May 26
lauraballBeside The Seaside Blog British, Coast, Coastal, Entertainment, Frivolity, History, Mutoscope, Ocean, Resort, Risque, Sea, Seaside
Why do so many men fish from the beach near Lowestoft when they catch so little? “They just want to be in a place where they have the world behind them, and before them nothing but emptiness” wrote W G Sebald in his book The Rings of Saturn. In my opinion, when it comes to Lowestoft thats the best place to have it, behind you and out of sight! However, I was reminded of this quote when flicking through this months Coast Magazine and it got me thinking about why people still flock to our coastline. We are, after all, inherently an island nation so perhaps our genes naturally gravitate towards the sea but has it’s appeal remained the same as it has always been? What has kept us British so interested in our beaches and seaside resorts?… I have already discussed in a previous blog the beliefs of the ocean and sea air’s health giving powers but as seaside resorts and social attitudes evolved, so did the coasts appeal.
In 1924 The Sunlight League was established, indicating that medical attention had turned away from sea bathing to sun bathing and therefore by the 1930′s tanning had firmly gripped the nation. Laws regarding gender segregation and modesty were dropped and the seaside was no longer a place for prudence and “proper” ladies. It was then, in the 30′s, that the common sight of women in bathing suits and quite often even less was emerging. You could say there was no longer a need for those slot machine telescopes which lined the promenades. Shockingly, the earliest evidence of moral deterioration at the coast can be seen as early as 1860 in a sketch by Thomas Rowlandson. It portrays Scarborough beach in the distance with the cliffs in the foreground exposing turning telescopes spying on the naked dippers. Therefore, even with the segregation of the sexes (which lasted over 100 years in selected resorts) prurience and voyeuristic attitudes were a part of seaside resorts from their outset. After all, what else do you do on holiday if you can’t relax and have fun?
One of my favorite forms of seaside entertainment has to be the What The Butler Saw mutoscopes, showing risque flip books of peep shows and through the key hole images. Musical and comical performances quickly replaced pretentious orchestras, beauty contests began to take place on piers, Punch and Judy shows were in even shown inland and hotels were increasingly used for open sexual relations. George Orwell once said that crude comedy and frivolity was a “staple of seaside entertainment” and this it true. The double entendre entertainment implies a common background with all visitors to the seaside, the only difference is upper class holiday makers were a little bit more reserved. As you can see this soon changed. I do think therefore, that the British seaside has always been an attraction to holiday makers because of it’s ability to break down social attitudes and boundaries. Whilst on holiday people, whether they are from the Victorian era, inter-war times or the twenty first century will always act more garish and will never fail to let their hair down.
In answer to my initial question then, the seaside’s appeal hasn’t changed and W G Sebald was correct in thinking that people go to the coast to face their back on the world. But in doing so they also created a new world of fun, frivolity and risque past times that we all still enjoy now-a-days. We may have lost the true meaning of the Punch and Judy tale and Donald McGill’s naughty postcards may not be as outrageous as they once were but they never fail to still raise a cheeky smile.
May 18
lauraballBeside The Seaside Blog Childhood, Coast, Council, Cromer, Donkey, East, East Anglia, Entertainment, History, Holiday, Memory, News, Ocean, Ride, Sea, Seaside
This new blog post has come about sooner than I imagined. I was planning on blogging every Sunday during my long cliff top walk with the dog. However, in the light of recent news I just had to write about it… “Donkeys Banned from Cromer Beach”. A mother of three living in the traditional seaside town famous for Cromer crabs has proposed to run a donkey ride service on the wonderfully sandy beach. However, according to tourism officials at The North Norfolk District Council they do “not fit with what the town has to offer” and are not safe… This is the most ridiculous thing I have ever heard! My morning was nearly spilt all over my lap when I heard the news reader.
Donkey rides have been a traditional feature of the British seaside resort since as early as 1895 when the first rides began in Bridlington. These brightly coloured donkeys originally were heavy lifting draught animals working in the cockle picking industries around our coastline. However, as tourists flocked to the seaside to soak up the salty air and sea water their purpose quickly changed. With the segregation of the sexes on the seashore the donkeys, chosen because of their quiet dispositions, were used by the upper class lady visitors who were pulled in small carriages led by small boys dressed up as coach men. This allowed the gentle folk to take in all the seaside has to offer without doing anything as undignified as walking. From 1918 the post-war boom created more employment for the masses and as a result rising wages for the previously pauperised working classes allowed for more affordable travel to the coast. With this new financial freedom the population of key resorts such as Brighton shot up to well over 80,000. Inevitably to make room for a sudden influx of holiday makers men and women began mixing on the beaches and slowly segregated class areas within resorts emerged. After all, you can’t expect a respected member of the community to ride in their carriage past less fortunate folks can you?
During the 1920′s along with the increasingly relaxed social attitudes regarding women’s domestic rights the British seaside was transforming. Women in scantly clad fashions exposing their knees and arms rendered the bathing machines and donkey drawn carriages obsolete. Purpose built beach huts were erected to give the upper classes a home from home on their holidays. It was then that children started to ride donkeys for entertainment and more risque forms of adult entertainment emerged from the woodwork. From mutoscopes and naughty postcards to end of the pier shows.
Even before the emergence of the great British seaside holiday donkeys were a part of our coastal fishing towns. I live a stones throw from Cromer and at low tide scuttling crabs and shellfish are plentiful so I am pretty certain that donkeys would have been used in the past to save fishermen’s backs when landing their daily catch. It therefore seems absolutely absurd to me, I’m sure you will agree, that donkeys have been banned from the beach! Have those council officials never been to the seaside?! They truly do not know what they are missing. All I can say is health and safety in this country has gone mad!
May 16
lauraballBeside The Seaside Blog Bathing, Beach, Blog, British, Childhood, Coast, English, History, Holiday, Holidays, Industrial Revolution, Ocean, Railway, Sea, Seaside, Steam, Victorian
When asked to write a blog for Beside The Seaside Holidays because of our love of the British seaside I thought what better place to start than at the beginning. We all have fond memories of childhood holidays beside the sea however, the great British seaside used to be a remarkably different place to how we know it today. The first seaside resort literally sprung up in 1626 when a lady named Mrs Farrow discovered a fresh water spring emitting from the cliff edge. It was quickly hailed that this spring “cleanses the stomach, opens the lungs, cures asthma and scurvy, purifies the blood, cures jaunders both yellow and black, and the leprosy” and by the early 1700′s drinking sea water for its medicinal properties brought the first seaside resort that we all know today as Scarborough. As a result of Dr Richard Russell’s “Dissertation on the use of Sea Water” doctors prescribed trips to the coast as a cure for all manner of ailments and alongside experiencing the fresh coastal air the popularity of sea bathing sky rocketed. Wouldn’t it be amazing to be shipped off to a quaint seaside cottage on strict doctors orders to do nothing all week?!
Bathing machines, like those red and white striped tents used on the gorgeous sandy beach in the classic childhood film Chitty Chitty Bang Bang originated in the mid 1700′s. Initially they had wheels and were dragged up and down the beaches by horses to enable men and women (who bathed separately to preserve a ladies modesty, of course) to be ritualistically submerged into the salty sea, rather like a baptism. The cost of bathing was extortionate and therefore, mostly an upper class past time and due to the expensive accommodation by the sea inevitably the seaside was the place to be. Even royalty spent their summers in grand coastal homes and built royal gardens and grand promenades. The study of botany and collecting sea shells quickly became popular and lavish dance halls were built for exclusive Victorian balls. The first seaside pier was built at Ryde, Isle of Wight in 1813 and was used as a landing strip for excursion boats, much like it is today. With the development of the industrial revolution, by the 1850′s the railway had already transformed 9000 kilometers of British countryside and access to the coast was becoming increasingly easy. A number of seaside resorts were opened up to more and more people and Brighton was emerging as the most popular holiday destination of the time. The great British Holiday was firmly on the British calender.
I have many childhood memories of seaside holidays despite having lived by the sea my whole life and like those at Beside the Seaside Holidays the UK coast is in my heart, I simply could not be without the sea air and sound of the waves in my ears. As a result my entire university degree was centered around the seaside and over the next few weeks I will be giving you a, hopefully, entertaining journey through the history of seaside resorts and all things associated with the seaside.
From sea bathing, the naughty postcard and Punch and Judy, to more modern portrayals of how we know the seaside. In this current economic climate we need to gather the troops and give the seaside holiday a much needed revival!
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