These simple wooden vehicles (basically four-wheeled sheds) were a result of the radical new fascination with the sea. Prior to this, no one but fishermen and smugglers used the beach but when doctors began to prescribe the cold sea salt bath as the latest ‘cure-all’ remedy royalty and the rich and famous "Took to the waters" for total body immersion. Before long entire families were taking to the sea.
"Mermaids at Brighton" by William Heath (1795 - 1840), c. 1829.
Depicts women sea-bathing with bathing machines at Brighton.
It wasn’t long after that the 'bathing machine’ was invented to offer greater privacy. In its original form the horse drawn carriage was towed into the sea, allowing bathers (primarily women) to change into swimwear and access the water without being seen in public, adhering to strict social codes regarding modesty. For inexperienced swimmers (which would have been most Victorian women in their billowing swimwear), some resorts offered the service of a 'dipper', a strong person of the same sex to assist people into the water and yank them out when they were done. In 1789 George III gave royal approval to the new fashion when he took a medicinal bath at Weymouth to the musical accompaniment of ‘God Save the King.’
The rules designed to keep male bathing machines at a set distance from female bathing machines were probably only in force for about 30 years, less in some places, and they were routinely flouted. By the 1890s the call for mixed bathing was getting stronger, not least because this was the norm in northern European as well as American resorts. As it became more acceptable for people to walk across the beach in their bathing costumes, a whole host of stripy changing tents were erected on the Edwardian sands. Around the same time some of the bathing machines began to lose their wheels and other purpose-built day huts began to appear.
In the inter-War period sunbathing was the new fashion and bathing machines, though still lingering on, were outdated and antiquated. New modern-looking blocks of beach huts or chalets were built near to huge lidos and everywhere had to have a sun terrace.
The last of the bathing machines disappeared with the Second World War, and when the beaches had been cleared of barbed wire at the end of hostilities, the holiday makers came back in their millions. The 1950s was the heyday of the beach hut, dedicated fans have been keeping up their huts ever since and today there’s a clear resurgence with spiralling prices and much media interest.
With an estimated 20,000 in the UK, these candy-colored wooden structures evolved from Victorian bathing machines into popular, often expensive privately owned spots for changing, storing equipment, and enjoying the coast.
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