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i lived near Freshwater Bay from 1961 to 1983. Some of the photos on this site show the house where I grew up - surrounded by fields and with a lot of elm trees. Now the whole area has changed. all the fields are built over, the trees disappeared in the late 1970s, but thankfully the house is still there. Unfortunately, I think it's a holiday home. Freshwater Bay stays the same. which is a very good thing. The Arch rock fell down in October 1992, by the way !

Dear All,



I am researching the history of a fellow botanist, and have received from his family a picture of him on holiday (circa 1930-35) in what I presume is a southcoast seaside location. He had relatives in Bournemouth (but not found a match for the location yet).



Quite a distinctive slope to the beach and a few buildings in the view.



Anyone got any ideas as to the actual location?



Thanks in advance



Mark

Better times. Cliff has been engineered so as to not fall into the sea. The pavilion abandoned.

No prizes for guessing who was the famous person who stayed in the house, to the far left of photo, for six weeks in October 1936.



Incidentally few photographs of Beach House exist. It was demolished in 1989.

Summer holidays 1960. And 1961 stayed at Ryde on IoW: train and bus took us to Freshwater Bay. Albion Hotel shown in pic and the HFS lodgings - the arched rock is outside the frame unfortunately - it collapsed in a storm in late 1990's I believe?

Summer holidays 1960. And 1961 stayed at Ryder on IoW: train and bus took us to Freshwater Bay. Albion Hotel shown in pic and the HFS lodgings - the arched rock is outside the frame unfortunately - it collapsed in a storm in late 1990's I believe?

As a boy I went to Folkestone for summer holidays in 1958 and 1959. The harbour was busy even then, 10 years after this picture.

Theres a photo on here that isnt quite right. The Metropole isnt in the correct position, and what looks like Central Station, isnt either.

New Brighton has changed so much. In this picture the railway track runs down towards the camera and then along the edge of the beach.



Today the train track is in the same place but the beach is about half a mile away.

Bognor Regis beach and Hotham Park. BB (Before Butlins!)

Oddicombe Beach and Babbacombe Downs. Still one of my favourite places with stunning views across to Lyme Regis.

Beautiful Bognor

Great shot of Brighton beach, pier and town.

Both Brighton Piers visible here.

Graf Zeppelin over Brighton. 18 August 1931

Graf Zeppelin over Eastbourne.18 August 1931

View of the Southend sea front and interestingly, Southend United's football ground next to the Kursaal amusement park is on the far right of the pic.

They left in 1955 to play a couple of miles away at Roots Hall, where they still are today.

The Kursaal 92 years ago....still going strong today.

Same facade too.

Chris, this is the image I was meaning, EPW002078. It shows Central Station north of the tower, and the Metropole south of the tower.

This is Eastbourne Pier with Grand Parade on the left and Marine Parade on the right showing the junction of Cavendish Place and Elms Aevnue. The pier shows a rather sparse-looking entrance that today is considerably enlarged and lit up like a christmas tree.



You can see the four or five people on the promenade looking up as the plane passes by to take this photo.

A fantastic hazy wide shot of Eastbourne's seafront showing the Western Lawns with the Wish Tower (No. 73 Martello Tower), the Pier, Devonshire Park and the Grand Hotel.

The bandstand on Eastbourne's seafront before the current one was built in 1935 forming a semi-circular shape jutting out onto the shingle beach. The statue of the Duke is still there.

This is Eastbourne Pier and Grand Parade showing the junction of Cavendish Place and Elms Aevnue. The grander looking building on the right is the Queens Hotel. The dome on the seaward side of the pier houses the camera obscura.

The superb Redoubt Fortress and Royal Parade behind it looking almost exactly the same then as it does now with the sea washing up close to the footpath in front of it.



The Redoubt Fortress was built to deter Napoleon's forces along with the Martello Towers in the early 1800's. The fortress now houses a great museum of the Royal Sussex Regiment.



http://www.eastbournemuseums.co.uk/

Ok, so this is not showing the pier at Eastbourne but it is showing the Western Lawns and the Martello Tower. The buildings look a little more regal, the roads look empty (because there aren't hundreds of cars parked on the roadside like today) and the open space at the top is now the tennis courts and the Congress Theatre. The Winter Gardens and the Devonshire Park Theatre can be seenand to the left is the start of the Grand Hotel.

One of my favourite photos of Blackpool at this time showing the South Pier and the very sparse-looking Pleasure Beach, most of which looks like it was built straight on top of the sand.



Now, the promenade continues for at least another mile or so with more hotels and houses and the expanse of sand next to the railway line is all Pleasure Beach.

A superb shot of the Metropole Hotel, North Pier and at the top right, Blackpool North train station.

The best photo of the North Pier with Talbot Road and Clifton Street creating a V shape in the road with a clearer view of Yate's Wine Lodge in it's heyday before a devasting fire that totally destroyed the building. The Winter Gardens can also just be seen at the top right.

Blackpool Tower, the North Pier and the Metropole Hotel. The Metropole doesn't look that different today.



On the right of the photo in the middle is the Sacred Heart Catholic Church that also hasn't changed and the building that was formerly Yate's Wine Lodge, which sadly burnt down a few years ago.

Another great photo of Blackpool's seafront of the tower and the huge ferris wheel slightly obscured behind it next to the clearly visible Winter Gardens. Take note of the lines of deck chairs on the promenade.

A great photo of Central Pier and swarms of people using it and the berach. The Pier is now quite built-up with unattractive buildings and ferris wheel, which was added in 1990 costing hundreds of thousands to strengthen the pier due to its size and weight.



Everything seems so much simpler and more pleasant in this photo.

Egremont (demolished 1946) and New Brighton (demolished 1977), wallasey.

Central Pier, opened on 30th May 1868.