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This will be the last of my posts about the Withernsea Improvement Co.. The drawing/lithograph above shows St. Nicholas church, Withernsea in a state of considerable dereliction, this drawn in the mid 19th century. I think this drawing is included in some editions of Poulson’s book (s.p.b.s), but am not sure. Although not clear in […]

One big part of Bannister’s grand plan (s.p.b.s) was the building of a pier, this considered essential to the success of the project in 1860s. Engineering plans were prepared for an ultra-modern structure but this was rejected on the grounds of economy. The resulting structure was very long for the time but less well built,

The Hull and Holderness Railway Co. was promoted and largely funded by Anthony Bannister, businessman of Hull. He wanted to develop the terminus at Withernsea as an up-market resort and in anticipation of this bought-up large parcels of land in the parish on which his plans would be put into effect, then selling the housing

The photo above is of a painting by a Mr. Gammidge dated 1880 and showing a sailing ship, the Saffron’, which punched a hole through the newly built Withernsea Pier and was then beached south of the Pier. Clearly a sailing ship, the main mast had been lowered pointing to the stern, and with a

When thinking about coastal studies, and resorts in particular, it soon happens that similar histories crop-up in different places, indeed this is why local history alone can fall short.The financial failure of the proposed cliff-top resort at Ravenscar and of the similar project at Withernsea on the Holderness coast is one such example, although Withernsea

Most of the man-made scars on the cliff-face in the coastline north and south of Ravenscar are not the result of the planned gardens of a new resort (s.p.b.s) but a result of the alum open-cast mining along and above the cliffs. Certainly in the 18th and early 19th centuries alum quarrying was a major