The Sea Wall, Cleethorpes, c.1900

This original amateur photograph survives on one of the few remaining pages of a now-disintegrating album of Cleethorpes photographs. It is preserved in the Grimsby & Cleethorpes Museum Collection.

The photograph shows the sea wall and promenade at Cleethorpes, with Ross Castle visible to the left of centre. The substantial sea defences and promenade were constructed from 1883 by the Manchester, Sheffield and Lincolnshire Railway Company as part of a major improvement scheme for the resort. The sea wall was subsequently extended, with further work beginning in 1891.

Built in 1885, Ross Castle is particularly significant in this view. Its top was deliberately constructed to mark the original height of the clay cliffs before the promenade was created, providing an intriguing indication of the landscape that existed before the sea defences transformed the seafront.

The photograph also records the Victorian railings, lamp posts and buildings along the cliff top. Below the wall is the beach, with the Humber Estuary beyond. The view is towards Cleethorpes Pier, which is only just visible in the distance.

Immediately to the left of the area shown here is the Kingsway development, which was created in the early 1900s. The major Sea Bank Improvement Scheme was undertaken during this period, creating the new Kingsway promenade. Kingsway was officially opened on 12 July 1906; before the development, the road along this frontage was known as Sea Bank Road.

This photograph therefore provides a valuable record of Cleethorpes seafront around the turn of the twentieth century, particularly showing the much greater drop from the promenade and sea wall to the beach than we see today.

From the Grimsby & Cleethorpes Museum Collection.