A story from Warrenpoint

The baths: a council and railway team-up

In short: Warrenpoint Baths began in 1905 as a Warrenpoint Urban District Council project, helped financially by the Great Northern Railway Company, and Mrs Hall of Narrow Water Castle laid the foundation stone in 1906.

Warrenpoint Urban District Council started the public baths project in 1905, with the Great Northern Railway Company helping to pay for it. Locals got somewhere to swim, and the railway got another reason for visitors to stay at its hotel next door. Mrs Hall of Narrow Water Castle laid the foundation stone in 1906.

Go and see it

Visit the old baths on the seafront.

Make a day of it: Sunny day With kids Free entry

Questions people ask

Who built Warrenpoint Baths?

Warrenpoint Urban District Council started the project in 1905, with the Great Northern Railway Company helping to pay for it.

Who laid the foundation stone of Warrenpoint Baths?

Mrs Hall of Narrow Water Castle, in 1906.

Where are Warrenpoint Baths?

On the seafront in Warrenpoint, beside the promenade.

When: 1905. Sources: Project began 1905; foundation stone 1906. Spotted something we should correct? Let us know.

Then, nearby

Somewhere to eat or drink afterwards, closest first.

Cafés · Warrenpoint

Leafy Greens & Co.

Vegetarian café and deli on Church St, Warrenpoint.

In Warrenpoint30–60 min

Cafés · Warrenpoint

Church Lane Coffee

Coffee shop on Church St, Warrenpoint.

In Warrenpoint30–60 min

Restaurants · Warrenpoint

The Wheelbarrow

Restaurant on Mary St, Warrenpoint.

In Warrenpoint1–2 hours

More stories from Warrenpoint

Story · Warrenpoint

How the train made Warrenpoint a holiday town

From 1849 until 1965 the railway ran right into Warrenpoint, and it changed the place. The railway company didn't just bring people here: it put money into hotels and entertainment so they'd stay. That's a big part of why Warrenpoint became somewhere you came for your holidays, not somewhere you passed through.

Stroll the seafront and picture the trains unloading holidaymakers a few streets away.

Story · Warrenpoint

The grand hotel that went bust in a year

The Beach Hotel opened in March 1885 with fifty rooms, a billiard room, a smoking room, and baths with hot, cold, fresh and salt water. It was a big bet, and it didn't pay off for its owner, Henry Stanley, who went bankrupt the following year. The Great Northern Railway Company bought it, made it bigger and folded it into their seaside holiday business.

Walk the front and look up at the old hotel buildings that line it.

Story · Warrenpoint

From grand hotel to school

The Great Northern Hotel stopped being a hotel in 1923, but the building carried on. Over the years it was a boarding school, a day school and a home for elderly men. One building, and you can follow the whole story of the town in it: from Victorian holidays to classrooms and care.

Look out for the old Great Northern building on your walk through town.