CACrown ArchivesThe cinema collection
Menu
Research dossier · General Reference

Lymington Open Air Sea Water Baths

lido in Lymington and Pennington, New Forest, Hampshire, England, UK

Cross-disciplinary reference desk with index cards, atlas, dictionary and catalogue
General referenceInterpretive dossier study · Crown Archives visual atlas
Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionMay 3, 2026
Entity authorityQ15243196
Source-derived summary

The Lymington Open Air Sea Water Baths (or "historic Roman Seawater Baths") is a lifeguarded open air lido in Lymington, Hampshire, England. Built in 1833, it is the oldest lido in the United Kingdom, and at 110 metres long by 50 metres wide it is also one of the largest in area. The baths reopened in 2010 following a campaign by local people who also completed the baths' refurbishment.

Description

The pool uses filtered and chlorinated seawater.

Owned and managed by Lymington and Pennington Town Council, the opening season is normally from May to September.

History

A seawater pool and smaller baths were on the same site in the 1780s. (There was a Roman camp near Lymington (Lentune, Lementon), but there is no evidence of baths.)

The current lido was built in 1833 by William Bartlett of the Lymington Bath and Improvement Co. with donations of £6,000. From 1872 the lido was run by Mrs Beeston. The local Corporation acquired the site in 1937.

Editorial summary

This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “Lymington Open Air Sea Water Baths” as lido in Lymington and Pennington, New Forest, Hampshire, England, UK. Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.

Editorial reviewA dependable orientation record for establishing vocabulary, names and a first evidence trail. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1833, 2010, 1872, 1937—that can be checked directly. The selected authority fields contribute no independent date. The account is most persuasive where Lymington, Water and Baths can be independently traced.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

The subject matters to the general reference register because the source frames it as lido in Lymington and Pennington, New Forest, Hampshire, England, UK. Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.

Evidence profile

The citation trail is more important than the brevity of the summary: it shows where individual claims can be examined in context. The source revision retrieved here is dated May 3, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q15243196. Authority coordinates are 50.753, -1.528. 2 of 2 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1833, 2010, 1872 and 1937.

Critical limits

The absence of detail may reflect summary conventions rather than a lack of surviving documentation. The source lead contains qualifying language; that uncertainty should survive quotation, summary and reuse. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Use the entry as an orientation point, then follow its citations and revision history. Names, dates and institutional relationships should be checked against the original record.

Best used for
  • Subject orientation
  • Search vocabulary
  • Locating named sources
Verify next

The closest primary source, responsible institution and strongest cited specialist reference.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “Lymington Open Air Sea Water Baths”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow Lymington Open Air Sea Water Baths primary sources, Lymington Open Air Sea Water Baths archive and Lymington research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

  1. Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Lymington Open Air Sea Water Baths”?
  2. Which institution is responsible for the underlying evidence?
  3. Which cited source is closest to the event, object or claim?
Subject index

Search terms from this dossier

Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from Lymington Open Air Sea Water Baths” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.