Is it an over-achieving climbing frame, or a peculiar bandstand? It is neither.
The back roads of Islington hide many small parks, but few are as curious as Tibby Place. This pint-sized green space, just off Essex Road on Greenman Street, is dominated by an ornate skeletal structure. What is it?
Turns out, this is a surviving fragment of Tibberton Baths — a public swimming pool that once stood on the site. The baths (which included several pools and a laundry) opened in 1895 and lasted right up to the 1980s. A disastrous fire forced their demolition in 1983, but they'd been threatened with closure for some time.
The building was gone by 1985, and a new park known as Tibby Place (in reference to the old Tibberton Baths) was created.
This small section of ornate ironwork was preserved simply as a feature of interest for the new park. If you look closely, you'll find the date '1988' on one of the spandrels — the year in which the frame was re-erected. Beyond that, there is no information in the park to explain this curious structure.
London Remembers has a little more information, while Chris Dorley-Brown has a few superb images of the interior and demolition. Beyond that, scant information is available about these long-lost baths.
