Local Learning are delighted to be revisiting the Jacobs Wells community, supporting Trinity Community Arts with their National Lottery Heritage Fund programme to bring Jacobs Wells Baths back into civic and cultural use.

“We’re now working to repair and restore the building into a vibrant, multi-purpose community, arts and heritage hub, reconnecting it with the people it was built to serve.”

This time the focus is on its more recent history as a dance centre. Working with local schools and colleges, we are gathering memories about dancing at the baths.

About the project

Building on our earlier National Lottery Heritage Funded
project, Washing in the Well which explored the history of the
Baths and surrounding neighbourhood through community
storytelling and mapping, this phase 2025-2026 focused on
dance heritage, civic memory and accessibility, reflecting the
building’s longer history as public baths and more recently as
Bristol Community Dance Centre. Working with communities
associated with Jacobs Wells Baths, local schools, colleges,
university students and accessibility practitioners, the
project explores how heritage can be co-produced across
generations.

Partnership & legacy

The project builds on over a decade of collaboration
between Local Learning and University of the West of England,
alongside schools and community partners. It connects to wider Local Learning projects exploring mapping, displacement, and civic memory across Bristol, including work in St Pauls, Easton and Southmead.

Documents

Alongside Local Learning’s final report, project reports by UWE Masters Architecture placement students are shared below. These provide an insight into our work with Willow Park and Hotwells primary schools, City of Bristol College and wider community sharing memories of dancing in the well.