Nowadays, we rush to the beach, excitedly peel off the clothes and dive madly into the water, and crash into the salty waves without caring how many people are watching us.
However, this scenario was not possible back in Victorian times. You would’ve to change clothes in a little invention known as the bathing machine. The bathing machines were basically wooden carts with doors on either side that allowed bathers to wear bathing suits without having to be seen by men.
The four-wheeled box was roofed, and they had solid wooden walls; they were rolled out to the sea by horse or sometimes human power and hauled back in when the beachgoer signaled to the driver by raising a small flag attached to the roof. Some beach resorts even offered the service of a “dipper,” a person of the same sex who would escort the beachgoer out to sea in the cart and essentially push them into the water take them out when they were done.
These bathing machines were popular in the 18th and 19th centuries; according to some sources, the first bathing machine was developed in 1750 in Margate Kent. They remained active until the 1890s; they were also used as stationary changing rooms for some years. Most of them had disappeared in the United Kingdom by 1914.
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