Old Lumley Square Fountain
1st January 1930
This is an interesting article from a 1930 local newspaper.
I particularly like smiling knowingly at predictions or speculations into a ‘future’ which now constitute our past!
The Victorian Fountain pictured below was originally manufactured in Glasgow in 1880. Its first home in Skegness was in Lumley Square outside the Lumley Hotel, as shown in the picture. It was subsequently moved to the Marine Gardens on Grand Parade then, towards the latter end of the 1920s, to the Fairy Dell on South Parade in order to make room for the Piazza, now the Embassy Theatre, and bathing pool.
The 1930 newspaper article speculates what Lumley Square would look like in 1975 – “a public air liner station, with periodical arrivals from …the Continent, America, China and the South Seas”.
I don’t have a photo of Lumley Square in 1975, but from memory, it didn’t look that much different from today – lots of traffic and certainly no chance of standing in the shoes of the original photographer!
The Lumley Square fountain was not situated in at this site in 1975. Now I am not very good at dates so I dont know when, but it was moved to the compass gardens where the Jolly Fisherman fountain is now, and then later in years to the Fairy Dell paddling pool at the side of the boating lake, where it still stands working today. So is a very important part of Skegness history that we still have left, and has stood the test of many changes to the town through the years. Kids of all ages have enjoyed playing around this old lady for decades and it still fulfills the fuction proudly. Ijust hope that it stands another 100 years unless the council decide to let another icon go missing as did with the Lion Statue.