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Source: Skegness Herald 27th February 1885

An extraordinary revelation of a piece of Victorian social history. A bizarre Ran Tan ritual was performed in Skegness to express indignation when a fellow resident of the village was declared a ‘wife beater’. The Skegness Herald conjures up a vivid picture of the Victorian custom in this excellently written article.

Ran TanningOn Monday evening last as unusual occurence took place in the vicinity of the Sea View Lane end.
In consequence of one of the residents of that locality beating his wife, it was resolved that a ‘ran tan’ should take place.
At about eight o’clock men, boys and even women, to the number of about 100 assembled.
Old buckets, tins, trays, kettles, pots and pans, and everything conceivable article that would produce a sound, was brought into requisition.
The whole of the party then marched in procession to the immediate neighbourhood of the unhappy “wife-beater’s” residence, singing as they proceeded “Wait till the clouds roll by, Jemmie” and an incessant “din” was set forth.
This was indulged in for some length of time, and after the noise had somewhat subsided, the leader stepped forward and delivered a short address, in which he cautioned the culprit not to again commit the offence.
Three hearty cheers followed, and volleys representing an incessant roll of musketry, were fired on the pots, pans, etc., and the crowd shortly afterwards dispersed.
The proceedings were carried on with unflagging spirit the following two nights.
On Tuesday evening an effigy of the transgressor was carried about shoulder high, and on the Wednesday evening the man himself was brought out and marched through the streets accompanied by his effigy and about two hundred followers, and the effigy was afterwards committed to the flames of an immense fire in a field close by.

Victorian Steam Thresher at Church Farm Museum Skegness
Preserving our National Heritage

Grain from corn has many uses including making bread, beer and feeding to animals. But first, the grain has to be extracted from the straw and chaff, This is called ‘threshing’.
Hundreds of years ago, people used to thresh corn by beating by hand. This was a very time consuming and tiring job.
During the reign of Queen Victoria the threshing drum was invented, allowing the threshing process to be completed much more quickly. The threshing drum in the photographs below and in the video, was made by Hornsby and is over a hundred years old.
Periodically, Church Farm Museum in Skegness re-creates the whole process exactly as it would have been in Victorian times.
The images depict the sequence of the process, and the video shows not only the machines in action, but the sounds that the steam engine and thresher made.

This steam engine which powered the whole process was made pre world war 1 in 1909.
There is an interview with Paul Copeland, the Engine Master in the video, where he tells us more about the engine.
Once fired up, the steam engine drives a belt which is attached to the thresher.Farm workers feed the harvested corn, fresh from the fields, into the top of the threshing machine.

The thresher separates the corn grains from the chaff and the hay.

The grains of corn are collected in a bucket….

….and the hay is ejected from the back of the machine.

A farm worker then collects the hay and loads it onto the blades of the baler.
The rotating blades draw the straw in…..

…..and neatly formed bales are produced at the back. These bales are then trained onto a cart where another farm worker stacks them neatly, ready for dispatch.

Diagram of the Threshing Drum

The Victorian Blacksmith at Church Farm Museum Skegness
Preserving our National Heritage

The museum at Church Farm exhibits artifacts of trades which were popular in and before Victorian times.
Periodically, the museum actually re-creates the trades and here that of the Victorian Blacksmith is demonstrated.
The images on this page are captured frames from the video below.

The blacksmith making a horseshoe…

….and hammering the holes in it.

The blacksmith putting the final holes in the horseshoe.

Source: Skegness Standard 26th October 1932

Photo: Charles Smythe

A description of the 1905 ‘Battle of Flowers’ carnival event in Skegness.

Charles Smythe was the first photographer in Skegness. He died in 1910 and is buried in St Clements Church yard.

More pictures of the Battle of Flowers.

Source: Skegness News 28th February 1988
Photos: supplied by Mr John Holland

Skegness man John Holland has come up with an intriguing portfolio of rare photographs of Gibraltar Point as it was.
Although the history of Skegness itself is well documented, little is known of Gibraltar Point - particularly in the early part of this century.
Mr Holland has idyllic memories of the times he spent there as a youngster, playing, with his sister, Joan.
Home was the former Ship Inn, which is often referred to as Gibraltar House, where his father ran a smallholding.
Since Gibraltar Point was taken over as a nature reserve by the Lincolnshire and South Humberside Trust for Nature Conservation, records have been kept of activities.
Now Mr Holland is considering writing a book about its early days.
“It is a facinating place with its own store of secrets,” he says. “I think most visitors would be intrigued to know more of its rich history.

This is a rare photo of the Ship Inn, or Gibraltar House as it was familliary known. During its 300-year history, it was almost certainly used by smugglars who ventured up the Haven with their illicit cargoes. It was home for Mr Wilf Holland and his family until it finally began to disintegrate.

Wilf Holland used to run a horse-and-cab service into town from Gibraltar Point. One of them had a narrow escape when it was washed out to sea by a particularly high tide. It was eventually recovered, plastered in mud, at Friskney!

Alongside the Ship Inn, there was formerly a cafe where mineral waters, chocolate, cigarettes and the like were on sale. The cafe, which was eventually lost in a fire,has been moved from its original site on North Parade to make way for the building of the Warwick Hotel. Pictured is Mr John Holland’s grandmother, Mrs Paul (right) with some of her wares.