[3] Tumbling Bay was the second, after Fiddler's Island near Port Meadow, public bathing space in Oxford to be authorised by the County Council.

The men-only status lasted until 1892 when women, in an historic first for Oxford, were granted permission by the council to bathe free of charge.

[7] In 1881 John Salter, in his book The River Thames: A Guide, stated the Tum was a "fine public bathing place".

[10] Tumbling Bay was closed officially in 1990, though swimmers often used it subsequently, and the concrete pools and the foundations of the changing rooms remained.

[13] In 2007 the body of a 15-year-old boy was found at Tumbling Bay, after falling into the River Thames in Port Meadow.