Dove Marine Laboratory & Salt Water Baths

The original Dove Marine Laboratory building was constructed by the Northumberland Sea Fisheries Committee and opened on 21 October 1897. The laboratory exterior was merely a wooden hut next to the Salt Water Baths, which had been erected around 1807 by a Richard Armstrong. The Salt Water Baths were positioned in an area where no fresh water could mix with the sea water and weaken its strength, and were refilled every tide to avoid infection. The baths had four bathrooms and dressing rooms. The Marine Laboratory was built to undertake scientific studies into the Northumberland coast fishery to help increase its prosperity. In 1904 a fire destroyed the buildings. In September 1908 a new Marine Laboratory opened, thanks to local benefactor Mr W.H. Huddleston, who named the building after his ancestor Eleanor Dove. The Dove Marine Laboratory still carries out coastal research . In the public aquarium there was a tank or pond, and eleven tanks of various sizes along three of the walls. Outside the building large storage tanks for sea-water were built. The tanks and the foundations of the building were constructed in ferro-concrete. LOCAL LIST