SkegnessRevisited.com
Skegness History, Family History and Genealogy
Why would anyone want to revisit Skegness?
The popular view of Skegness is perhaps that of a brash, modern holiday
resort, it is easy to forget that it was once a rather charming
Victorian seaside village. But perhaps more interestingly, it was a
Victorian seaside village which was beginning to develop as a Victorian
holiday resort.
Although there were amusements during this period of development, by
modern standards they were simple amusements. By modern standards, the
Victorians were easily amused. But for many visitors, even these simple
amusements were superfluous, it was sufficiently satisfying to be at
the seaside, to see the sea - perhaps for the first time in their
lives, and to breathe the sea air.
An account of Victorian Skegness is an account of Victorian society
during its periods of leisure, or rather its periods of leisure at the
seaside.
Why should this interest us, why should this make us want to revisit
Skegness if we have never been there before?
Well, there is an argument that a society which is aware of its
history, its culture, is also aware of the kind of society that it
wants - it knows where it is going. Conversely, a society which isn't
aware of its
history and its culture isn't aware of the kind of society that it
wants - it doesn't
know where it is going.
Isn't the first kind of society preferable to the second?
By Paul Gooch
Paul Gooch is the
editor of Skegness
Revisited, a future series of publications which
will capture
the historical events and the human interest stories which took place
in Skegness during the Victorian age and the following decades.
