The Seaside Heritage Network aims to connect people, groups and businesses who care about the heritage of Britain’s seaside resorts.
The original Seaside Heritage Network was set up in 2015 as a subject specialist network administered by Scarborough Museums Trust with a grant from the Esmée Fairbairn Foundation. It was unable to continue after the grant period came to an end but in 2022 a group of volunteers working in the field decided to restart the network, with the support of Scarborough Museums and Galleries, to draw attention to the value of our rich and varied resort heritage.
The Seaside Heritage Network is run by Dr Kathryn Ferry, seaside historian, author and broadcaster, Dr Anya Chapman, Principal Academic in Tourism Management at Bournemouth University, Dr Allan Brodie, former Senior Investigator at Historic England and now a visiting fellow at Bournemouth University, Dr Duncan Light, Principal Academic in Tourism at Bournemouth University and Samantha Richardson MBE, Director of the National Coastal Tourism Academy.
Since its inception the new Seaside Heritage Network has run online seminars about funding big heritage projects including Morecambe Winter Gardens, Blackpool Tower and Worthing Pier; the often overlooked heritage of amusement arcades and parks; ways of marketing the seaside today and in the past; new research in progress and as presented in a museum context; and the challenges of caring for cast iron on the coast through the case studies of Great Yarmouth Winter Gardens, Southport’s Lord Street verandahs and Cromer Pier.
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Image: Grand Hotel Scarborough, image courtesy of Seaside Heritage Network