Skegness
Encyclopedia
Skegness is a seaside town
and civil parish in the East Lindsey
district of Lincolnshire
, England. Located on the Lincolnshire coast
of the North Sea
, 43 miles (69 km) east of the city of Lincoln
it has a total resident population of 18,910.
The first Butlins holiday resort
was opened in Skegness in 1936. Partially owing to this, the resort is one of the better known seaside resort
s in the United Kingdom.
carries particles of sediment southwards along the Lincolnshire coast
but at Skegness, the sand settles out in banks (tombolo
s) which run at a slight angle to the coast forming the beard. The slightly elevated dune
land sheltered the small natural harbour which the Danes found behind the banks. The finer sediment drifts on to find a home in the mud of The Wash
, beyond Gibraltar Point
.
The civil parish extends westwards along the A158 to the west side of the South View Hotel, and the boundary follows North Drain, bodering with Burgh le Marsh. Just north of Mill Hill, it borders with Addlethorpe, passing to the west of Ash Tree Farm, the airfield and Skegness Water Leisure Park. At the north end of the leisure park it boders with Ingoldmells, and the boundary follows to the south of Wall's Lane. The boundary crosses the A52 at a subway across the road, just south of the Butlins camp.
To the south of the hotel on the A158, the parish follows Main Drain, to the west of Warth Lane. Just south of Ivy House, it crosses the A52 and borders Croft
. The boundary follows Cow Bank Drain, over a level crossing, to the north of Croft Grange, then passes through Bramble Hills, just north of Seacroft Golf Course to the sea.
Skegness enjoys its position on what is officially recognised as 'the drier side of Britain', being the east coast - a fact that has often been used to some advantage in promoting it as a holiday resort.
, Skegness experiences a maritime climate with cool summers and mild winters. Temperature extremes since 1960 have ranged from 32.4 °C (90.3 °F) In August 1990, down to -10.0 C in January 1963. The lowest temperature recorded in recent years was -8.0 C during December 2010.
period of settlement of England although there is no reference to a village named Skegness in the Domesday Book. The town's name means either "Skeggi's headland" or "beard-shaped headland", depending on whether the first element represents the personal name Skeggi (meaning 'bearded one'), one of the Vikings who established the original settlement to the east of the current town which was washed away by the sea in the early sixteenth century; or the Old East Norse word skegg "beard" .
Lying within the historic county boundaries
of Lincolnshire
from a very early time, for governance, the parish of Skegness was in the Marsh division of the ancient Candleshoe
Wapentake in the Parts of Lindsey.
In August 1642, a consignment of arms and money, probably raised by Queen Henrietta Maria, in the Netherlands for the support of King Charles I's
campaign in the Civil War
, was forced into Skegness by the ships of the Parliamentarian Earl of Warwick
.
in 1875. In 1908, Great Northern Railways commissioned a poster to advertise excursions to the resort, the first being from King's Cross, London on Good Friday 1908, leaving London at 11.30 am. The 'Skegness is so Bracing' poster featuring The Jolly Fisherman
helped to put Skegness on the map and is now world famous. The poster, derived from an oil painting by John Hassall (illustrator)
, was purchased by the railway company for the 12 guineas. Paradoxically, Mr Hassall did not visit the resort until 1936. He is said to have died penniless.
Most of the land in what is now the downtown core formed part of the estate of the Earl of Scarbrough
and he, together with his agent H.V.Tippet, realised that the extensive sandy beach could be made attractive to holidaymakers from the industrial towns of the English Midlands, a clientele already developed by Thomas Cook
. He planned the town as a resort from 1877 and it expanded rapidly, but along with many other UK resorts, especially those on the cold North Sea
, it lost out to the cheap package holiday
boom which opened up Spain (in particular) to the average holidaymaker after World War II
currency restrictions were lifted and travellers could leave the UK with more than 50 pounds.
Ingoldmells
, the parish to the north of Skegness, was the site of the UK's first Holiday Camp, started by Billy Butlin
in 1936. Butlins
is still there today, in modern dress, at the north end of the town, on the road to Ingoldmells. It maintains its appeal as a popular destination for family holidays, and attracts thousands to the resort in the low season with music weekends encompassing 60s, 80s, soul and other genres.
at Great Yarmouth
. It later involved many RAF
stations, including RAF Neatishead
, and GCHQ
. The object was not an aircraft because although it could be seen on radar, it had no transponder
. The Skegness News, a local newspaper which no longer exists, investigated the incident and sought confirmation of the object from the Jodrell Bank Observatory. In their report to the RAF, the observatory said that Venus
, ‘the queen of UFOs’, which had been shining with exceptional brilliance in the early morning sky to the east, probably explained the light shown on the video. The object was caught on video by Skegness Police. The RAF decided the stationary 'blip
' was a permanent echo of the 83m tall St Botolph's Church, Boston, and the object on the video was the planet Venus. It coincided with the Westendorff UFO sighting
.
's Great Britain guide as "everything you could want" in a seaside resort. On 22 July 2008 the newly elected Mayor of London
, Boris Johnson
, caused controversy in an article in The Daily Telegraph
, where he declared "Stuff Skegness, my trunks and I are off to the sun", in his desire to have a foreign holiday that year.
The town is popularly known as Skeg, Skeggy, Costa del Skeg or Skegvegas or "the Blackpool
of the East Coast", and has a famous mascot, the Jolly Fisherman (designed by John Hassall
in 1908 for the Great Northern Railway
), and a slogan - "Skegness is so bracing" - a reference to the chilly prevailing north-easterly winds that can and frequently do blow off the North Sea
. The slogan is thought to have come from an unknown member of staff of the railway. The poster was first seen at Easter in conjunction with an excursion from Kings Cross Station. The last of these trips ran in 1913.
Further up the coast are the other holiday resorts of Mablethorpe
, Sutton-on-Sea
, Ingoldmells
and Chapel St Leonards
.
Many of the hotels, guest-houses, self catering apartments and bed & breakfast establishments in and around the Skegness area are members of the "Skegness East Coast and Wolds Hospitality Association" or SECWHA for short. An association formed in April 2008 after the merging of two previous associations known as "The Skegness Hoteliers Association", consisting of Hotel, bed and breakfast and guest house accommodation providers and the "Skegness Self Catering Association", consisting of holiday flats, chalet and caravan parks.
However, Skegness, like many UK resorts, has suffered in recent years due to the increase in cheap foreign package holidays over staying at home. Its past two summer seasons have been marred by rain, and in the 18 months leading up to the end of 2008, the resort had suffered the destruction by fire of three of its most popular attractions - The Dunes pub at Winthorpe, the Parade Complex which housed a nightclub, bar and amusement arcade, and most recently a seafront building housing two bars and a fish-and-chip shop.
's family. St Matthew's church of Early English Gothic
style is on Lumley Avenue, being built by the Earl of Scarbrough in 1879, and [St Clement's] is on Church Road North. Tower Gardens, previously known as the Pleasure Gardens, opened in 1878 after being generously donated by the Earl of Scarbrough. The gardens have events during the summer.
Skegness had a 1,843 foot (562 m) long pier which was opened on Whit Monday
1881, at that time it was the fourth longest in England. Steamboat trips ran from the pier to The Wash and Hunstanton
in Norfolk
from 1882 until 1910. In 1919, it was damaged by a drifting ship, the schooner Europa, and it took twenty years to raise the money to fully repair it. In 1978 the pier was badly damaged and considerably shortened; this time by severe gales
. The pier has since undergone major refurbishment and is now once again a thriving tourist attraction, although it no longer extends far seaward of the high tide line.
s - the all-weather Lincolnshire Poacher and a smaller dinghy-style inshore boat. The town has a long and rich lifeboat history. The Coastguard
have a base on the town's industrial estate.
Two miles (3 km) out to sea is an offshore drilling
platform for gas, and clearly visible from the beach - and indeed several miles further inland - is the large Lynn and Inner Dowsing Wind Farm
operated by Centrica
. A larger windfarm further out to sea had been proposed.
and Tesco
supermarkets and a smaller Iceland store all located in the centre of the town near the railway station. There is also a Co-op
store in the Hildreds shopping centre and the Westgate department store on Lumley Road.
of neon and flashing lights advertising arcade machines, slot machines, fairground rides, crazy golf, fish-and-chip shops and various bars. The Embassy Theatre is the East Coast's Premier Entertainment venue on Grand Parade, Skegness.
On 16 August 2007, a huge fire hit an entertainment complex on the Skegness front, wiping out the town's main nightclub and a large amusement arcade. No-one was injured but the severity of the fire meant that the complex had to be demolished. There are now plans to build a hotel on the site.
In the latter part of 2008, another fire broke out at a building a little further along the seafront. This time, pubs and a fish-and-chip shop were gutted.
Skegness has an annual carnival in August, along with a week-long programme of events throughout the town. East Lindsey
District Council used to operate the carnival procession, but they handed over control of the event to a group of volunteers who now run it on a smaller scale.
Skegness is also host to the annual SO Festival, July's largest music and arts festival, which it now combines with the switch-on of the seafront illuminations.
. Campaigners including doctors, nurses, business people, journalists and councillors marched through the streets and held up the traffic, then later called for the resignations of the PCT board members after they turned down a £100,000 donation offered by East Lindsey District Council to enable the ward to remain open through the winter. The PCT said the donation would "impinge" on its duties, and could be considered "unlawful" if accepted. The ward re-opened in 2006 and began operating to its previous capacity again.
The town also has two large GP
practices, a nurse-lead community mental health team, providing long-term and short-term care and a PCT health centre; the latter being on Cecil Avenue.
s for riding, and has several times won the Blue Flag beach
award for cleanliness. The Central beach has retained its blue flag status for 2011/2012.. From 2007 the Quality Coast Award was introduced by Keep Britain tidy, an environmental charity focusing on raising the standards of beaches in England. This award is handed out in recognition of the achievements of beach managers and guarantees holiday makers that the beach is of the highest standards The Central beach has been given the coveted award. Quality Coast Award
The shape of the beach itself has changed considerably in the last decade. In the mid-1990s an extensive programme of enhancement to the sea defences was carried out, with the installation of rock armour along the length of Lagoon Walk. This provided a very effective barrier against the sea's tremendous power, but consequently the highest tide
s were forced southwards. The Environment Agency predicted that the sea would destroy Skegness Boating Club's boat compound and possibly wipe out a grassed picnic area just behind it. As the tides shifted, the boat compound was indeed flattened by the sea. Sand dunes were washed away and significant new creeks were carved into the beach, but so far the picnic area remains intact. The boating club now has a new compound just off the Princes Parade car park.
paddling pool. Closed by the district council because of health and safety fears in 2004, the pool soon became the centre of controversy as people from Skegness, elsewhere in the country and as far afield as Australia voiced their dismay at the loss of such a time-honoured free facility. Taxpayers and town councillors joined forces with the local press to campaign for the Fairy Dell to be reopened, and the district council gave way to public pressure and promised to have it back in operation by summer 2006.
On 22 May 2006 the Fairy Dell re-opened following a major refurbishment during which many improvements were made to the pool such as clean-filtered water and extra water features.
passes through the town from Boston to Mablethorpe. The A158
connects Lincoln
to Skegness, and connects with the A16 to the north via the A1028. National Express operates direct (non-stop) daily coaches from East Midlands cities in the warmer months of the year. A 36 miles (57.9 km) Roman road
passes between Lincoln and Skegness via Burgh le Marsh
, initially following the A158, then to the north of the road, across the Lincolnshire Wolds
.
Stagecoach Lincolnshire is the main operator in the town with regular services operating up the coast as far as Mablethorpe, there is also regular services inland to both Boston and Lincoln.
Skegness railway station
, is the terminus for the Grantham to Skegness Line
. Trains run the full length of this and the Nottingham to Grantham Line
to give connections to the East Midlands
. For the current amount of traffic, the station is bigger than necessary with four long platforms. Each platform can accommodate a full HST
. The station decor
has seen better days, and much heavier throughput
since the main interconnecting line, the East Lincolnshire Railway
, was dismantled from Firsby
to Grimsby. Access from the north was discontinued from 1970.
The station is currently having a major renovation programme costing £290,000
Nottingham
, Grantham
, Boston
and Sleaford
have direct connections, while popular places such as Leicester
, Derby
and Kettering
require a change at Nottingham. The track from Boston
to Skegness, although once part of a busy longer-distance line, is not suited to large heavy trains, therefore line speeds are generally restricted to a maximum of 30 mph (for locomotive-hauled trains).
In 2009, East Midlands Trains
introduced a direct service from Nottingham to Skegness, operated using an HST
. This service was extended in 2010 as far as Derby, which will hopefully be continued in 2011.
, with two runways. Visiting pilots can call the airfield on 132.425 MHz, although PPR (Prior Permission Required) is stated for landing.
A number of years ago, pleasure flights used to operate from the original Skegness airfield which used to be located close to the current site of Butlins. Vintage Austers were taking off and landing several times an hour in summer as holidaymakers sampled the joys of flying. At the time the shortest runway was just under 400 yards, making it challenging for less experienced pilots. Many pilots from other airfields were sent to Skegness as part of their qualifying cross country, it was a vibrant general aviation airfield.
, just outside the town, hosts stock car racing
throughout the year, with special events such as truck racing, stunt shows, firework displays and caravan racing. Speedway racing was staged at the stadium in 1997. The Skegness Braves failed in both of their attempts to operate there for a full season.
Skegness is home to Skegness Town A.F.C.
and also has a rugby club, Skegness RUFC, and is home to Skegness Cricket Club.
Following elections in 2011, the political makeup of Skegness Town Council is as follows:-
This represents a net gain of 6 seats for the Conservatives, offset by the loss of 4 seats for Labour, 1 for the Independents and 1 for the Liberal Democrats.
The council has achieved Quality Status, which is an official mark of recognition that it conducts its affairs well in areas including official procedures, the qualification of its clerk and the effectiveness of its communications.
The next Skegness Town Council elections are due in 2015.
Under this scheme, a group of volunteers from a cross-section of the community led efforts to find out exactly what the people of the town wanted to see change, and indeed the things they wanted to remain. This was done through surveys and public consultations at a number of different venues.
The aim was to produce a 'blueprint' for the development of Skegness by the end of 2009, to cover the coming ten to twelve years and be a 'vision' for the future, hence the name Skegness 2020 Vision. This plan will then be used as a guide for developers and councillors when it comes to submitting and indeed considering applications for planning permission
.
Seaside resort
A seaside resort is a resort, or resort town, located on the coast. Where a beach is the primary focus for tourists, it may be called a beach resort.- Overview :...
and civil parish in the East Lindsey
East Lindsey
East Lindsey is a local government district in Lincolnshire, England. The council is based in Manby near Louth, and other major settlements in the district include Alford, Spilsby, Mablethorpe, Skegness, Horncastle and Chapel St Leonards....
district of Lincolnshire
Lincolnshire
Lincolnshire is a county in the east of England. It borders Norfolk to the south east, Cambridgeshire to the south, Rutland to the south west, Leicestershire and Nottinghamshire to the west, South Yorkshire to the north west, and the East Riding of Yorkshire to the north. It also borders...
, England. Located on the Lincolnshire coast
Lincolnshire coast
The coast of Lincolnshire runs for more than down the North Sea coast of eastern England, from the estuary of the Humber to the marshlands of the Wash, where it meets Norfolk...
of the North Sea
North Sea
In the southwest, beyond the Straits of Dover, the North Sea becomes the English Channel connecting to the Atlantic Ocean. In the east, it connects to the Baltic Sea via the Skagerrak and Kattegat, narrow straits that separate Denmark from Norway and Sweden respectively...
, 43 miles (69 km) east of the city of Lincoln
Lincoln, Lincolnshire
Lincoln is a cathedral city and county town of Lincolnshire, England.The non-metropolitan district of Lincoln has a population of 85,595; the 2001 census gave the entire area of Lincoln a population of 120,779....
it has a total resident population of 18,910.
The first Butlins holiday resort
Butlins
Butlins is a chain of large holiday camps in the United Kingdom. Butlins was founded by Billy Butlin to provide affordable holidays for ordinary British families....
was opened in Skegness in 1936. Partially owing to this, the resort is one of the better known seaside resort
Seaside resort
A seaside resort is a resort, or resort town, located on the coast. Where a beach is the primary focus for tourists, it may be called a beach resort.- Overview :...
s in the United Kingdom.
Geography
Longshore driftLongshore drift
Longshore drift consists of the transportation of sediments along a coast at an angle to the shoreline, which is dependent on prevailing wind direction, swash and backwash. This process occurs in the littoral zone, and in or within close proximity to the surf zone...
carries particles of sediment southwards along the Lincolnshire coast
Lincolnshire coast
The coast of Lincolnshire runs for more than down the North Sea coast of eastern England, from the estuary of the Humber to the marshlands of the Wash, where it meets Norfolk...
but at Skegness, the sand settles out in banks (tombolo
Tombolo
A tombolo, from the Italian tombolo, derived from the Latin tumulus, meaning 'mound,' and sometimes translated as ayre , is a deposition landform in which an island is attached to the mainland by a narrow piece of land such as a spit or bar. Once attached, the island is then known as a tied island...
s) which run at a slight angle to the coast forming the beard. The slightly elevated dune
Dune
In physical geography, a dune is a hill of sand built by wind. Dunes occur in different forms and sizes, formed by interaction with the wind. Most kinds of dunes are longer on the windward side where the sand is pushed up the dune and have a shorter "slip face" in the lee of the wind...
land sheltered the small natural harbour which the Danes found behind the banks. The finer sediment drifts on to find a home in the mud of The Wash
The Wash
The Wash is the square-mouthed bay and estuary on the northwest margin of East Anglia on the east coast of England, where Norfolk meets Lincolnshire. It is among the largest estuaries in the United Kingdom...
, beyond Gibraltar Point
Gibraltar Point
Gibraltar Point National Nature Reserve is an area of approximately in Lincolnshire, England.The reserve is owned by Lincolnshire County Council and East Lindsey District Council and is administered by the Lincolnshire Wildlife Trust...
.
The civil parish extends westwards along the A158 to the west side of the South View Hotel, and the boundary follows North Drain, bodering with Burgh le Marsh. Just north of Mill Hill, it borders with Addlethorpe, passing to the west of Ash Tree Farm, the airfield and Skegness Water Leisure Park. At the north end of the leisure park it boders with Ingoldmells, and the boundary follows to the south of Wall's Lane. The boundary crosses the A52 at a subway across the road, just south of the Butlins camp.
To the south of the hotel on the A158, the parish follows Main Drain, to the west of Warth Lane. Just south of Ivy House, it crosses the A52 and borders Croft
Croft, Lincolnshire
Croft is a small village and civil parish in the East Lindsey district of Lincolnshire, England. The village lies about north east from Wainfleet, and west of Skegness....
. The boundary follows Cow Bank Drain, over a level crossing, to the north of Croft Grange, then passes through Bramble Hills, just north of Seacroft Golf Course to the sea.
Skegness enjoys its position on what is officially recognised as 'the drier side of Britain', being the east coast - a fact that has often been used to some advantage in promoting it as a holiday resort.
Climate
As with the rest of the British IslesBritish Isles
The British Isles are a group of islands off the northwest coast of continental Europe that include the islands of Great Britain and Ireland and over six thousand smaller isles. There are two sovereign states located on the islands: the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and...
, Skegness experiences a maritime climate with cool summers and mild winters. Temperature extremes since 1960 have ranged from 32.4 °C (90.3 °F) In August 1990, down to -10.0 C in January 1963. The lowest temperature recorded in recent years was -8.0 C during December 2010.
Early history
The name would appear to indicate that Skegness has its origin in the DanishDanelaw
The Danelaw, as recorded in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle , is a historical name given to the part of England in which the laws of the "Danes" held sway and dominated those of the Anglo-Saxons. It is contrasted with "West Saxon law" and "Mercian law". The term has been extended by modern historians to...
period of settlement of England although there is no reference to a village named Skegness in the Domesday Book. The town's name means either "Skeggi's headland" or "beard-shaped headland", depending on whether the first element represents the personal name Skeggi (meaning 'bearded one'), one of the Vikings who established the original settlement to the east of the current town which was washed away by the sea in the early sixteenth century; or the Old East Norse word skegg "beard" .
Lying within the historic county boundaries
Historic counties of England
The historic counties of England are subdivisions of England established for administration by the Normans and in most cases based on earlier Anglo-Saxon kingdoms and shires...
of Lincolnshire
Lincolnshire
Lincolnshire is a county in the east of England. It borders Norfolk to the south east, Cambridgeshire to the south, Rutland to the south west, Leicestershire and Nottinghamshire to the west, South Yorkshire to the north west, and the East Riding of Yorkshire to the north. It also borders...
from a very early time, for governance, the parish of Skegness was in the Marsh division of the ancient Candleshoe
Candleshoe
Candleshoe is a 1977 Walt Disney Productions live action family film and heist film based on the Michael Innes novel Christmas at Candleshoe and starring Jodie Foster, Helen Hayes in her last big screen appearance, David Niven and Leo McKern.-Plot:...
Wapentake in the Parts of Lindsey.
In August 1642, a consignment of arms and money, probably raised by Queen Henrietta Maria, in the Netherlands for the support of King Charles I's
Charles I of England
Charles I was King of England, King of Scotland, and King of Ireland from 27 March 1625 until his execution in 1649. Charles engaged in a struggle for power with the Parliament of England, attempting to obtain royal revenue whilst Parliament sought to curb his Royal prerogative which Charles...
campaign in the Civil War
English Civil War
The English Civil War was a series of armed conflicts and political machinations between Parliamentarians and Royalists...
, was forced into Skegness by the ships of the Parliamentarian Earl of Warwick
Robert Rich, 2nd Earl of Warwick
Robert Rich, 2nd Earl of Warwick was an English colonial administrator, admiral, and puritan.Rich was the eldest son of Robert Rich, 1st Earl of Warwick and his wife Penelope Devereux, Lady Rich, and succeeded to his father's title in 1619...
.
Railway
Skegness was primarily a fishing village and small port until the arrival of the railwayRail transport
Rail transport is a means of conveyance of passengers and goods by way of wheeled vehicles running on rail tracks. In contrast to road transport, where vehicles merely run on a prepared surface, rail vehicles are also directionally guided by the tracks they run on...
in 1875. In 1908, Great Northern Railways commissioned a poster to advertise excursions to the resort, the first being from King's Cross, London on Good Friday 1908, leaving London at 11.30 am. The 'Skegness is so Bracing' poster featuring The Jolly Fisherman
The Jolly Fisherman
The Jolly Fisherman is a poster created by artist John Hassall in 1908 after he had been commissioned by the Great Northern Railways . It is regarded as one of the most famous holiday advertisements of all time and is believed to have significantly influenced the success of Skegness, Lincolnshire...
helped to put Skegness on the map and is now world famous. The poster, derived from an oil painting by John Hassall (illustrator)
John Hassall (illustrator)
John Hassall was born in Walmer, Kent on 21 May 1868, died 8 March 1948 and was an English illustrator.Hassall educated in Worthing, at Newton Abbot College and at Neuenheim College, Heidelberg. After twice failing entry to The Royal Military Academy Sandhurst, he emigrated to Manitoba in Canada...
, was purchased by the railway company for the 12 guineas. Paradoxically, Mr Hassall did not visit the resort until 1936. He is said to have died penniless.
Resort town and Butlins
Earl of Scarbrough
Earl of Scarbrough is a title in the Peerage of England. It was created in 1690 for Richard Lumley, 2nd Viscount Lumley. He is best remembered as one of the Immortal Seven who invited William of Orange to invade England and depose his father-in-law James II...
and he, together with his agent H.V.Tippet, realised that the extensive sandy beach could be made attractive to holidaymakers from the industrial towns of the English Midlands, a clientele already developed by Thomas Cook
Thomas Cook
Thomas Cook of Melbourne, Derbyshire, England founded the travel agency that is now Thomas Cook Group.- Early days :...
. He planned the town as a resort from 1877 and it expanded rapidly, but along with many other UK resorts, especially those on the cold North Sea
North Sea
In the southwest, beyond the Straits of Dover, the North Sea becomes the English Channel connecting to the Atlantic Ocean. In the east, it connects to the Baltic Sea via the Skagerrak and Kattegat, narrow straits that separate Denmark from Norway and Sweden respectively...
, it lost out to the cheap package holiday
Package holiday
A package holiday or package tour consists of transport and accommodation advertised and sold together by a vendor known as a tour operator. Other services may be provided like a rental car, activities or outings during the holiday. Transport can be via charter airline to a foreign country...
boom which opened up Spain (in particular) to the average holidaymaker after World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
currency restrictions were lifted and travellers could leave the UK with more than 50 pounds.
Ingoldmells
Ingoldmells
Ingoldmells is a coastal village, civil parish and resort in the East Lindsey district of Lincolnshire, England, on the A52.-Geography:In terms of villages it is relatively large, and receives a lot of tourism yearly due its close position to Skegness. Most housing is found in the west of the...
, the parish to the north of Skegness, was the site of the UK's first Holiday Camp, started by Billy Butlin
Billy Butlin
Sir William Heygate Edmund Colborne Butlin, , was a British, South Africa-born entrepreneur whose name is synonymous with the British holiday camp.American Heritage Dictionary 2004, p. 135.Scott 2001, p. 5...
in 1936. Butlins
Butlins
Butlins is a chain of large holiday camps in the United Kingdom. Butlins was founded by Billy Butlin to provide affordable holidays for ordinary British families....
is still there today, in modern dress, at the north end of the town, on the road to Ingoldmells. It maintains its appeal as a popular destination for family holidays, and attracts thousands to the resort in the low season with music weekends encompassing 60s, 80s, soul and other genres.
The Wash Incident
The Wash Incident took place in the early hours of 5 October 1996 when a strange red and green rotating light was seen by many Skegness residents and police officers to the southeast of Skegness, who then contacted the CoastguardHer Majesty's Coastguard
Her Majesty's Coastguard is the service of the government of the United Kingdom concerned with co-ordinating air-sea rescue.HM Coastguard is a section of the Maritime and Coastguard Agency responsible for the initiation and co-ordination of all civilian maritime Search and Rescue within the UK...
at Great Yarmouth
Great Yarmouth
Great Yarmouth, often known to locals as Yarmouth, is a coastal town in Norfolk, England. It is at the mouth of the River Yare, east of Norwich.It has been a seaside resort since 1760, and is the gateway from the Norfolk Broads to the sea...
. It later involved many RAF
Royal Air Force
The Royal Air Force is the aerial warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Formed on 1 April 1918, it is the oldest independent air force in the world...
stations, including RAF Neatishead
RAF Neatishead
RRH Neatishead, is a Royal Air Force military radar station in the English county of Norfolk, East Anglia, and was established during the Second World War. It consists of the main technical site, and a number of remote, and sometimes unmanned sites....
, and GCHQ
Government Communications Headquarters
The Government Communications Headquarters is a British intelligence agency responsible for providing signals intelligence and information assurance to the UK government and armed forces...
. The object was not an aircraft because although it could be seen on radar, it had no transponder
Transponder (aviation)
A transponder is an electronic device that produces a response when it receives a radio-frequency interrogation...
. The Skegness News, a local newspaper which no longer exists, investigated the incident and sought confirmation of the object from the Jodrell Bank Observatory. In their report to the RAF, the observatory said that Venus
Venus
Venus is the second planet from the Sun, orbiting it every 224.7 Earth days. The planet is named after Venus, the Roman goddess of love and beauty. After the Moon, it is the brightest natural object in the night sky, reaching an apparent magnitude of −4.6, bright enough to cast shadows...
, ‘the queen of UFOs’, which had been shining with exceptional brilliance in the early morning sky to the east, probably explained the light shown on the video. The object was caught on video by Skegness Police. The RAF decided the stationary 'blip
Clutter (radar)
Clutter is a term used for unwanted echoes in electronic systems, particularly in reference to radars. Such echoes are typically returned from ground, sea, rain, animals/insects, chaff and atmospheric turbulences, and can cause serious performance issues with radar systems.- Backscatter coefficient...
' was a permanent echo of the 83m tall St Botolph's Church, Boston, and the object on the video was the planet Venus. It coincided with the Westendorff UFO sighting
Westendorff UFO sighting
Westendorff UFO sighting refers to a sight of an UFO by Haroldo Westendorff, a Brazilian manager of an improvement of rice company, a transporter company and a ration factory. The sighting occurred when he was piloting his own Tupi airplane....
.
Present day
In March 2005, Skegness took the top spot in a survey by "Yours magazine", looking at the best retirement places in the UK. Yours researchers visited sixty likely towns, and factors involved in judging included house prices, hospital waiting lists, the crime rate, council tax rates, activities and attractions, weather patterns and ease of transport. It has also been described by Lonely PlanetLonely Planet
Lonely Planet is the largest travel guide book and digital media publisher in the world. The company is owned by BBC Worldwide, which bought a 75% share from the founders Maureen and Tony Wheeler in 2007 and the final 25% in February 2011...
's Great Britain guide as "everything you could want" in a seaside resort. On 22 July 2008 the newly elected Mayor of London
Mayor of London
The Mayor of London is an elected politician who, along with the London Assembly of 25 members, is accountable for the strategic government of Greater London. Conservative Boris Johnson has held the position since 4 May 2008...
, Boris Johnson
Boris Johnson
Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson is a British journalist and Conservative Party politician, who has been the elected Mayor of London since 2008...
, caused controversy in an article in The Daily Telegraph
The Daily Telegraph
The Daily Telegraph is a daily morning broadsheet newspaper distributed throughout the United Kingdom and internationally. The newspaper was founded by Arthur B...
, where he declared "Stuff Skegness, my trunks and I are off to the sun", in his desire to have a foreign holiday that year.
Tourist industry
Blackpool
Blackpool is a borough, seaside town, and unitary authority area of Lancashire, in North West England. It is situated along England's west coast by the Irish Sea, between the Ribble and Wyre estuaries, northwest of Preston, north of Liverpool, and northwest of Manchester...
of the East Coast", and has a famous mascot, the Jolly Fisherman (designed by John Hassall
John Hassall (illustrator)
John Hassall was born in Walmer, Kent on 21 May 1868, died 8 March 1948 and was an English illustrator.Hassall educated in Worthing, at Newton Abbot College and at Neuenheim College, Heidelberg. After twice failing entry to The Royal Military Academy Sandhurst, he emigrated to Manitoba in Canada...
in 1908 for the Great Northern Railway
Great Northern Railway (Great Britain)
The Great Northern Railway was a British railway company established by the Great Northern Railway Act of 1846. On 1 January 1923 the company lost its identity as a constituent of the newly formed London and North Eastern Railway....
), and a slogan - "Skegness is so bracing" - a reference to the chilly prevailing north-easterly winds that can and frequently do blow off the North Sea
North Sea
In the southwest, beyond the Straits of Dover, the North Sea becomes the English Channel connecting to the Atlantic Ocean. In the east, it connects to the Baltic Sea via the Skagerrak and Kattegat, narrow straits that separate Denmark from Norway and Sweden respectively...
. The slogan is thought to have come from an unknown member of staff of the railway. The poster was first seen at Easter in conjunction with an excursion from Kings Cross Station. The last of these trips ran in 1913.
Further up the coast are the other holiday resorts of Mablethorpe
Mablethorpe
Mablethorpe is a small seaside town in East Lindsey on the coast of Lincolnshire, England.-Geography:Several small caravan parks exist around Mablethorpe. The town is administered with Sutton-on-Sea and Trusthorpe, as the civil parish of Mablethorpe and Sutton...
, Sutton-on-Sea
Sutton-on-Sea
Sutton-on-Sea is a small seaside village on the coast of Lincolnshire, England. It is close to Trusthorpe and Mablethorpe, and is part of the civil parish of Mablethorpe and Sutton...
, Ingoldmells
Ingoldmells
Ingoldmells is a coastal village, civil parish and resort in the East Lindsey district of Lincolnshire, England, on the A52.-Geography:In terms of villages it is relatively large, and receives a lot of tourism yearly due its close position to Skegness. Most housing is found in the west of the...
and Chapel St Leonards
Chapel St Leonards
Chapel St. Leonards is a village and civil parish in the East Lindsey district of Lincolnshire, England, situated to the north of the resort of Skegness....
.
Many of the hotels, guest-houses, self catering apartments and bed & breakfast establishments in and around the Skegness area are members of the "Skegness East Coast and Wolds Hospitality Association" or SECWHA for short. An association formed in April 2008 after the merging of two previous associations known as "The Skegness Hoteliers Association", consisting of Hotel, bed and breakfast and guest house accommodation providers and the "Skegness Self Catering Association", consisting of holiday flats, chalet and caravan parks.
However, Skegness, like many UK resorts, has suffered in recent years due to the increase in cheap foreign package holidays over staying at home. Its past two summer seasons have been marred by rain, and in the 18 months leading up to the end of 2008, the resort had suffered the destruction by fire of three of its most popular attractions - The Dunes pub at Winthorpe, the Parade Complex which housed a nightclub, bar and amusement arcade, and most recently a seafront building housing two bars and a fish-and-chip shop.
Landmarks
Clock tower
At the end of Lumley Road is the town's prominent clock tower, its most well-recognised landmark, built in 1898-99 and funded through public subscription. The clock tower became the subject of a hoax in the Skegness Standard on 1 April 2009, when the newspaper claimed that it was about to be dismantled and moved to a museum. It is also featured as a 3D rendering in Google Earth.Gardens
Beyond the clock tower, Tower Esplanade leads to the beach, with a statue of the Jolly Fisherman in the Compass Gardens to one side and the entrance to the once-popular boating lake on the other. The name Lumley comes from the surname of the Earl of ScarbroughEarl of Scarbrough
Earl of Scarbrough is a title in the Peerage of England. It was created in 1690 for Richard Lumley, 2nd Viscount Lumley. He is best remembered as one of the Immortal Seven who invited William of Orange to invade England and depose his father-in-law James II...
's family. St Matthew's church of Early English Gothic
Gothic Revival architecture
The Gothic Revival is an architectural movement that began in the 1740s in England...
style is on Lumley Avenue, being built by the Earl of Scarbrough in 1879, and [St Clement's] is on Church Road North. Tower Gardens, previously known as the Pleasure Gardens, opened in 1878 after being generously donated by the Earl of Scarbrough. The gardens have events during the summer.
Pier
Whit Monday
Whit Monday or Pentecost Monday is the holiday celebrated the day after Pentecost, a movable feast in the Christian calendar. It is movable because it is determined by the date of Easter....
1881, at that time it was the fourth longest in England. Steamboat trips ran from the pier to The Wash and Hunstanton
Hunstanton
Hunstanton, often pronounced by locals as and known colloquially as 'Sunny Hunny', is a seaside town in Norfolk, England, facing The Wash....
in Norfolk
Norfolk
Norfolk is a low-lying county in the East of England. It has borders with Lincolnshire to the west, Cambridgeshire to the west and southwest and Suffolk to the south. Its northern and eastern boundaries are the North Sea coast and to the north-west the county is bordered by The Wash. The county...
from 1882 until 1910. In 1919, it was damaged by a drifting ship, the schooner Europa, and it took twenty years to raise the money to fully repair it. In 1978 the pier was badly damaged and considerably shortened; this time by severe gales
Storm
A storm is any disturbed state of an astronomical body's atmosphere, especially affecting its surface, and strongly implying severe weather...
. The pier has since undergone major refurbishment and is now once again a thriving tourist attraction, although it no longer extends far seaward of the high tide line.
Hotels
Well-known hotels include the "North Shore", the Vine, Southview Park Hotel (west along the A158), the Crown, the County, the Links, and the Royal Renaissance Hotel, which was formerly known as the Seacroft.Other
The RNLI has a station in Skegness. It is manned by a crew who are all volunteers except for the coxswain, and equipped with two lifeboatLifeboat (rescue)
A rescue lifeboat is a boat rescue craft which is used to attend a vessel in distress, or its survivors, to rescue crewmen and passengers. It can be hand pulled, sail powered or powered by an engine...
s - the all-weather Lincolnshire Poacher and a smaller dinghy-style inshore boat. The town has a long and rich lifeboat history. The Coastguard
Her Majesty's Coastguard
Her Majesty's Coastguard is the service of the government of the United Kingdom concerned with co-ordinating air-sea rescue.HM Coastguard is a section of the Maritime and Coastguard Agency responsible for the initiation and co-ordination of all civilian maritime Search and Rescue within the UK...
have a base on the town's industrial estate.
Two miles (3 km) out to sea is an offshore drilling
Offshore drilling
Offshore drilling refers to a mechanical process where a wellbore is drilled through the seabed. It is typically carried out in order to explore for and subsequently produce hydrocarbons which lie in rock formations beneath the seabed...
platform for gas, and clearly visible from the beach - and indeed several miles further inland - is the large Lynn and Inner Dowsing Wind Farm
Lynn and Inner Dowsing Wind Farm
Lynn and Inner Dowsing Wind Farm is located in the North Sea, in the shallow waters off the coast of Lincolnshire, England. Completed on time and on budget in 2008, its 54 Siemens Wind Power 3.6-107 wind turbines have a generating capacity of 194 MW, enough to power 130,000 homes on average.The...
operated by Centrica
Centrica
Centrica plc is a multinational utility company, based in the United Kingdom but also with interests in North America. Centrica is the largest supplier of gas to domestic customers in the UK, and one of the largest suppliers of electricity, operating under the trading names "Scottish Gas" in...
. A larger windfarm further out to sea had been proposed.
Shopping
Lumley Road, High Street and Roman Bank are the main shopping areas, with plenty of fish and chip shops and pubs. There are large Lidl, MorrisonsMorrisons
Wm Morrison Supermarkets plc is the fourth largest chain of supermarkets in the United Kingdom, headquartered in Bradford, West Yorkshire, England. The company is usually referred to and is branded as Morrisons formerly Morrison's, and it is part of the FTSE 100 Index of companies...
and Tesco
Tesco
Tesco plc is a global grocery and general merchandise retailer headquartered in Cheshunt, United Kingdom. It is the third-largest retailer in the world measured by revenues and the second-largest measured by profits...
supermarkets and a smaller Iceland store all located in the centre of the town near the railway station. There is also a Co-op
The Co-operative Group
The Co-operative Group Ltd. is a United Kingdom consumer cooperative with a diverse range of business interests. It is co-operatively run and owned by its members. It is the largest organisation of this type in the world, with over 5.5 million members, who all have a say in how the business is...
store in the Hildreds shopping centre and the Westgate department store on Lumley Road.
Leisure
The main strip of road along the beach is a kaleidoscopeKaleidoscope
A kaleidoscope is a circle of mirrors containing loose, colored objects such as beads or pebbles and bits of glass. As the viewer looks into one end, light entering the other end creates a colorful pattern, due to the reflection off the mirrors...
of neon and flashing lights advertising arcade machines, slot machines, fairground rides, crazy golf, fish-and-chip shops and various bars. The Embassy Theatre is the East Coast's Premier Entertainment venue on Grand Parade, Skegness.
On 16 August 2007, a huge fire hit an entertainment complex on the Skegness front, wiping out the town's main nightclub and a large amusement arcade. No-one was injured but the severity of the fire meant that the complex had to be demolished. There are now plans to build a hotel on the site.
In the latter part of 2008, another fire broke out at a building a little further along the seafront. This time, pubs and a fish-and-chip shop were gutted.
Skegness has an annual carnival in August, along with a week-long programme of events throughout the town. East Lindsey
East Lindsey
East Lindsey is a local government district in Lincolnshire, England. The council is based in Manby near Louth, and other major settlements in the district include Alford, Spilsby, Mablethorpe, Skegness, Horncastle and Chapel St Leonards....
District Council used to operate the carnival procession, but they handed over control of the event to a group of volunteers who now run it on a smaller scale.
Skegness is also host to the annual SO Festival, July's largest music and arts festival, which it now combines with the switch-on of the seafront illuminations.
Health
Skegness Hospital has two entrances - accident and emergency on Dorothy Avenue and the main entrance on Lincoln Road. In October 2005, the East Lincolnshire Primary Care Trust closed the Scarbrough Ward as part of a package of money-saving measures. Locals were outraged by the decision, because the ward represented about a third of the hospital's entire capacity and also provided palliative carePalliative care
Palliative care is a specialized area of healthcare that focuses on relieving and preventing the suffering of patients...
. Campaigners including doctors, nurses, business people, journalists and councillors marched through the streets and held up the traffic, then later called for the resignations of the PCT board members after they turned down a £100,000 donation offered by East Lindsey District Council to enable the ward to remain open through the winter. The PCT said the donation would "impinge" on its duties, and could be considered "unlawful" if accepted. The ward re-opened in 2006 and began operating to its previous capacity again.
The town also has two large GP
General practitioner
A general practitioner is a medical practitioner who treats acute and chronic illnesses and provides preventive care and health education for all ages and both sexes. They have particular skills in treating people with multiple health issues and comorbidities...
practices, a nurse-lead community mental health team, providing long-term and short-term care and a PCT health centre; the latter being on Cecil Avenue.
Primary education establishments
- Richmond Primary School
- Seathorne Primary School
- Skegness Infant School
- Skegness Junior School
- The Viking School (independent)
Secondary education establishments
- Skegness Academy (formerly known as St Clement's College & the Earl of Scarbrough High School) is a secondary modern on BurghBurgh Le MarshBurgh-le-Marsh is a town to the west of Skegness in the East Lindsey district of Lincolnshire, England. The A158 used to run through from west to east but this was rerouted when a new bypass opened in late 2007. The village has a population of 2,016....
Road. - Skegness Grammar SchoolSkegness Grammar SchoolThe Skegness Grammar School is a selective grammar school, a sixth form centre and a specialist school with two disciplines, firstly as a sport college and since 2006 also a mathematics and computing college, located in Skegness Lincolnshire for children aged between eleven and eighteen...
on Vernon Road.
Tertiary education establishments
- Skegness College of Vocational Training on Wilford Grove and Grosvenor Road.
- Skegness Academy on Briar Way, run by Grimsby InstituteGrimsby Institute of Further & Higher EducationThe Grimsby Institute of Further & Higher Education is a further and higher education college in North East Lincolnshire, England.-Grimsby College of Further Education:...
and Boston CollegeBoston College, LincolnshireBoston College is a predominantly further education college in Boston in Lincolnshire, England. It is a Centre of Vocational Excellence for Early Years Care.-History:...
(opened in 2006). - Lincolnshire Regional College on Heath Road run by Grimsby Institute
Places of interest
Beach
The long and wide sandy beach features a fine herd of donkeyDonkey
The donkey or ass, Equus africanus asinus, is a domesticated member of the Equidae or horse family. The wild ancestor of the donkey is the African Wild Ass, E...
s for riding, and has several times won the Blue Flag beach
Blue Flag beach
The Blue Flag is a certification by the Foundation for Environmental Education that a beach or marina meets its stringent standards.The Blue Flag is a trademark owned by FEE which is a not-for-profit, non-governmental organisation consisting of 65 organisations in 60 member countries in Europe,...
award for cleanliness. The Central beach has retained its blue flag status for 2011/2012.. From 2007 the Quality Coast Award was introduced by Keep Britain tidy, an environmental charity focusing on raising the standards of beaches in England. This award is handed out in recognition of the achievements of beach managers and guarantees holiday makers that the beach is of the highest standards The Central beach has been given the coveted award. Quality Coast Award
The shape of the beach itself has changed considerably in the last decade. In the mid-1990s an extensive programme of enhancement to the sea defences was carried out, with the installation of rock armour along the length of Lagoon Walk. This provided a very effective barrier against the sea's tremendous power, but consequently the highest tide
Tide
Tides are the rise and fall of sea levels caused by the combined effects of the gravitational forces exerted by the moon and the sun and the rotation of the Earth....
s were forced southwards. The Environment Agency predicted that the sea would destroy Skegness Boating Club's boat compound and possibly wipe out a grassed picnic area just behind it. As the tides shifted, the boat compound was indeed flattened by the sea. Sand dunes were washed away and significant new creeks were carved into the beach, but so far the picnic area remains intact. The boating club now has a new compound just off the Princes Parade car park.
Fairy Dell
On the southern foreshore sits a popular family attraction, the Fairy DellFairy Dell
Fairy Dell is a seafront paddling pool in Skegness, Lincolnshire, England. The local district council's decision in 2004 to close it over health and safety fears prompted a wave of outrage from people both locally and elsewhere in the country and world, and after a long campaign by the press and...
paddling pool. Closed by the district council because of health and safety fears in 2004, the pool soon became the centre of controversy as people from Skegness, elsewhere in the country and as far afield as Australia voiced their dismay at the loss of such a time-honoured free facility. Taxpayers and town councillors joined forces with the local press to campaign for the Fairy Dell to be reopened, and the district council gave way to public pressure and promised to have it back in operation by summer 2006.
On 22 May 2006 the Fairy Dell re-opened following a major refurbishment during which many improvements were made to the pool such as clean-filtered water and extra water features.
Natureland Seal Sanctuary
Natureland Seal Sanctuary provides visitors with entertainment, education and conservation. The sanctuary opened its doors in 1965 and attracts thousands of visitors each year. The sanctuary features seals, penguins, tropical and seawater aquariums and koi pond, a pets corner, tropical house and floral palace. Natureland works with abandoned baby seals which are often washed up on the beach and in need of medical care. Staff treat and rear the seals until they are well enough to be returned to the sea.Other
- To the south of the town is Gibraltar PointGibraltar PointGibraltar Point National Nature Reserve is an area of approximately in Lincolnshire, England.The reserve is owned by Lincolnshire County Council and East Lindsey District Council and is administered by the Lincolnshire Wildlife Trust...
National Nature Reserve, on the northern limit of The WashThe WashThe Wash is the square-mouthed bay and estuary on the northwest margin of East Anglia on the east coast of England, where Norfolk meets Lincolnshire. It is among the largest estuaries in the United Kingdom...
. - Church Farm MuseumChurch Farm MuseumChurch Farm Museum is a museum of local and agricultural history near Skegness, Lincolnshire, England.There are a number of traditional indigenous buildings, including:* A thatched "mud and Stud" cottage, moved from the nearby village of Withern....
is a museum of agricultural life covering the 17th to 20th Centuries. - The town is also a major centre for bowlsBowlsBowls is a sport in which the objective is to roll slightly asymmetric balls so that they stop close to a smaller "jack" or "kitty". It is played on a pitch which may be flat or convex or uneven...
. - Annual world's premier MeccanoMeccanoMeccano is a model construction system comprising re-usable metal strips, plates, angle girders, wheels, axles and gears, with nuts and bolts to connect the pieces. It enables the building of working models and mechanical devices....
exhibition is staged in the Embassy Theatre, on the Grand Parade by the seafront. - Botton's Pleasure Beach, featuring roller coasterRoller coasterThe roller coaster is a popular amusement ride developed for amusement parks and modern theme parks. LaMarcus Adna Thompson patented the first coasters on January 20, 1885...
s, mini merry-go-roundCarouselA carousel , or merry-go-round, is an amusement ride consisting of a rotating circular platform with seats for riders...
(the Gallopers), dodgems and many traditional and modern rides as well as its spectacular annual end-of-season firework display.
Roads
The A52A52 road
The A52 is a major road in the East Midlands, England. It runs east from the junction with the A53 at Newcastle-under-Lyme near Stoke-on-Trent via Ashbourne, Derby, Stapleford, Nottingham, West Bridgford, Bingham, Grantham, Boston and Skegness before terminating on the east Lincolnshire coast at...
passes through the town from Boston to Mablethorpe. The A158
A158 road
The A158 road is a major tourist route that heads from Lincoln in the west to Skegness on the east coast. The road is located entirely in the county of Lincolnshire and is single carriageway for almost its entirety. The road is approximately long...
connects Lincoln
Lincoln, Lincolnshire
Lincoln is a cathedral city and county town of Lincolnshire, England.The non-metropolitan district of Lincoln has a population of 85,595; the 2001 census gave the entire area of Lincoln a population of 120,779....
to Skegness, and connects with the A16 to the north via the A1028. National Express operates direct (non-stop) daily coaches from East Midlands cities in the warmer months of the year. A 36 miles (57.9 km) Roman road
Roman road
The Roman roads were a vital part of the development of the Roman state, from about 500 BC through the expansion during the Roman Republic and the Roman Empire. Roman roads enabled the Romans to move armies and trade goods and to communicate. The Roman road system spanned more than 400,000 km...
passes between Lincoln and Skegness via Burgh le Marsh
Burgh Le Marsh
Burgh-le-Marsh is a town to the west of Skegness in the East Lindsey district of Lincolnshire, England. The A158 used to run through from west to east but this was rerouted when a new bypass opened in late 2007. The village has a population of 2,016....
, initially following the A158, then to the north of the road, across the Lincolnshire Wolds
Lincolnshire Wolds
The Lincolnshire Wolds is a range of hills in the county of Lincolnshire, England. It is a designated Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty , and the highest area of land in eastern England between Yorkshire and Kent...
.
Railway and bus
The town's railway and bus stations are located next door to each other at the bottom of Richmond Drive in the town centre.Stagecoach Lincolnshire is the main operator in the town with regular services operating up the coast as far as Mablethorpe, there is also regular services inland to both Boston and Lincoln.
Skegness railway station
Skegness railway station
Skegness railway station serves the seaside resort of Skegness in Lincolnshire, England.Services are operated by East Midlands Trains which run to and from Nottingham, where services originate or terminate.-History:...
, is the terminus for the Grantham to Skegness Line
Grantham to Skegness Line
The Grantham to Skegness Line, promoted as the Poacher Line, runs for between Grantham and Skegness in Lincolnshire, England.The route was selected as one of the seven pilot schemes under the Department for Transport's Community Rail Development Strategy in 2005 and was formally designated as a...
. Trains run the full length of this and the Nottingham to Grantham Line
Nottingham to Grantham Line
The Nottingham to Grantham Line is a branch line between the towns of Nottingham and Grantham in the East Midlands of England. It follows the A52.The following places are served by the line.* Nottingham* Netherfield* Radcliffe on Trent* Bingham...
to give connections to the East Midlands
East Midlands
The East Midlands is one of the regions of England, consisting of most of the eastern half of the traditional region of the Midlands. It encompasses the combined area of Nottinghamshire, Derbyshire, Leicestershire, Rutland, Northamptonshire and most of Lincolnshire...
. For the current amount of traffic, the station is bigger than necessary with four long platforms. Each platform can accommodate a full HST
InterCity 125
The InterCity 125 was the brand name of British Rail's High Speed Train fleet. The InterCity 125 train is made up of two power cars, one at each end of a fixed formation of Mark 3 carriages, and is capable of , making the train the fastest diesel-powered locomotive in regular service in the...
. The station decor
Interior design
Interior design describes a group of various yet related projects that involve turning an interior space into an effective setting for the range of human activities are to take place there. An interior designer is someone who conducts such projects...
has seen better days, and much heavier throughput
Throughput
In communication networks, such as Ethernet or packet radio, throughput or network throughput is the average rate of successful message delivery over a communication channel. This data may be delivered over a physical or logical link, or pass through a certain network node...
since the main interconnecting line, the East Lincolnshire Railway
East Lincolnshire Railway
The East Lincolnshire Railway was a main line railway linking the towns of Boston, Louth and Grimsby in Lincolnshire, England. It opened in 1848 and was closed to passengers in 1970.-History:...
, was dismantled from Firsby
Firsby railway station
Firsby railway station was a busy station in Firsby, Lincolnshire which closed in 1970 as a result of the Beeching Axe. Firsby served as a main line station and a terminus for two branch lines, one to the seaside resort of Skegness and one to the market town of Spilsby.Firsby station was located in...
to Grimsby. Access from the north was discontinued from 1970.
The station is currently having a major renovation programme costing £290,000
Nottingham
Nottingham
Nottingham is a city and unitary authority in the East Midlands of England. It is located in the ceremonial county of Nottinghamshire and represents one of eight members of the English Core Cities Group...
, Grantham
Grantham
Grantham is a market town within the South Kesteven district of Lincolnshire, England. It bestrides the East Coast Main Line railway , the historic A1 main north-south road, and the River Witham. Grantham is located approximately south of the city of Lincoln, and approximately east of Nottingham...
, Boston
Boston, Lincolnshire
Boston is a town and small port in Lincolnshire, on the east coast of England. It is the largest town of the wider Borough of Boston local government district and had a total population of 55,750 at the 2001 census...
and Sleaford
Sleaford
Sleaford is a town in the North Kesteven district of Lincolnshire, England. It is located thirteen miles northeast of Grantham, seventeen miles west of Boston, and nineteen miles south of Lincoln, and had a total resident population of around 14,500 in 6,167 households at the time...
have direct connections, while popular places such as Leicester
Leicester
Leicester is a city and unitary authority in the East Midlands of England, and the county town of Leicestershire. The city lies on the River Soar and at the edge of the National Forest...
, Derby
Derby
Derby , is a city and unitary authority in the East Midlands region of England. It lies upon the banks of the River Derwent and is located in the south of the ceremonial county of Derbyshire. In the 2001 census, the population of the city was 233,700, whilst that of the Derby Urban Area was 229,407...
and Kettering
Kettering
Kettering is a market town in the Borough of Kettering, Northamptonshire, England. It is situated about from London. Kettering is mainly situated on the west side of the River Ise, a tributary of the River Nene which meets at Wellingborough...
require a change at Nottingham. The track from Boston
Boston railway station
Boston railway station serves the town of Boston in Lincolnshire, England. Services are operated by East Midlands Trains.-History:The station has declined in importance since the 1960s. In its heyday the station employed over 50 staff and had two through tracks and cover over the platform tracks...
to Skegness, although once part of a busy longer-distance line, is not suited to large heavy trains, therefore line speeds are generally restricted to a maximum of 30 mph (for locomotive-hauled trains).
In 2009, East Midlands Trains
East Midlands Trains
East Midlands Trains is a British passenger train operating company. Based in Derby, it provides train services in the East Midlands, chiefly in the counties of Lincolnshire, South Yorkshire, Nottinghamshire, Leicestershire, Derbyshire and Northamptonshire, and between the East Midlands and London...
introduced a direct service from Nottingham to Skegness, operated using an HST
InterCity 125
The InterCity 125 was the brand name of British Rail's High Speed Train fleet. The InterCity 125 train is made up of two power cars, one at each end of a fixed formation of Mark 3 carriages, and is capable of , making the train the fastest diesel-powered locomotive in regular service in the...
. This service was extended in 2010 as far as Derby, which will hopefully be continued in 2011.
Airfield
Fine beaches link the coastal towns, and there are many large caravan parks in the surrounding countryside. Skegness Water Leisure Park, a short distance to the north of the town, near Ingoldmells, has its own airfieldAirport
An airport is a location where aircraft such as fixed-wing aircraft, helicopters, and blimps take off and land. Aircraft may be stored or maintained at an airport...
, with two runways. Visiting pilots can call the airfield on 132.425 MHz, although PPR (Prior Permission Required) is stated for landing.
A number of years ago, pleasure flights used to operate from the original Skegness airfield which used to be located close to the current site of Butlins. Vintage Austers were taking off and landing several times an hour in summer as holidaymakers sampled the joys of flying. At the time the shortest runway was just under 400 yards, making it challenging for less experienced pilots. Many pilots from other airfields were sent to Skegness as part of their qualifying cross country, it was a vibrant general aviation airfield.
Sport
Skegness StadiumSkegness Stadium
Skegness Stadium is a short circuit tarmac oval racing circuit, located just outside Skegness. It hosts British stock car racing throughout the year, alongside special events such as truck racing, stunt shows, firework displays and caravan racing. Speedway racing was first staged at the stadium in...
, just outside the town, hosts stock car racing
Stock car racing
Stock car racing is a form of automobile racing found mainly in the United States, Canada, New Zealand, Great Britain, Brazil and Argentina. Traditionally, races are run on oval tracks measuring approximately in length...
throughout the year, with special events such as truck racing, stunt shows, firework displays and caravan racing. Speedway racing was staged at the stadium in 1997. The Skegness Braves failed in both of their attempts to operate there for a full season.
Skegness is home to Skegness Town A.F.C.
Skegness Town A.F.C.
Skegness Town Association Football Club is an English association football club based in Skegness, Lincolnshire, that competes in the Lincolnshire League.-History:...
and also has a rugby club, Skegness RUFC, and is home to Skegness Cricket Club.
News and media
The resort is served primarily by three local newspapers - the Skegness Standard, Skegness Citizen and Skegness Target.- The Skegness Target is delivered free to most homes in the area every Wednesday. It can also be purchased at retail outlets such as newsagents and petrol filling stations, for those who aren't on the delivery rounds. The paper's website is incorporated into the This Is network, and is owned by Northcliffe MediaNorthcliffe MediaNorthcliffe Media Ltd. is a large regional newspaper publisher in the UK and Central and Eastern Europe, owned by the Daily Mail and General Trust. The company's name was changed to Northcliffe Media from Northcliffe Newspaper Group in 2007.It operates from over 30 publishing centres, and also...
. - The Skegness Standard is a paid for newspaper, also released on Wednesdays. Its sister paper, the Citizen, is delivered to homes free of charge on Fridays. These two papers are owned by Johnston PressJohnston PressJohnston Press plc is a newspaper publishing company headquartered in Edinburgh, Scotland. Its flagship titles are The Scotsman and the Yorkshire Post; it also operates many other newspapers around the United Kingdom, the Republic of Ireland and the Isle of Man. It is the second-largest publisher...
, and the Standard also has its own website. The former tabloid editor Neil WallisNeil WallisNeil John Wallis is a former newspaper editor in the United Kingdom.-Early life:Wallis was born in Lincolnshire. He attended Skegness Grammar School.-Journalism:...
started his journalistic career in the 1960s on the Skegness Standard. - TV-wise, Skegness is covered by BBC Yorkshire & Lincolnshire/ITV Yorkshire, though it overlaps with BBC East Midlands/ITV Central (East).
- On the internet, there is a lively discussion forum used by both local people and visitors to Skegness, at the Visit Skegness website, and a new website, Skegness.com, is being developed to provide local information, what's on listings, a business directory and other content.
Skegness Town Council
The town's parish authority is Skegness Town Council, which comprises five seats in each of four wards - St Clements, Scarbrough, Seacroft and Winthorpe - making 20 seats in total.Following elections in 2011, the political makeup of Skegness Town Council is as follows:-
- Conservatives: 12
- Labour: 6
- Independents: 2
This represents a net gain of 6 seats for the Conservatives, offset by the loss of 4 seats for Labour, 1 for the Independents and 1 for the Liberal Democrats.
The council has achieved Quality Status, which is an official mark of recognition that it conducts its affairs well in areas including official procedures, the qualification of its clerk and the effectiveness of its communications.
The next Skegness Town Council elections are due in 2015.
Skegness 2020 Vision
During 2008 and 2009, Skegness residents took part in the Skegness 2020 Vision initiative, set in motion by the town council, to draw up a Local Plan for the town.Under this scheme, a group of volunteers from a cross-section of the community led efforts to find out exactly what the people of the town wanted to see change, and indeed the things they wanted to remain. This was done through surveys and public consultations at a number of different venues.
The aim was to produce a 'blueprint' for the development of Skegness by the end of 2009, to cover the coming ten to twelve years and be a 'vision' for the future, hence the name Skegness 2020 Vision. This plan will then be used as a guide for developers and councillors when it comes to submitting and indeed considering applications for planning permission
Planning permission
Planning permission or planning consent is the permission required in the United Kingdom in order to be allowed to build on land, or change the use of land or buildings. Within the UK the occupier of any land or building will need title to that land or building , but will also need "planning...
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External links
- Skegness Guide - what's on, things to do, news
- Skegness Town Council
- Photos of Skegness, Mablethorpe, Chapel St Leonards from the past to present day
- History of Butlin's
- Skegness Playgoers
- Skegness Standard Local Newspaper
- The official "Skegness Magazine" news stories past and present
- Skegness.com
- Skegness Discussion Forum
- Stagecoach Lincolnshire