Published: 23/08/2024 By David West
David West dips his toe into the history of sea bathing in Weymouth.Visit Weymouth at any time of year and in all weathers, and you will see people enjoying the waters and swimming from all points on the beach.
Weymouth has a rich history of sea bathing, and it was given an extra boost in the 18th century when eminent physician Dr Crane advocated saltwater as a great cure for many ailments. What better place to enjoy the briny benefits than Weymouth?
The town received a further fillip when George III chose the resort to help him recuperate from porphyria, and his Royal visits allowed Weymouth to prosper. The King was also instrumental in popularising bathing machines – essentially, mobile changing rooms that were pulled into the water – and by 1815 it was estimated there were around 40 for hire in Weymouth.
The fashion for bathing machines continued into the Victorian era, allowing men and women to change into their bathing suits and enter the water with their modesty intact. But not everyone approved of the arrangement, as seen in this letter to a local newspaper at the time:
SIR – Would you allow me, through the friendly medium of your columns, to expose a grievance which I, a lone lorn female, and other members of my sex, suffer daily in this place! I will first state that I had been recommended to try sea bathing at Weymouth for the benefit of my health.
I have tried it, and now wish to relate my sad experience thereof. You may judge of my horror when stepping from my machine to find myself surrounded by great fat men, with nothing on but their whiskers!
In the name of all public decorum should this be allowed? We laugh at the manner and custom of foreigners, but would such a thing be allowed for one moment on the Continent?
Not only should no gentlemen’s bathing machines be permitted to be within 400 yards of those allotted to the ladies, instead of being less than 20, as they now are, but in my humble opinion the mermaids of the opposite sex should not deport themselves at all anywhere in the vicinity of the Esplanade after seven o’clock a.m.
Should the authorities decline to take any steps in what I now consider to be a flagrant breach of public decency, I must appeal to the gentlemen themselves and their own sense of delicacy, and so live in hopes of seeing them “clothed and in their right mind.” I am, Sir, yours hopefully, AN OUTRAGED SPINSTER
Come down to Weymouth and enjoy the sheltered bay, but keep your clothes on otherwise there will be more letters to the Editor!
This article is on P62 of Country Matters 2024, which you can find below. Alternatively, please call your nearest Symonds & Sampson office to collect your free copy.