As promised, the first of three blogs on the above interrupting the run on Descriptions of Hull.
The picture above, taken this morning, shows the sandy upper beach and rocky lower beach at low tide, taken from the promenade at the north end of Whitley Bay leading to St. Mary’s island and lighthouse (see later). The sandy beach is backed by boulder clay cliffs, reminiscent of the Holderness coast, containing boulders of the close-strata sandstone-like bedrock visible in places beneath the boulder clay, this suggesting that the ice sheet of the last Ice Age (Devensian) plucked rocks from the same location as where they are now being deposited by coastal erosion.
In the centre-left distance is Spanish City, a prominent building on the centre of the town’s ‘links’ front. Originally built in 1910 in the style of a larger building on Blackpool prom. and in a Moorish style of architecture (southern Spain) but also so named because its predecessor structure had paintings of Spanish scenes. Until the 1980s there was an open-air funfair alongside the building on the links to the north (inside the present building are old photos of the site). However by the late 1990s the whole complex was in poor repair and the funfair demolished. By the turn of the century the dancehall and other parts of Spanish City were in an advanced state of disrepair and for some years it was closed. Eventually North Tyneside Council achieved a funding package to restore the complex, the restored building opened in 2018. In the central part of the building the area below the dome is open to its underside (very impressive) with a first-floor diameter walkway. The facade faces the sea with the town’s war memorial and gardens separating it from the beach giving open access to the cafe/restaurent facilities.
The whole restoration has been done to a very high standard.
Unfortunately North-East Lincs. Council didn’t follow suite and had the Winter Gardens building demolished.