The White Rock Baths, Hastings:
underground tunnel and cliffside chimney

< Photographs: Shifrin

         
Housed at the National Archive (PRO: BT31 2060/9077), the drawing of this unique tunnel-chimneystack construction, is in two parts:

i.  the narrow section at the bottom of the page is a plan of the 350 ft tunnel leading from the Turkish baths boiler house, under the road and its two footpaths, and under Mr Addison's shop and bakery, to the base of the chimney, 121 ft high from ground level;

ii. the upper section of the drawing shows a cross-section of the chimney and the 5ft 6in high tunnel which slopes up from the boiler house floor to the base of the chimney.

The two photographs which have been added, were taken in the 1990s, and show the remains of the chimney, truncated at a point about half way up, and capped off at the top.

In the right hand photograph, it is possible to get a rough idea of the distance of the chimney from the promenade path, thought the view seen is angled and the distance appears  slightly longer than it actually is.

The tunnel is apparently still in existence though almost certainly partially flooded.
           

This page enlarges an image or adds to the information found on the following pages:

The Hastings and St Leonards Public Baths & Aquarium Company Limited

The White Rock Baths, Hastings