Report - The Ducker swimming pool. Harrow, June 2017

[Division45]

Hi all,

This is my first post.

Ducker, built in 1866 for Harrow school boys as a swimming pool. It was open to the public in the early part of the 20th century but now it stands derelict.

Welcome to the jungle

Nature has virtually taken back this pool, there are still a few visible walls from the pool but the majority of it is under dense vegetation. The pool itself has accumulated a lot of dirt and most of it has turned into a swamp. There is no trail leading up to it, and I actually ended up standing inside the pool while looking for it. I realized where I was as I turned around and saw a barely visible blue wall.

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The image below is a direct shot into the pool itself; as if one were standing on the edge of it about to take a dive.

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If someone had stop at this point and had a brief look they would have been staring directly into the pool but could have easily missed it entirely and thought they had stumbled onto a swamp.

A burnt down building close to the pool, this is something that appears to have happened a lot more recently, unfortunately, I've got no information on what happened or what it was.

 

[darbians]

Ermmm???

 

[Rose34]

Some nice shots there.

 

[The Stig]

Guess you couldn't go skinning dipping there?

 

[Salmon]

Guess you couldn't go skinning dipping there?

I dunno, some people pay a fortune for a mud bath skin treatment.......

 

[marcman]

Great post @Division45. I found it just now whilst googling the Ducker.

I went to school very close to this site, in the mid eighties. We took weekly games lessons on the playing fields next to it (now a golf course). Every now and again we did a long cross-country running route that looped around the various playing-fields there. A small group of us realised that we could leave the course at the point where it ran past the derelict Ducker pool, which was hidden away in a wooded section, and then we were free to do whatever we wanted for the next 30 mins or so, while waiting for the rest of the race to loop back so we could rejoin without the teachers knowing any better.

We would follow the line of trees to almost the road, where there was a derelict building marking the entrance to the pool site. I remember it being like a house, certainly brick built, with windows and tiled roof, and most probably the building that is shown in your shots. I assumed it was the pools office and amenities. In one room there were some large cages, which we concluded were probably dog cages and that the site had previously been guarded. We went through this building and then out into the pool area. The view point coming out was the same as the view point in the very first picture, the first postcard image. This section of the pool was mostly drained, except for some accumulated rain water. There was some rubbish in it, that mostly seemed to have come from around the site - things like the collapsed bridges that used to span side to side and other wooden and metal stuff. I think the first bridge was still partly intact but nobody was brave enough to try and cross it as it looked on the verge of collapsing. The whole pool was concrete with the walls gently sloping down to the bottom like the bowls you would see in a skatepark.

Walking further around the pool, heading outwards from the viewpoint of the 1st postcard, the pool took a gentle curve to the left then a much bigger turn to the right, where it opened out into a larger, much deeper expanse. This would have been the viewpoint of the 2nd postcard. I think this section of the pool had accumulated a lot more rain and the dark water was very eerie.

The site had obviously been derelict for a while back then (between 84 and 86) but it was still very much recognisable as a pool. Although the vegetation was creeping in around the perimeters of the site, the pool itself was completely free from it. I got an overhead view of the site about 11 years ago, from a high-rise building of Northwick Park hospital, right next to it, while visiting a relative. The trees and vegetation had really moved in by then but you could still very much see the pool, although if you didn't know it was a pool you'd have thought it was a large natural pond. I've googled the site once or twice since then over the years, and the photos in this post really go to show that the site will soon be lost for ever, very soon.

 

[Lord Oort]

Um, well done for getting out there?

 

[marcman]

@Division45 In this photo, the buildings I referred too are at the top end of the pool, parallel to the road.

 

[Woolfy101]

Sad to see it too bad, I've visited the site many times over the years, for some time the shallow end nearest the building was a pretty good skate spot as the water only came up just past the middle bridge , the last time we went though it had flooded completely and I cut my head open on the doorframe getting out. I'll try to find the shots I have.

 

[marcman]

I'd love to see those photos @Woolfy101
Always thought it would make a decent skate bowl!

 

[Regina]

Looking for an adrress or the name of the field its in?

 

[marcman]

@Regina
Look on google maps for Northwick Park Hospital, Harrow. The Ducker is just south of the hospital grounds, off Watford Road, before the golf centre. It’s clearly marked on google maps (road view) as an expanse of water, in a boomerang shape. In satellite view it’s completely hidden by trees.

I think there’s an old public footpath around the Ducker which is possibly even sign posted as The Ducker footpath, starting off Watford Rd.

 

[Regina]

thank you so much !!

 

[Regina]

is the pathway called capital ring?

 

[marcman]

On the map it appears to be. If you look at streetview you can actually see a sign for 'The Ducker Footpath' and the footpath entrance. I don't know if you can gain easy access from the footpath though - I haven't been there in a VERY long time.