Smedley Hydro, Former hydropathic spa in Birkdale, Southport, England
Smedley Hydro is a five-storey Victorian building in the Birkdale area of Southport, originally built to offer water-based treatments to paying guests. It had Turkish baths, plunge pools, and many guest rooms fitted with water facilities, making it one of the larger establishments of its kind in the region.
The building started out as Birkdale College in the early 1870s and was bought by John Smedley in 1876 to be turned into a hydrotherapy centre. During World War II, the government requisitioned it for administrative use, and it never returned to its original purpose.
The name Smedley Hydro comes from John Smedley, a textile manufacturer who promoted water-based treatments as a form of medicine. Walking past today, the building gives little sign of its former purpose and blends into the residential streets around it.
The building sits in a residential part of Birkdale and is easy to reach from central Southport. It now serves as a government office and is not open to the public, but the exterior can be seen from the street.
During World War II, the building became the national storage point for birth, death, and marriage records for England and Wales, moved there to protect them from bombing. Millions of entries were held in what had once been a spa, far from the dangers facing London.
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