It's hard to believe now, but Lockwood once had aspirations to be a spa town to rival Harrogate, Bath and Buxton.
A private company was formed to build handsome baths on the banks of the River Holme.
The building was in classical style with a Tuscan porch and was designed to have a pleasant aspect over the river that flowed past at its rear and take advantage of the sulphurous spring waters into which it tapped.
Colin Liversidge, of Dalton, recalled the Lockwood Spa Baths after his own memories were fired by reader reminiscences of the open air pools in Holmfirth, at Goose Green and Parkhead. He was a life guard at Holmfirth Swimming Baths for 18 years and went on to mention Ramsden Street Baths, Cambridge Road Baths and, the oldest of the lot, Lockwood Baths.
Ramsden Street Baths were built in 1879 and closed in 1972. Cambridge Road Baths opened in 1931 and closed in 1997. But the Spa Baths at Lockwood were the oldest and the grandest.
They were built in the 1820s and genuinely hoped to rival their more illustrious rivals. If Harrogate could attract the rich and famous — Agatha Christie spent a lost weekend there — why not Lockwood?
It sounds an unlikely idea in an area that is now full of industrial buildings and terraced houses, but 200 years ago, the area was rural.
The only road from Huddersfield ran through fields and meadows.
The Spa Baths were handsomely situated and a wide walkway was created that led from the front to the newly-built Bath Hotel on Lockwood Road. It was laid out as ornamental gardens with flowers, shrubs, small trees and narrow paths. The hotel had a bowling green, a museum and a bandstand and other accommodation for visitors was built in Lockwood itself, a short walk away along the river bank.
On the other side of the baths, a rustic bridge crossed the Holme to more flower beds and lawns.
The location was idyllic and a Trade Directory of 1830 said: “The village of Lockwood is beautifully and delightfully situated in the valley of the Holme about three quarters of a mile from the market town of Huddersfield and lies in a romantic and finely sheltered country.
The private lodgings in the village and in Huddersfield are excellent and modern. There are daily coaches to all parts of the Kingdom from Huddersfield and, in short, as a summer retreat Lockwood cannot be surpassed.”
Unfortunately, the dream didn’t last long. By 1870, mills and terraced housing had been built and a new road — Albert Street — paralleled Lockwood Road and ran straight through the gardens leading to the Bath Hotel.
Huddersfield Corporation took control of the enterprise and turned it into a Public Baths which provided facilities for school swimming lessons for decades, until it closed in 1946, when it became commercial premises.
The Bath Hotel building is still there and the archway for coaches can still be seen. The Spa Baths is now home to a company called Euro Tyres and Bath Street, opposite, is where the Kwik Fit Fitters ply their trade.
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