The Traie Meanagh Swimming Baths opened in June 1899 and closed in 1981.
The Baths featured an open air ('Lido' style) seawater filled pool.
The water in the Baths was supplied by a Tangye's engine which supplied 520 tons of sea water per minute and enabled the water to refreshed daily.
The Baths were unusal when they first opened in 1899 in that they permitted mixed bathing and indeed this was still a selling point in the 1930's. The Baths also advertised that the pool was 'in a sunny wind-sheltered cove' with the 'purest and most bracing salt-water bathing'. It was also claimed that it was the larged seawater Baths in the British Isles.
The Baths were linked with Collinson's Cafe (http://www.waymarking.com/waymarks/WMVEHP_Former_Collinsons_Cafe_Port_Erin_Isle_of_Man), on the clifftop, where tea-dances were held and to Bradda Glen Cafe for all day and evening entainment. The Baths were thus part of what would to day be referred to as an 'entertainment complex'.
The Baths remained popular until the early 1960'sand held regular galas. Other evnts included speed swimming events, beauty competitions and high diving competitions.
From the mid-1960's however the popularity of the Isle of Man and the Baths began to wain. The Baths closed in 1981 and were sold in the same year.
The buyer converted the Baths into a fish farm for marine creatures including trout, oysters, scallops
and lobsters. However, the fish farm was not successful in the long run and closed in 1990. Since when although there have been a number of plans to reopen the site none have come to fruition. The site has deteriorated considerably since 1990 and this has fuelled much debate locally as to what to do with the site.
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