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

Picture coming soon…

The photo above shows the view north-east from the patio of Clock Cafe, South Bay, Scarborough (s.p.b.).South Cliff Gardens is in fact an amalgamation of a number of ‘garden’ areas that were created below the Esplanade at various points of time. To catalogue these separate points from north to south: the gardens above and either

Today’s picture is taken from George Poulson’s History of Holderness and is an illustration of Hedon church as seen from the north. As G.E. Scott’s restoration of Hedon church was not carried-out until the 1860s Poulson’s illustration shows the church prior to that restoration; although the more obvious changes to the fabric, such as the