Nude Bathing

Things to Consider           Teachers Notes

The station lies a considerable distance from the town, and especially from the eastern parts of it. We made our way first of all to a cliff upon the west side of the large cove on which the town and small tidal harbour lie. From seats, provided in liberal number about Torquay, we had a fine view of the bay and coast, stretching far out on the right hand, as well as of the harbour and town, the business part of which lies down below, while, on the east side, the houses and villas, embosomed among foliage, stretch away up the sides and crown the tops of precipitous cliffs, some of them rising abruptly and picturesquely to a height which it taxes one’s limbs to reach, notwithstanding the aid furnished in part by stairs. We then ventured the ascent, and passing the large Imperial Hotel, in which when in Torquay before I had my quarters …

But owing to the intense heat it was hardly safe, notwithstanding the elevation, to sit out in the sun. It is not always hot in Torquay. A friend who had spent a winter there has told me that occasionally they experienced very cold winds. The warmest part of the town is down below, and there are hotels there for the winter invalids, but it is so sheltered that it must be unbearably hot in summer within doors. As we passed along the road at this part, a number of working men (it was Saturday afternoon) whisked off their clothes at the wall on the beach and ran like savages to the water, which is not well adapted for bathing. When living at the Imperial Hotel I bathed before breakfast from a little shed erected on the shore nearly below the hotel for the convenience of bathers who can swim. The air (at 7 a.m.) was then cold but the water was warm. No charge was made for the shed, but twopence if a box shut in by a door were used.

This is an extract from Our English Shores by W Miller 1888, a book on English resorts.

Glossary:

• embosomed among: surrounded by
• notwithstanding the elevation: apart from the height