WHERE VICTORIANA STILL RULES THE WAVES
From Blackpool to Brighton, those early seaside visitors certainly left their mark
ICONS BLACKPOOL TOWER
If the Lancashire resort had become diminished by the 20th century, its 19th-century star remains as bright as ever. An unapologetic quasi-Eiffel, Blackpool Tower (theblackpooltower.com) tips its hat to Paris in 518ft of steel and iron – as it has since 1894. And its Tower Ballroom has a modern relevance – having hosted recent finals of Strictly Come Dancing.
BOURNEMOUTH BEACH HUTS
A by-product of Victorian morality, the beach hut has developed from a wooden device to protect the privacy of the swimmer changing inside into a chic, secure base for a day (or summer) by the sea. Bournemouth has some fine examples along its seven miles of sand, 250 of which are available to be rented (bournemouth.co.uk/things-to-do/beach-hut-hire).
SPANISH CITY
Technically Edwardian, but an aftereffect of the Victorian boom (so-named because it was said to resemble a Spanish village), this former tea room has been an indelible part of Whitley Bay since 1910 – so much so that it is lovingly mentioned in the 1980 Dire Straits song Tunnel of Love. It was converted into a restaurant in 2018 (spanishcity.co.uk).
SNAEFELL MOUNTAIN RAILWAY
“British Isles” rather than “British”, the Isle of Man nonetheless embraced the Victorian holiday era. Its capital Douglas bloomed on its east coast, but it was this epic engineering feat (see manxelectricrailway.co.uk) that raised pulses and altitude when it was finished in 1895, dragging tourists up five miles of track to the summit of the island (at 2,036ft).
ABERYSTWYTH CLIFF RAILWAY
The same geography-conquering principle applies to this splendid survivor, which fights its way up Constitution Hill via 778ft of track and a maximum gradient of 50 per cent. It was launched in 1896, designed to help lure tourists to Cardiganshire. It worked – partly thanks to the camera obscura that waited at the top (aberystwythcliffrailway.co.uk).
PALACES
GRAND HOTEL (BRIGHTON)
Ensnared by infamy in the IRA attempt to assassinate Margaret Thatcher in one of its 201 rooms, the Grand (grandbrighton.co.uk) traces its tale back far further than 1984’s bomb attack. It opened its doors in 1864 as a haven for a sophisticated clientele sunning itself on the south coast – and has maintained its finesse ever since. Double rooms start at £105.
GRAND HOTEL (SCARBOROUGH)
Another Grand affair (britanniahotels. com), on the Yorkshire coast, this Scarborough landmark was the largest hotel in Europe when it appeared in 1867. Its design nodded its head to a calendar year – four towers for the seasons, 12 floors, 52 chimneys, 365 rooms. Renovation has cut that to 280 – but its Grade II listed status is merited. Doubles for £29.
ROYAL HOTEL (WEYMOUTH)
This Dorset town was a holiday resort long before Victoria’s ascension – popularised by George III’s regular visits in the 18th century to breathe deeply of its restorative air. But its main hotel (bespokehotels.com) is pure Victoriana – piled high of Portland stone and red brick in 1899. Historic England categorises it as a “forceful building”. Doubles from £89.
► May the force be with you: the Royal Hotel in Weymouth
► Good as new: Dunoon Pier in Argyll and Bute has been renovated
KNOCKINAAM LODGE (PORTPATRICK)
This luxury retreat (knockinaamlodge. com) on the flank of Dumfries and Galloway offers a delightfully Scottish take on the Victorian age. It was built as a hunting lodge in 1869, and is said to have hosted Winston Churchill and Dwight Eisenhower in the run-up to D-Day. Both eras may be visible in the embers of the fire in its lounge. Doubles from £380.
PIERREMONT HALL (BROADSTAIRS)
A stately home at the north-east corner of Kent, Pierremont Hall has little to do with the Victorian era – it was constructed in 1785 – but everything to do with Victoria, who slept in it during her summer visits with her mother, between 1826 and 1836 (her final year as a princess). Carefully restored, it can be hired as a wedding venue (pierremonthall.co.uk).
PIERS
SOUTHEND PIER
Kicking an Essex leg out into the Thames Estuary, Southend Pier (southendpier.co.uk) has been a big deal for a long time. Its iron incarnation was the longest such structure in the world when it was finished in 1889. It remains so, opening its arms to 1.3 miles.
QUEEN’S PIER (RAMSEY)
Though far shorter – 2,160ft, as it spears out from this resort at the top of the Isle of Man’s east coast – the Queen’s Pier works to the same blueprint as its Essex counterpart, a tram running down its middle. Or it did. This 1886 veteran was padlocked in 1990. But a restoration campaign is under way (ramseypier.im).
GRAND PIER (WESTON-SUPER-MARE)
If this 1,200ft Somerset siren (grandpier.co.uk) is Edwardian by birth (1904), it was also a reply to a Victorian catalyst – Birnbeck Pier, which stepped out into the Bristol Channel in 1867, but rarely pleased the locals, who wanted a tourist-magnet nearer the heart of town. Birnbeck closed in 1994.
CLEETHORPES PIER
Compare photos of this Lincolnshire relic as it was (it opened in 1873) with its condition in 2021 and you may notice a crucial fact. It is shorter now (335ft) than it was then (1,200ft). Two thirds of it were severed during the war, for fear of German troops landing on it. It soldiers on, as a fish-and-chips emporium (piers.org.uk/pier/cleethorpes).
DUNOON PIER
Out on the Cowal Peninsula of Argyll and Bute, Dunoon Pier (piers.org.uk/ pier/dunoon) is a rare beast. A creature of 1835, it owes its unusual shape to expansion work in 1881 and 1895.
GHOSTS WEST PIER (BRIGHTON)
While many would see it restored to its original 1866 glory, Brighton’s West Pier (westpier.co.uk) has taken on a beauty in death (it was shut down in 1975, and devoured by fire in 2003). Indeed, glimpse it on a cold East Sussex morning, its charred skeleton skulking in the mist, and it makes the surviving Palace Pier (1899) yards away seem rather gaudy.
SOUTHWOLD RAILWAY
There were but eight miles and 50 years to the story of this 1879 phantom, which carried tourists to the Suffolk resort from the main line at Halesworth. But memories are fond enough that a restoration group (southwoldrailway. co.uk) wants to revive it. You can find hiking trails that follow its scent (waveneyramblers.org.uk/guides/ Guide_Southwold.pdf ).
WINTER GARDENS (GREAT YARMOUTH)
This Grade II listed venue, a feast of cast iron, has rarely had an easy time of it. Built in Torquay between 1878 and 1881, it bankrupted its owners in Devon, and was transposed to Yarmouth by barge in 1903. It fared much better in Norfolk, but changing tastes have seen it shuttered since 2008. Attempts to restore it are genuine – but still at an early stage.
WINTER GARDENS (MORECAMBE)
The name is the same on the Lancashire shore, and so is the sad tale. Morecambe’s Grade II listed theatrical temple was crafted in 1897, and was busy for many years. But it shut in 1977, and a partial reopening has brought only irregular events. However, a restoration campaign is in full swing; you can even sponsor a seat (morecambewintergardens.co.uk).
OSBORNE HOUSE
Not, per se, the palace near Cowes where Victoria spent her Isle of Wight summers, but the bathing machine from which she took her regal dips. It is still there, at the edge of the estate, on the cusp of the Solent; a green-planked, black-wheeled echo of a strange period when women (even empresses) could be neither seen nor heard (english-heritage.org.uk).