A History of Bathing in Britain

Public bathing in Britain can be retraced to the 1600’s and Roman times, when it first became a popular pastime. Prior to arriving in Britain the Roman’s had already discovered bathing as a leisure activity. Roman manors had their own small private bath houses, which were separate buildings to the main manor, containing baths. They also had public baths, though, which were for the use of the general public. These included hot and cold rooms and extra services such as food, wine, and exercise and personal training. It was a major social activity and one of the few places where different classes mixed and were treated equally. The Romans took this idea with them when they came to Britain, most famously to Bath in Somerset.

Sea bathing in Britain goes back to the eighteenth century. People started to believe that bathing in sea water had health benefits, including curing disease, and started going to the sea to bathe in the 1700’s. It was very different to now though, in particular in terms of the swimwear worn. Women’s swimwear consisted of bathing gowns and men’s swimwear of long swimsuits. For both genders most of the body was covered. Women even used bathing machines to ensure no unnecessary flesh was shown. Bathing machines were wagon type vehicles that were taken out to sea and women would change in them and step straight into the water. This meant they wouldn’t show their bare ankles and lower legs while walking from the beach into the sea. These were in common use until the 1890’s and were still used as stationary changing rooms beyond this time.

Beach resorts originally began to appear in the 1700’s in places such as Blackpool, Southend, Scarborough, Bournemouth and Weymouth. It was the extension of the railways in the 1800’s that increased its popularity and access to the masses. It meant that a much higher proportion of the population had access to the seaside, for example Londoners could visit Brighton. This lead to an explosion of seaside resorts throughout Britain. This was before the time of air travel so few people could travel abroad for holidays, and visiting the sea became the most popular holiday activity for the people of Britain by the early 1900’s. It was seen as a holiday for the working class. Whole towns grew or expanded due to this, with places such as Blackpool and Brighton two good examples. Piers were built and resorts began to have amusement parks, donkey rides and Punch and Judy shows amongst other things. Hotels, Guest Houses and restaurants took over much of Britain’s seaside landscape as beach holidays became big business, as they still are to this day.

Sea bathing has changed a lot since it first became popular and so has the swimwear. Gradually swimsuits that almost covered the entire body have developed into swimming shorts and bikinis as it has become more socially acceptable to show more of the body.

Bathing has changed significantly since the Romans first introduced it to Britain. Back then sea bathing was almost inconceivable but went on to become a key part of summertime culture.

Andrew Marshall ©

Designer Swimwear for Men