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# In England, the problem of preserving an abandoned church has been solved in its own way: a swimming pool and a gym have opened inside a Victorian church
- URL: https://theparnassian.com/en/v-anglii-problemu-sokhraneniia-zabroshennogo-khrama-reshili-po-svoemu-otkryli-vnutri-viktorianskoi-tserkvi-bassein-i-fitness-zal/
- Published: 2023-05-16T19:02:30.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-01T05:36:34.000Z
- Author: Alexandr Radayev
- Tags: Architecture, Faith, London, Observations, Heritage

In England, the problem of preserving an abandoned church has been solved in its own way: a swimming pool and a gym have opened inside a Victorian church. Repton Park in Redbridge is considered one of the most beautiful swimming pools in London. In 1892 the site was occupied by a psychiatric hospital, which was converted into a health club, while the vaulted Gothic chapel of the former medical institution became the pool. Staff say that once the interior fittings had been dismantled they were allowed to take home the church pews, pulpits and parts of the altar; some turned them into bookshelves and cupboards, while others put them to uses closer to their original purpose.

The demolition of dilapidated churches of the 18th and 19th centuries has become an everyday matter in Europe, so one can only praise the ingenuity of the people who found a way to save this church building from destruction. That the church has lost its proper function is another conversation entirely, but if you have ever seen churches falling to ruin in neglect, with trees sprouting through their walls and a collapsed roof laying the interiors open to the licence of the elements, it would hardly be reasonable to object to a swimming pool within these walls. All the more so as our own country has its sorry story of a swimming pool on the site of a church...