many hits back, it should not be this difficult?

Yeah it seems to be a very poorly documented structure. Surprising as it was said to have been very popular for many years until a decline in visitors from about 1980 to its closure in 86.

I would say getting decent old pics of the straight road which happen to include the baths is the best way to go about it.

roundymac

I used fish in the lough as a youngfellow, no pike there then. They were introduced sometime in the mid to late seventies. Don't know who did it but I don't think it was done by anyone offically, ie, Cork Corporation. Pike would have no problem surviving in that envioroment. Plent of food, Rudd, Carp, Tench, as well as small water fowl, duck, sygnets etc plus they are also cannabils.:cool:

CHealy

Theres a fantastic big picture of it in its glory at the reception of Leisure world in Bishopstown

Bill-e

rorrissey

I'd love to have seen the lee baths.. before my time though... Would be unreal if it was still around!

bandon road boy

I was on Corks 96fm earlier about the elephant,a guy who worked there has photos of it,check out 96fms Facebook page in the coming week or so:P

gimmick

I remember the Lee baths so it would not have been closed in the 70s. I would say it closed maybe 1985ish?

Re The Lough Pike. Well so many people have caught "The Pike" I'd say the poor bastards lips are so badly perforated its untrue. Sure didn't me and my friends (I grew up near The Lough) miss hundreds of people who caught the pike earlier but threw it back. Most of them were in Henrys for Nirvana and in Thomond for the All Blacks match as well I think.

Pike = myth.

SteelyDanJalapeno

Bill-e wrote: »

That's a picture of the pool in the Kingsley!

Golfer50

Interesting stuff, some more general info here

http://kieranmccarthy.ie/wordpress/?p=5931

http://corkindependent.com/stories/item/2976/2011-27/In-the-Footsteps-of-St.-Finbarre-(Part-262)---Diving-into-History

kuro2k

gbee wrote: »

Lee Fields pool, I used to go there, yes a boy died, the top of the tower was closed off and opened only for galas.

yea i swam there once when i was very young in the early eighties, to this day i still remember when i was told about the boy who died on the diving board, i presumed it was bulls*it to scare me away from the deep end

At the time i remember the high board was closed and the water was freezing, one of the earliest memories i have..