…..and the bathing machine
The key to the continuing success of the seaside resorts was the social,
cultural and recreational facilities, which they offered. The healthy
properties of sea air, sea bathing and seawater drinking were already
widely known by 1750, particularly in Brighton. Many seaside visitors
had never even seen the sea before and were naturally terrified of it.
Bathing
machines, which probably appeared around 1750, provided the answer, supplying
both security and privacy. Men’s and women’s bathing machines occupied
different parts of the beach. Mixed bathing was strictly taboo! The machines
themselves were built in a similar way to coaches, but stronger and higher
so that they could withstand the waves in windy weather. Entrance to the
machines was gained, via a platform at the front, into a dressing room
fitted with a bench on either side upon which the bathers could undress.
Five or six people could be accommodated in one machine. The sides and
top were framed and covered in canvas. The horse-drawn machines were taken
out into the water to the depth required by the bathers, who then descended
into the water concealed from the public gaze by a large canvas umbrella
let down by the driver, using a rope at the front of the machine, until
it touched the water forming a bath about 10’ long by 6’ wide. Men and
women guides attended when requested, some becoming local celebrities.
Martha Gunn, employed at Brighton for 70 years, was probably the most
famous.
From the 1760s, a number of resorts were establishing hot and cold seawater
baths as an alternative to open bathing in the sea. By the early 19th
century these were becoming increasingly lavish. Those at Ramsgate were
of white marble, the dressing rooms fitted with every convenience, and
the saloon, furnished with newspapers and periodicals, commanded delightful
views all around the coast. There were also shower baths and vapour baths,
which could produce medicated vapour if required. Water was pumped in
directly from the sea and the building was heated by steam that, it was
said, diffused the heat so equally over the whole building that even on
the coldest days it had all the warmth of a summer day.
Bathing
machines, which probably appeared around 1750, provided the answer, supplying
both security and privacy. Men’s and women’s bathing machines occupied
different parts of the beach. Mixed bathing was strictly taboo! The machines
themselves were built in a similar way to coaches, but stronger and higher
so that they could withstand the waves in windy weather. Entrance to the
machines was gained, via a platform at the front, into a dressing room
fitted with a bench on either side upon which the bathers could undress.
Five or six people could be accommodated in one machine. The sides and
top were framed and covered in canvas. The horse-drawn machines were taken
out into the water to the depth required by the bathers, who then descended
into the water concealed from the public gaze by a large canvas umbrella
let down by the driver, using a rope at the front of the machine, until
it touched the water forming a bath about 10’ long by 6’ wide. Men and
women guides attended when requested, some becoming local celebrities.
Martha Gunn, employed at Brighton for 70 years, was probably the most
famous.