Tarlair Swimming Pool

Tarlair Swimming Pool is a disused lido at the base of a sea cliff just outside Macduff in Aberdeenshire in Scotland. This outdoor swimming complex was built in an Art Deco style with a main building backing onto the cliffs and changing rooms to its left hand side. It is considered by Historic Environment Scotland to be the best example of only three surviving outdoor seaside pools in Scotland, the others being at Stonehaven and Gourock.[1]

The pavilion in 2009

The design of the pool was a clever use of pumped sea water to fill the pools, and flooding of the main pool at high tide to flush out the old water. The main pool had a diving board at the deep end and a child's chute at the shallow end,[2] though both are now missing. The second-largest pool was a boating pool with the two remaining pools being paddling pools.

The complex is now in some disrepair with a mixture of weathering, rock falls and vandalism being the main causes.

Channel 4 television made "Tarlair Outdoor Pool" the subject of the third episode of a series of six documentary films on "Britain's Abandoned Playgrounds". The site also features in the Stuart MacBride novel, "The Missing and the Dead", when a child's body is found in the pool.[3]

History
Picture of the pool in the 1960s

The pool was commissioned by Macduff Burgh Council in 1929, with the architect being John C Miller, the Burgh Surveyor of MacDuff. The contractor for the project was Robert Morrison & Son of Macduff.[4] The pool operated from 1931 until the mid-1990s.[5][4]

Between 1985 and 1994 Tarlair Swimming Pool was used as an open air concert arena where bands like Jethro Tull, Runrig and Wet Wet Wet played.[6]

Since 2007 it has been protected as a category A listed building.[1]

In 2010, a proposal was put forward for redevelopment of the complex as a lobster hatchery.[7] The plans were never realised.

A "Friends of Tarlair" group was formed in 2012.[8] There were proposals from Aberdeenshire Council to fill some or all of the pool, but this was thrown out in January 2013.[9] Later that year, councillors agreed to contribute £300,000 towards refurbishing the pool.[10] In 2020 the Friends of Tarlair organisation had a formal application to Aberdeenshire Council to have ownership of Tarlair Swimming Pool transferred over to the group accepted.[11][12]

References
  1. Historic Environment Scotland. "Tarlair Swimming Pool including Boating Pool, Paddling Pool, Tea Pavilion, Changing Rooms, Kiosks and Fence (Category A Listed Building) (LB50788)". Retrieved 22 March 2019.
  2. "'TARLAIR' amateur film shot in around 1954". movingimage.nls.uk. Retrieved 7 September 2020.
  3. King, Joshua (21 January 2015). "Murder and mayhem in Banff | Press and Journal". Press and Journal. Retrieved 9 November 2018.
  4. "Tarlair Swimming Pool Complex". Buildings at Risk. Archived from the original on 15 July 2010. Retrieved 18 March 2021.
  5. "BBC - Scotland's Landscape : Tarlair Pool". BBC. Retrieved 18 March 2021.
  6. David Proctor (20 May 2019). "FROM THE ARCHIVES: The day Tarlair hosted two of the country's biggest band". The Press and Journal.
  7. "Study into lobster hatchery plan at Tarlair pool site is completed". The Press and Journal. 15 November 2011.
  8. "Tarlair group now seeks asset transfer". Grampian Online. 6 January 2020. Retrieved 18 March 2021.
  9. "Reprieve for Tarlair outdoor pool ahead of investigation". BBC News. 29 January 2013. Retrieved 18 March 2021.
  10. "Tarlair open air pool set for £300,000 of improvements". BBC News. 13 June 2013. Retrieved 18 March 2021.
  11. David Proctor (8 January 2020). "North-east group launch bid to takeover former outdoor swimming pool". Evening Express.
  12. Tamsin Gray (1 April 2020). "Charity could take over and convert Tarlair pavilion". Evening Express.
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