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Skegness ( ) is a seaside town and
civil parish In England, a civil parish is a type of Parish (administrative division), administrative parish used for Local government in England, local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government below district ...
in the East Lindsey District of
Lincolnshire Lincolnshire (abbreviated Lincs.) is a county in the East Midlands of England, with a long coastline on the North Sea to the east. It borders Norfolk to the south-east, Cambridgeshire to the south, Rutland to the south-west, Leicestershir ...
, England. On the Lincolnshire coast of the
North Sea The North Sea lies between Great Britain, Norway, Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands and Belgium. An epeiric sea on the European continental shelf, it connects to the Atlantic Ocean through the English Channel in the south and the Norwegian S ...
, the town is east of Lincoln and north-east of
Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the capital city, state capital and List of municipalities in Massachusetts, most populous city of the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financ ...
. With a population of 19,579 as of 2011, it is the largest settlement in East Lindsey. It also incorporates Winthorpe and Seacroft, and forms a larger built-up area with the resorts of Ingoldmells and Chapel St Leonards to the north. The town is on the A52 and A158 roads, connecting it with Boston and the
East Midlands The East Midlands is one of nine official regions of England at the ITL 1 statistical regions of England, first level of International Territorial Level, ITL for Statistics, statistical purposes. It comprises the eastern half of the area tradi ...
, and Lincoln respectively. Skegness railway station is on the Nottingham to Skegness (via Grantham) line. The original Skegness was situated farther east at the mouth of
The Wash The Wash is a rectangular bay and multiple estuary at the north-west corner of East Anglia on the East coast of England, where Norfolk meets Lincolnshire and both border the North Sea. One of Britain's broadest estuaries, it is fed by the river ...
. Its
Norse Norse is a demonym for Norsemen, a medieval North Germanic ethnolinguistic group ancestral to modern Scandinavians, defined as speakers of Old Norse from about the 9th to the 13th centuries. Norse may also refer to: Culture and religion * Nor ...
name refers to a
headland A headland, also known as a head, is a coastal landform, a point of land usually high and often with a sheer drop, that extends into a body of water. It is a type of promontory. A headland of considerable size often is called a cape.Whittow, Joh ...
which sat near the settlement. By the 14th century, it was a locally important port for coastal trade. The natural sea defences which protected the harbour eroded in the later Middle Ages, and it was lost to the sea after a storm in the 1520s. Rebuilt along the new shoreline, early modern Skegness was a small fishing and farming village, but from the late 18th century members of the local
gentry Gentry (from Old French ''genterie'', from ''gentil'', "high-born, noble") are "well-born, genteel and well-bred people" of high social class, especially in the past. Word similar to gentle imple and decentfamilies ''Gentry'', in its widest c ...
visited for holidays. The arrival of the
railways Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport that transfers passengers and goods on wheeled vehicles running on rails, which are incorporated in Track (rail transport), tracks. In contrast to road transport, where the ...
in 1873 transformed it into a popular seaside resort. This was the intention of The 9th Earl of Scarbrough, who owned most of the land in the vicinity; he built the infrastructure of the town and laid out plots, which he leased to speculative developers. This new Skegness quickly became a popular destination for holiday-makers and day trippers from the East Midlands factory towns. By the
interwar In the history of the 20th century, the interwar period lasted from 11 November 1918 to 1 September 1939 (20 years, 9 months, 21 days), the end of the First World War to the beginning of the Second World War. The interwar period was relativel ...
years the town was established as one of the most popular seaside resorts in Britain. The layout of the modern seafront dates to this time and holiday camps were built around the town, including the first Butlin's holiday resort which opened in Ingoldmells in 1936. The package holiday abroad became an increasingly popular and affordable option for many British holiday-makers during the 1970s; this trend combined with declining industrial employment in the East Midlands to harm Skegness's visitor economy in the late 20th century. Nevertheless, the resort retains a loyal visitor base and has increasingly attracted people visiting for a short holiday alongside their trip abroad. Tourism increased following the recession of 2007–09 owing to the resort's affordability. In 2011, the town was England's fourth most popular holiday destination for UK residents, and in 2015 it received over 1.4 million visitors. It has a reputation as a traditional English seaside resort owing to its long, sandy beach and seafront attractions which include amusement arcades, eateries, Botton's fairground, the pier, nightclubs and bars. Other visitor attractions include Natureland Seal Sanctuary, a museum, an aquarium, a heritage railway, an annual
carnival Carnival is a Catholic Christian festive season that occurs before the liturgical season of Lent. The main events typically occur during February or early March, during the period historically known as Shrovetide (or Pre-Lent). Carnival ...
, a yearly arts festival, and Gibraltar Point nature reserve to the south of the town. Despite the arrival of several manufacturing firms since the 1950s and Skegness's prominence as a local commercial centre, the tourism industry remains very important for the economy and employment. But the tourism service economy's low wages and seasonal nature, along with the town's aging population, have contributed towards high levels of
relative deprivation Relative deprivation is the lack of resources to sustain the diet, lifestyle, activities and amenities that an individual or group are accustomed to or that are widely encouraged or approved in the society to which they belong. Peter Townsend, ''Po ...
among the resident population. Poor transport and communication links are barriers to
economic diversification Economic diversity or economic diversification refers to variations in the economic status or the use of a broad range of economic activities in a region or country. Diversification is used as a strategy to encourage positive economic growth and d ...
. Residents are served by five state primary schools and a preparatory school, two state secondary schools (one of which is selective), several colleges, a
community hospital A community hospital can be purely a nominal designation or have a more specific meaning. When specific, it refers to a hospital that is accessible to the general public, and provides a general or specific medical care which is usually short-term, i ...
, several churches and two local newspapers. The town is home to a police station, a
magistrates court A magistrates' court is a lower court where, in several jurisdictions, all criminal proceedings start. Also some civil matters may be dealt with here, such as family proceedings. Courts * Magistrates' court (England and Wales) * Magistrate's Co ...
and a lifeboat station.


Geography


Topography and geology

The civil parish of Skegness includes most of the
linear settlement A linear settlement is a (normally small to medium-sized) settlement or group of buildings that is formed in a long line. Many of these settlements are formed along a transport route, such as a road, river, or canal. Others form due to physical r ...
of Seacroft to the south and the village of Winthorpe and the suburban area of
Seathorne Seathorne is a small coastal village in the East Lindsey East Lindsey is a local government district in Lincolnshire, England. The population of the district council was 136,401 at the 2011 census. The council is based in Manby. Other maj ...
to the north, all of which have been absorbed into the town's urban area. The neighbouring parishes are: Ingoldmells to the north, Addlethorpe to the north-west, Burgh le Marsh to the west and Croft to the south. The town is approximately north-east of
Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the capital city, state capital and List of municipalities in Massachusetts, most populous city of the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financ ...
and east of Lincoln. Skegness fronts the
North Sea The North Sea lies between Great Britain, Norway, Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands and Belgium. An epeiric sea on the European continental shelf, it connects to the Atlantic Ocean through the English Channel in the south and the Norwegian S ...
. It is located on a low-lying flat region called Lincoln Marsh, which runs along the coast between Skegness and the
Humber The Humber is a large tidal estuary on the east coast of Northern England. It is formed at Trent Falls, Faxfleet, by the confluence of the tidal rivers Ouse and Trent. From there to the North Sea, it forms part of the boundary betw ...
and separates the coast from the upland
Wolds The Wolds is a term used in England to describe a range of hills which consists of open country overlying a base of limestone or chalk. Geography The Wolds comprise a series of low hills and steep valleys that are in the main underlain by calcare ...
.. Much of the parish's elevation is close to sea level, although a narrow band along the seafront is above peaking at on North Parade; the A52 road is elevated at ; and there is also a short narrow bank parallel to the shoreline between the North Shore Golf Club and Seathorne which is above sea level. The bedrock under the town is part of the Ferriby Chalk Formation, a
sedimentary Sedimentary rocks are types of rock that are formed by the accumulation or deposition of mineral or organic particles at Earth's surface, followed by cementation. Sedimentation is the collective name for processes that cause these particles ...
layer formed around 100 million years ago during the
Cretaceous The Cretaceous ( ) is a geological period that lasted from about 145 to 66 million years ago (Mya). It is the third and final period of the Mesozoic Era, as well as the longest. At around 79 million years, it is the longest geological period of ...
period; it runs north-west from Skegness in a narrow band to Fotherby and
Utterby Utterby is a village and civil parish in the East Lindsey district of Lincolnshire, England. It is situated on the A16 road, south from Grimsby and north from Louth. Utterby railway station (or Utterby Halt), on the line between Grimsby and ...
north of Louth in the Wolds. The surface layers are tidal-flat deposits of
clay Clay is a type of fine-grained natural soil material containing clay minerals (hydrous aluminium phyllosilicates, e.g. kaolin, Al2 Si2 O5( OH)4). Clays develop plasticity when wet, due to a molecular film of water surrounding the clay part ...
and
silt Silt is granular material of a size between sand and clay and composed mostly of broken grains of quartz. Silt may occur as a soil (often mixed with sand or clay) or as sediment mixed in suspension with water. Silt usually has a floury feel wh ...
, deposited since the end of the last ice age and during the
Holocene The Holocene ( ) is the current geological epoch. It began approximately 11,650 cal years Before Present (), after the Last Glacial Period, which concluded with the Holocene glacial retreat. The Holocene and the preceding Pleistocene togeth ...
epoch (the last 11,800 years). The shoreline consists of blown sand and beach deposits in the form of clay, silt and sand.


Coastal erosion

There has been
coastal erosion Coastal erosion is the loss or displacement of land, or the long-term removal of sediment and rocks along the coastline due to the action of waves, currents, tides, wind-driven water, waterborne ice, or other impacts of storms. The landwa ...
in the area for thousands of years, though it was relatively sheltered until the
Middle Ages In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire ...
by a series of offshore
barrier island Barrier islands are coastal landforms and a type of dune system that are exceptionally flat or lumpy areas of sand that form by wave and tidal action parallel to the mainland coast. They usually occur in chains, consisting of anything from a fe ...
s or
shoal In oceanography, geomorphology, and geoscience, a shoal is a natural submerged ridge, bank, or bar that consists of, or is covered by, sand or other unconsolidated material and rises from the bed of a body of water to near the surface. It ...
s made up of boulder clay. Rising sea levels and more intense sea storms from the 13th century onward very likely eroded these islands, increasingly exposing the Skegness coast to the tides. Records from the Middle Ages show that local people maintained sand banks as a form of sea defence; fines were levied for
grazing In agriculture, grazing is a method of animal husbandry whereby domestic livestock are allowed outdoors to roam around and consume wild vegetations in order to convert the otherwise indigestible (by human gut) cellulose within grass and other ...
animals on the dunes, which could weaken the defences. Skegness was flooded in 1525 or 1526, requiring the village to be rebuilt inland, and loss of land continued during the century. A clay embankment, Roman Bank, was built in the late 16th century and was followed in ''c''. 1670 by another closer to the sea (Green Bank), running from what is now North Shore Road to Cow Bank, following a line from St Andrew's Drive to Drummond Road. By the late 19th century, sands were accreting at Skegness; the retaining sea wall erected in 1878 was designed to support the resort town's seafront development rather than to protect it from the sea. Nevertheless, this wall largely saved the town during the 1953 flood, when only gardens, the amusements and part of the pier were damaged. In the early 21st century,
Longshore drift Longshore drift from longshore current is a geological process that consists of the transportation of sediments (clay, silt, pebbles, sand, shingle) along a coast parallel to the shoreline, which is dependent on the angle incoming wave direction ...
carries particles of sediment southwards along the Lincolnshire coast.. At Skegness, the sand settles out in banks which run at a slight south-west angle to the coast. Sand continues to accrete at the southern end of the town's shore, but coastal erosion continues immediately north of the settlement. Modern sea defences have been built along a stretch of coast between Mablethorpe (to the north) and Skegness to prevent erosion, but currents remove sediment and the defences hinder dune development; a nourishment scheme began operation in 1994 to replace lost sand..


Climate

The
British Isles The British Isles are a group of islands in the North Atlantic Ocean off the north-western coast of continental Europe, consisting of the islands of Great Britain, Ireland, the Isle of Man, the Inner and Outer Hebrides, the Northern Isles (O ...
experience a temperate, maritime climate with warm summers and cool winters. Lincolnshire's position on the east of the British Isles allows for a sunnier and warmer climate relative to the national average, and it is one of the driest counties in the United Kingdom. In Skegness, the average daily high temperature peaks in August at and a peak average daily mean of occurs in July and August. The lowest daily mean temperature is in January; the average daily high for that month is and the daily low is .


History


Prehistoric and medieval

There is evidence of late Iron-Age and early Roman
saltmaking Salt is a mineral composed primarily of sodium chloride (NaCl), a chemical compound belonging to the larger class of salts; salt in the form of a natural crystalline mineral is known as rock salt or halite. Salt is present in vast quantit ...
activity in the Skegness area. Place names and a report of a castle in the medieval settlement have been interpreted as evidence that a Roman fort existed in the town before being lost to the sea in the late Middle Ages.. The archaeologist Charles Phillips suggested that Skegness was the terminus of a Roman road running from Lincoln through Burgh le Marsh and was also the location of a Roman ferry which crossed The Wash to
Norfolk Norfolk () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in East Anglia in England. It borders Lincolnshire to the north-west, Cambridgeshire to the west and south-west, and Suffolk to the south. Its northern and eastern boundaries are the Nort ...
. If the Roman fortifications indeed existed, it is likely that the Anglo-Saxons used them as a coastal shore fort. Later, the Vikings settled in Lincolnshire and their influence is detected in many local place names.. Skegness's name combines the
Old Norse Old Norse, Old Nordic, or Old Scandinavian, is a stage of development of North Germanic languages, North Germanic dialects before their final divergence into separate Nordic languages. Old Norse was spoken by inhabitants of Scandinavia and t ...
words ''Skeggi'' and ''ness'', and means either "Skeggi's
headland A headland, also known as a head, is a coastal landform, a point of land usually high and often with a sheer drop, that extends into a body of water. It is a type of promontory. A headland of considerable size often is called a cape.Whittow, Joh ...
" or "beard-shaped headland"; Skeggi (meaning "bearded one") may be the name of a
Viking Vikings ; non, víkingr is the modern name given to seafaring people originally from Scandinavia (present-day Denmark, Norway and Sweden), who from the late 8th to the late 11th centuries raided, pirated, traded and s ...
settler or it could derive from the Old Norse word ''
skegg Skeggs or Skegg is a surname, and may refer to: *Beverley Skeggs, English academic * Bruce Skeggs (1932–2013), Australian politician *Cliff Skeggs (born 1931), New Zealand businessman *David Skegg Sir David Christopher Graham Skegg (born 16 ...
'' "beard" and have been used to describe the shape of the landform. gives both possibilities. Skegness was not named in the ''
Domesday Book Domesday Book () – the Middle English spelling of "Doomsday Book" – is a manuscript record of the "Great Survey" of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086 by order of King William I, known as William the Conqueror. The manusc ...
'' of 1086. It is usually identified with the ''Domesday'' settlement called Tric.. The historian Arthur Owen and the linguist Richard Coates have argued that Tric derived its name from ''Traiectus'',
Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power ...
for "crossing", referring to the Roman ferry that Phillips argues launched from Skegness. The name Skegness appears in the 12th century, and further references are known from the 13th. Natural sea defences (including a
promontory A promontory is a raised mass of land that projects into a lowland or a body of water (in which case it is a peninsula). Most promontories either are formed from a hard ridge of rock that has resisted the erosive forces that have removed the soft ...
or cape, as the place name suggests, and barrier shoals and
dune A dune is a landform composed of wind- or water-driven sand. It typically takes the form of a mound, ridge, or hill. An area with dunes is called a dune system or a dune complex. A large dune complex is called a dune field, while broad, fl ...
s) protected a
harbour A harbor (American English), harbour (British English; see spelling differences), or haven is a sheltered body of water where ships, boats, and barges can be docked. The term ''harbor'' is often used interchangeably with ''port'', which is ...
at Skegness in the Middle Ages. It was relatively small and its trade in the 14th century was predominantly
coastal The coast, also known as the coastline or seashore, is defined as the area where land meets the ocean, or as a line that forms the boundary between the land and the coastline. The Earth has around of coastline. Coasts are important zones in n ...
; its economic fortunes were probably closely related to those of nearby coastal ports, such as Wainfleet, which in turn depended on the larger port at Boston which was heavily involved in the
wool Wool is the textile fibre obtained from sheep and other mammals, especially goats, rabbits, and camelids. The term may also refer to inorganic materials, such as mineral wool and glass wool, that have properties similar to animal wool. ...
trade. It was also an important fishing port. During the medieval period the offshore barrier islands which sheltered the coast were destroyed, very likely in the 13th century during a period of exceptionally stormy weather. This left the coast exposed to the sea and in a constant state of change; later in the Middle Ages, frequent storms and floods eroded sea defences.. Between the 14th and 16th centuries, Skegness was one of several coastal settlements to incur major loss of land to the sea. Local people attempted to make artificial banks, but they were costly. Rising sea levels further threatened the coast § 2.2.1.4. and in 1525 or 1526 Skegness was largely washed away in a storm, along with the hamlets of East and West Meales..


Later fishing and farming village

After the flooding, Skegness was rebuilt along the new coastline. By 1543, when the antiquarian John Leland visited the town, he noted that "For old Skegnes is now buildid a pore new thing"; the settlement was principally a small farming and fishing village throughout the early modern period, with the marshland providing good summer
pasture Pasture (from the Latin ''pastus'', past participle of ''pascere'', "to feed") is land used for grazing. Pasture lands in the narrow sense are enclosed tracts of farmland, grazed by domesticated livestock, such as horses, cattle, sheep, or s ...
for sheep.. Over the course of the 16th century, the sea continued to encroach into the land at Skegness, while depositing sand banks further south, leading to the creation of Gibraltar Point. Roman
Bank A bank is a financial institution that accepts deposits from the public and creates a demand deposit while simultaneously making loans. Lending activities can be directly performed by the bank or indirectly through capital markets. Becau ...
, a clay sea defence upon which the A52 road now runs through Skegness, was built in the latter part of the century. Much of the land in and around Skegness came into the hands of Nicholas Saunderson, 1st Viscount Castleton,. who enclosed of saltmarsh in 1627 and later in the 17th century reclaimed more marshland which had emerged from the sea, sheltered behind the growing Gibraltar Point.. His descendant was responsible for erecting Green Bank between Roman Bank and the shore in ''c''. 1670, allowing more lands to be converted to agricultural use. The Lords Castleton had enclosed a large portion of the land around Skegness by 1740,. over .. The Castleton estate passed through the male line which became extinct in 1723 on the death of the 5th Viscount, who bequeathed his estate to his cousin Thomas Lumley; in 1739 Lumley became 3rd Earl of Scarbrough. By 1845, the Scarbrough estate comprised at Skegness. Although the population rose above 300 by 1851,. the settlement "was still very much an undeveloped village of fishermen, farmers and farm hands" in the early 1870s..


Early resort

Local
gentry Gentry (from Old French ''genterie'', from ''gentil'', "high-born, noble") are "well-born, genteel and well-bred people" of high social class, especially in the past. Word similar to gentle imple and decentfamilies ''Gentry'', in its widest c ...
began visiting the village for leisure reasons from the late 18th century. The sea air was thought to have health-giving qualities.. To capitalise on this trend, the Skegness Hotel opened in 1770; visitors could reach it by
omnibus Omnibus may refer to: Film and television * ''Omnibus'' (film) * Omnibus (broadcast), a compilation of Radio or TV episodes * ''Omnibus'' (UK TV series), an arts-based documentary programme * ''Omnibus'' (U.S. TV series), an educational progr ...
from Boston, which was the terminus of several
stagecoach A stagecoach is a four-wheeled public transport coach used to carry paying passengers and light packages on journeys long enough to need a change of horses. It is strongly sprung and generally drawn by four horses although some versions are draw ...
es.. The first reference to bathing machines on Skegness's shores dates to 1784 though they are thought to have been present earlier. Private houses also opened their doors to lodgers, and other hotels opened... Born and raised at Somersby, the poet
Alfred Tennyson Alfred Tennyson, 1st Baron Tennyson (6 August 1809 – 6 October 1892) was an English poet. He was the Poet Laureate during much of Queen Victoria's reign. In 1829, Tennyson was awarded the Chancellor's Gold Medal at Cambridge for one of hi ...
(later Lord Tennyson) holidayed at Skegness as a young man, often taking walks along the shore from his lodgings at Mary Walls' Moat House on the sea bank; some scholars have drawn parallels between his poetry and the landscape he encountered on these visits.


The railways and the modern resort

The East Lincolnshire Railway, running along the coast between Boston and
Grimsby Grimsby or Great Grimsby is a port town and the administrative centre of North East Lincolnshire, Lincolnshire, England. Grimsby adjoins the town of Cleethorpes directly to the south-east forming a conurbation. Grimsby is north-east of Linco ...
, opened in 1848. In 1871, a branch line was built to Wainfleet All Saints with rolling stock operated by the Great Northern Railway; an extension to Skegness was approved by GNR
shareholder A shareholder (in the United States often referred to as stockholder) of a corporation is an individual or legal entity (such as another corporation, a body politic, a trust or partnership) that is registered by the corporation as the legal ...
s that year and the railways arrived at Skegness in 1873. The line was designed to bring day trippers to the seaside.. Rising wages and better holiday provision meant that some
working-class The working class (or labouring class) comprises those engaged in manual-labour occupations or industrial work, who are remunerated via waged or salaried contracts. Working-class occupations (see also " Designation of workers by collar colo ...
people from the East Midlands
factory A factory, manufacturing plant or a production plant is an industrial facility, often a complex consisting of several buildings filled with machinery, where workers manufacture Manufacturing is the creation or production of goods with t ...
towns like
Nottingham Nottingham ( , locally ) is a city and unitary authority area in Nottinghamshire, East Midlands, England. It is located north-west of London, south-east of Sheffield and north-east of Birmingham. Nottingham has links to the legend of Robi ...
,
Derby Derby ( ) is a city and unitary authority area in Derbyshire, England. It lies on the banks of the River Derwent in the south of Derbyshire, which is in the East Midlands Region. It was traditionally the county town of Derbyshire. Derby gain ...
and Leicester could afford to have a holiday for the first time. With agriculture in depression, the major landowner Richard Lumley, 9th Earl of Scarbrough had seen his local rental income decline; his agent, H. V. Tippet, decided that the earl's fortunes might be revived if he turned Skegness into a seaside resort.. A road plan was developed and the earl took out a mortgage of £120,000 to fund developments. In 1878, the full plan laid out plots for 787 houses in a grid-aligned settlement on of land between the shoreline and Roman Bank north of the High Street. Scarbrough Avenue would run inland from the centre of the Parade and was bisected by Lumley Avenue, with a new church in the
roundabout A roundabout is a type of circular intersection or junction in which road traffic is permitted to flow in one direction around a central island, and priority is typically given to traffic already in the junction.''The New Shorter Oxford E ...
. At the end of Scarbrough Avenue would be a
pier Seaside pleasure pier in England.html" ;"title="Brighton, England">Brighton, England. The first seaside piers were built in England in the early 19th century. A pier is a raised structure that rises above a body of water and usually juts out ...
. The earl spent thousands of pounds on laying roads and the sewerage system, and building the sea wall (the latter of which was finished in 1878).. He provided or invested in other amenities, including the gas and water supply, Skegness Pier (opened in 1881), the pleasure gardens (finished in 1881), the steamboats (launched by 1883) and bathing pools (1883). He donated land and money towards the building of St Matthew's Church, two
Methodist Methodism, also called the Methodist movement, is a group of historically related Christian denomination, denominations of Protestantism, Protestant Christianity whose origins, doctrine and practice derive from the life and teachings of John W ...
chapels, a school and the cricket ground.. Housebuilding was left to speculative builders; the earliest development was concentrated along Lumley Road, which offered a direct route from the train station to the seafront. Newspapers across the Midlands advertised properties, and shops began opening. By 1881 almost a thousand people had moved into the town.. According to the local historian Winston Kime, Skegness had become known as a "trippers' paradise" by 1880. The August bank holiday in 1882 saw 20,000 descend on the town; they came to enjoy the beach and the sea, the many games and amusements that had popped up in the town, the pleasure boat trips that had just started launching from the pier, and the donkey rides. Building contracted after the 1883 season, although in 1888 the accreted sands in front of the sea wall south of the pier were converted into the Marine Gardens,. a lawn with trees and hedges. The undeveloped lands north of Scarbrough Avenue were fenced in and planted with trees in a space called The Park.. This stagnation coincided with a declining number of day-trippers, which fell from a peak of 230,277 in 1882 to 118,473 in 1885. The local historian Richard Gurnham could not find a clear explanation for this decline in contemporary reports, though one newspaper article from 1884 blamed "the depression of trade" in Nottingham for a fall in visitor numbers compared with the previous year.


1890s to 1945: boom years

Fortunes changed during the 1890s;. in the words of the historian Susan Barton, "Skegness and other 'lower' status resorts provided cheap amusements, beach entertainers, street traders and, by the end of the nineteenth century, spectacular entertainment for a mass market". Convalescent homes began opening in the town, the earliest being the Nottinghamshire Convalescent Home for Men (1891). Holiday homes or camps for the poor opened in 1891 and 1907. The town became an urban district in 1895. In 1908 the famous " Jolly Fisherman" poster was used by GNR to advertise day trips from King's Cross in London.. By 1913 more than 750,000 people made excursions to the town. Aside from bathing and enjoying the sands, visitors to Skegness found entertainment in the pier, which had a concert hall, saloon and theatre. Other theatres and picture houses opened in the early 20th century.. Britain's first switchback railway had opened in the town in 1885 or 1887. A fairground operated on the central beach before the
First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fig ...
and the Figure 8
roller coaster A roller coaster, or rollercoaster, is a type of amusement ride that employs a form of elevated railroad track designed with tight turns, steep slopes, and sometimes inversions. Passengers ride along the track in open cars, and the rides ar ...
replaced the switchback in 1908.. By 1911, the population had reached 3,775.. Seventy-one local servicemen who died in the First World War are commemorated on the town's war memorial. Aside from a
seaplane A seaplane is a powered fixed-wing aircraft capable of takeoff, taking off and water landing, landing (alighting) on water.Gunston, "The Cambridge Aerospace Dictionary", 2009. Seaplanes are usually divided into two categories based on their tec ...
base briefly established by the town in 1914, the conflict brought little change to the fabric of Skegness. Its popularity as a tourist destination grew in the
interwar In the history of the 20th century, the interwar period lasted from 11 November 1918 to 1 September 1939 (20 years, 9 months, 21 days), the end of the First World War to the beginning of the Second World War. The interwar period was relativel ...
years and boomed during the 1930s.. The urban district council purchased the seafront in 1922 and its surveyor R. H. Jenkins oversaw the construction of Tower
Esplanade An esplanade or promenade is a long, open, level area, usually next to a river or large body of water, where people may walk. The historical definition of ''esplanade'' was a large, open, level area outside fortress or city walls to provide cle ...
(1923), the boating lake (1924, extended in 1932), the Fairy Dell paddling pool, and the Embassy Ballroom and an outdoor pool in 1928, and remodelled the foreshore north of the pier in 1931. Billy Butlin (who had been a stall holder on the beach since 1925) built permanent amusements south of the pier in 1929. In 1932 the first illuminations were turned on and the following year Butlin launched a
carnival Carnival is a Catholic Christian festive season that occurs before the liturgical season of Lent. The main events typically occur during February or early March, during the period historically known as Shrovetide (or Pre-Lent). Carnival ...
. Cinemas and
casino A casino is a facility for certain types of gambling. Casinos are often built near or combined with hotels, resorts, restaurants, retail shopping, cruise ships, and other tourist attractions. Some casinos are also known for hosting live enterta ...
s joined the theatres of the Edwardian period as popular attractions, while some of the apartments and houses by the seafront were converted into shops, cafés and arcades. In 1936, Butlin built his own all-in holiday camp in Ingoldmells, providing constant entertainment and facilities for guests. It was joined in 1939 by The Derbyshire Miners' Holiday Camp. This coincided with growth in the residential area, mostly speculative developments and some council housing; North Parade was built up with hotels in the 1930s and the Seathorne Estate was also laid out in 1925. By 1931, the town's population had reached 9,122. During the
Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...
, the
Royal Air Force The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the United Kingdom's air and space force. It was formed towards the end of the First World War on 1 April 1918, becoming the first independent air force in the world, by regrouping the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) an ...
billeted thousands of trainees in the town for its No. 11 Recruit Centre. The Butlin's camp was occupied by the
Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by Kingdom of England, English and Kingdom of Scotland, Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were foug ...
, who called it HMS ''Royal Arthur'' and used it for training seamen. Aerial bombing of the town began in 1940; there were fatalities on several occasions, the greatest being on 24 October 1941 when twelve residents were killed during a bombing raid. Fifty-seven local servicemen died in the conflict and are named on the town's war memorial.


Since the Second World War

Since the Second World War, self-catered holidays have become popular, prompting the growth of caravan parks and
chalet A chalet (pronounced in British English; in American English usually ), also called Swiss chalet, is a type of building or house, typical of the Alpine region in Europe. It is made of wood, with a heavy, gently sloping roof and wide, well-supp ...
accommodation. By 1981, 20 caravan sites were in operation and five years later there were over 100,000 holiday caravans and chalets in Skegness and Ingoldmells... Increasingly the lodging accommodation in the town centre closed as a result, or was converted into flats or shops. The 1970s also witnessed the advent of the cheap package airline holiday abroad, which took visitors away from British seaside towns.. The decline in
coal mining Coal mining is the process of extracting coal from the ground. Coal is valued for its energy content and since the 1880s has been widely used to generate electricity. Steel and cement industries use coal as a fuel for extraction of iron from ...
in the East Midlands in the 1980s caused what the BBC described as a "damaging dip in trade". Nevertheless, holiday-makers continued to visit the town and, in the 1980s and 1990s, people ventured to Skegness for their second holiday alongside trips abroad; it also proved popular among the elderly in the winter months. The resort's popularity grew during the late 2000s
Great Recession The Great Recession was a period of marked general decline, i.e. a recession, observed in national economies globally that occurred from late 2007 into 2009. The scale and timing of the recession varied from country to country (see map). At ...
, as it offered a cheaper alternative to holidays abroad.. Between 2006 and 2008, 870,000 people made overnight trips to Skegness; this figure had risen to 1,030,000 for 2010–12. The fabric of the town centre has also changed. North and South Bracing were built in 1948–49. Butlin's left the main amusement park and it was extensively refurbished by Botton Bros in 1966; the switchback on North Parade was demolished in 1970. Residential development has included council estates near St Clement's Church and Winthorpe,. as well as private developments in various locations around the town. The seafront was fully developed in the 1970s and the last of The Park built on in 1982. In 1971, the pier entrance was remodelled; seven years later, a large section was swept away in
a storm ''A Storm'', a 1922 pastel A pastel () is an art medium in a variety of forms including a stick, a square a pebble or a pan of color; though other forms are possible; they consist of powdered pigment and a binder. The pigments used in pa ...
. The Embassy Ballroom and the swimming baths were replaced in 1999 with the Embassy Theatre Complex, which includes a theatre, indoor swimming pool, leisure centre and car park. By 2001,
European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated total population of about 447million. The EU has often been ...
grants had provided millions of pounds towards regeneration schemes. Since the war, most of the seafront's hotels, cinemas and theatres have been turned into amusement arcades,
nightclub A nightclub (music club, discothèque, disco club, or simply club) is an entertainment venue during nighttime comprising a dance floor, lightshow, and a stage for live music or a disc jockey (DJ) who plays recorded music. Nightclubs gener ...
s, shops and bingo halls. What remained of Frederica Terrace, one of Skegness's oldest buildings, had been converted into entertainment bars and arcades before it was destroyed in a fire in 2007.


Economy

According to VisitEngland, in 2011 Skegness was the fourth most popular holiday destination in England among UK residents. In 2015, Skegness and Ingoldmells received 1,484,000 visitors, of which 649,000 were day visitors; this brought in £212.83 million in direct expenditure, with an estimated economic impact of £289.60 million.. The town council has described local employment as "heavily reliant" on tourism. One estimate suggested that in 2015 2,846 jobs were supported directly by the visitor economy (accounting for around a third of the town's employed residents), with tourism indirectly supporting nearly 900 more. Over half of these jobs were in accommodation and food and drink, with a further 18.1% in
retail Retail is the sale of goods and services to consumers, in contrast to wholesaling, which is sale to business or institutional customers. A retailer purchases goods in large quantities from manufacturers, directly or through a wholesaler, and th ...
. Skegness's visitor economy has been described by the district council as "counter-cyclical"; while continuing to serve a loyal client base, it provides a cheap alternative to holidays abroad and has therefore proven popular when the economy has been slower for the rest of the region. The seafront is a hub for the tourism industry, much of which is geared towards the provision of food (most famously
fish and chips Fish and chips is a popular hot dish consisting of fried fish in crispy batter, served with chips. The dish originated in England, where these two components had been introduced from separate immigrant cultures; it is not known who created ...
), amusement arcades and other attractions, including the Botton's Pleasure Beach funfair with various rides. The pubs, bars and nightclubs, and neon-lit amusements have earned it the popular nickname "Skegvegas" (after
Las Vegas Las Vegas (; Spanish language, Spanish for "The Meadows"), often known simply as Vegas, is the List of United States cities by population, 25th-most populous city in the United States, the most populous city in the U.S. state, state of Neva ...
).. Before the 1950s, the only major
manufacturing Manufacturing is the creation or production of goods with the help of equipment, labor, machines, tools, and chemical or biological processing or formulation. It is the essence of secondary sector of the economy. The term may refer to a ...
interest in Skegness was Alfred Hayward's rock factory which had opened in the 1920s. After the Second World War, some other
light industry Light industry are industries that usually are less capital-intensive than heavy industry and are more consumer-oriented than business-oriented, as they typically produce smaller consumer goods. Most light industry products are produced for ...
arrived, including Murphy Radio and the
nylon Nylon is a generic designation for a family of synthetic polymers composed of polyamides ( repeating units linked by amide links).The polyamides may be aliphatic or semi-aromatic. Nylon is a silk-like thermoplastic, generally made from pet ...
makers Stiebels; in 1954 the bearings and packaging systems manufacturer Rose Brothers (Gainsborough) Ltd opened a factory in the town, on Church Road in a former laundry. The urban district council opened an industrial estate off Wainfleet Road in 1956 which Murphy and Stiebels moved to. Murphy's successor left the town in the 1970s, but Stiebels and the ride manufacturer R. G. Mitchell were still operating on the estate in the late 1980s, while Rose-Forgrove (which had opened a larger factory in 1977) and Sanderson Forklifts had factories elsewhere in the town. The latter went into administration in 1990, and the Rose Bearings factory was sold to NMB-Minebea in 1992; they closed it in 2010. The ride manufacturer R. G. Mitchell was purchased in 2005 by
Photo-Me International ME Group International plc, formerly Photo-Me International plc, () based in Epsom, Surrey is a vending machine operator. The company is listed on the London Stock Exchange and is a constituent of the FTSE 250 Index. History The company has i ...
; operation resumed under the name Jolly Roger Amusement Rides, which continues to operate on the industrial estate as of 2020. According to
Google Maps Google Maps is a web mapping platform and consumer application offered by Google. It offers satellite imagery, aerial photography, street maps, 360° interactive panorama, interactive panoramic views of streets (Google Street View, Street View ...
, in 2020 there were three other manufacturers operating on the industrial estate: Unique Car Mats (UK) Ltd (founded in 1989), Windale Furnishings Ltd (a caravan seating maker founded in 1993), and Parragon Rubber Company. A range of services have outlets on the estate, including a medical practice, two skilled trades, a solicitor, five vehicle repair garages, three other repair services and a mobile disco service. There is also a recycling centre and
driving test A driving test (also known as a driving exam, driver's test, or road test) is a procedure designed to test a person's ability to drive a motor vehicle. It exists in various forms worldwide, and is often a requirement to obtain a driver's l ...
centre; 16 shops ranging from a cheesemonger to tyre dealers; 12 wholesalers operating in electrics, building materials, plumbing and hardware supply, and 11 other wholesalers in fields including clothing, restaurant equipment, meat and plastic sheeting. The district council have proposed extending the estate as of 2016. The council also opened the Aura Skegness Business Centre there in 2004. Along with Louth, Skegness is "one of the main shopping and commercial centres" in East Lindsey, most likely due to it being the closest service hub for a large part of the surrounding rural area.. Management Horizon Europe's 2008 UK shopping index measured the presence of national suppliers; Skegness was the highest ranked shopping destination in the district. It also ranked highest in the 2013–14 Venuescore survey. The High Street and Lumley Road are key retail areas, along with the Hildreds Centre (a small
shopping mall A shopping mall (or simply mall) is a North American term for a large indoor shopping center, usually anchored by department stores. The term "mall" originally meant a pedestrian promenade with shops along it (that is, the term was used to refe ...
which opened in 1988),. Skegness Retail Park (developed between 2000 and 2005), and the Quora Retail Park on Burgh Road which opened in 2017 and includes several
supermarket A supermarket is a self-service shop offering a wide variety of food, beverages and household products, organized into sections. This kind of store is larger and has a wider selection than earlier grocery stores, but is smaller and more lim ...
s; other supermarkets operate elsewhere. Occupancy rates are relatively high: in 2015, 4% of ground-floor retail units were vacant, which is less than half the national average and down from 9% in 2009. Nevertheless, Skegness is relatively weak at offering higher value comparison goods, with Lincoln and Grimsby being key destinations for high-value shopping.


Demography


Population change

The poll tax returns for 1377 recorded 140 people living in Skegness over the age of 14; in 1563 there were 14 households, and in the late 17th century there were ten families. The first
census A census is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording and calculating information about the members of a given population. This term is used mostly in connection with national population and housing censuses; other common censuses in ...
of the parish was conducted in 1801 and recorded a population of 134. It had risen above 300 by 1841 and reached 366 ten years later, before dropping back to 349 in 1871. Following the initial development of the seaside resort, the population rose rapidly, contracted in the 1880s and then rose sharply so that by 1921 the resident population was over 9,000. This figure reached 12,539 in 1951, and continued to rise at varying rates over the course of the century. It had reached 18,910 in 2001 and 19,579 in the most recent census, taken in 2011. As designated by the Office for National Statistics (ONS), the Skegness built-up area incorporates the contiguous conurbation extending north through Ingoldmells to Chapel St Leonards; this had a population of 24,876 in 2011 which makes it the largest settlement in the East Lindsey district (followed by Louth) and represents about 18% of the district's population.


Ethnicity and religion

According to the 2011 census, Skegness's population was 97.6%
white White is the lightness, lightest color and is achromatic (having no hue). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully diffuse reflection, reflect and scattering, scatter all the ...
; 1% Asian or
British Asian British Asians (also referred to as Asian Britons) are British citizens of Asian descent. They constitute a significant and growing minority of the people living in the United Kingdom, with 6.9% of the population identifying as Asian/Asian Bri ...
; 0.4%
Black Black is a color which results from the absence or complete absorption of visible light. It is an achromatic color, without hue, like white and grey. It is often used symbolically or figuratively to represent darkness. Black and white ha ...
, African, Caribbean or
Black British Black British people are a multi-ethnic group of British citizens of either African or Afro-Caribbean descent.Gadsby, Meredith (2006), ''Sucking Salt: Caribbean Women Writers, Migration, and Survival'', University of Missouri Press, pp. 76– ...
; and 0.9% mixed or mutli-ethnic; and 0.1% other. The population is therefore less ethnically diverse than England as a whole, which is 85.4% white; 7.8% Asian or Asian British; 3.5% Black, African, Caribbean or Black British; 2.3% mixed ethnicities; and 1% other. 94.2% of the town's population were born in the United Kingdom, compared with 86.2% nationally; 3.5% were born in European Union countries other than the UK and Ireland, of which more than three quarters (2.7% of the total) were born in post-2001 accession states; for England, the figures were 3.7% and 2.0% respectively. 1.8% of the population was born outside the EU, whereas the total for England was 9.4%. In the 2011 census, 68.2% of Skegness's population said they were
religious Religion is usually defined as a social- cultural system of designated behaviors and practices, morals, beliefs, worldviews, texts, sanctified places, prophecies, ethics, or organizations, that generally relates humanity to supernatural, ...
and 24.9% said they did not follow a religion, very similar to England as a whole (68.1% and 24.7% respectively). However, compared to England's population,
Christians Christians () are people who follow or adhere to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. The words ''Christ'' and ''Christian'' derive from the Koine Greek title ''Christós'' (Χρι ...
were a higher proportion of the Skegness population (66.8%), and all other groups were present at a lower proportion than the national rates. There were 8
Sikhs Sikhs ( or ; pa, ਸਿੱਖ, ' ) are people who adhere to Sikhism, Sikhism (Sikhi), a Monotheism, monotheistic religion that originated in the late 15th century in the Punjab region of the Indian subcontinent, based on the revelation of Gu ...
in Skegness, making up a negligible proportion of the population compared with 0.8% nationally;
Hindus Hindus (; ) are people who religiously adhere to Hinduism.Jeffery D. Long (2007), A Vision for Hinduism, IB Tauris, , pages 35–37 Historically, the term has also been used as a geographical, cultural, and later religious identifier for ...
composed 0.1% (compared with 1.5% in England),
Muslims Muslims ( ar, المسلمون, , ) are people who adhere to Islam, a monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God of Abra ...
0.5% against 5% nationally,
Jewish people Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...
0.1% compared with 0.5% for all of England, and
Buddhists Buddhism ( , ), also known as Buddha Dharma and Dharmavinaya (), is an Indian religion or philosophical tradition based on teachings attributed to the Buddha. It originated in northern India as a -movement in the 5th century BCE, and g ...
0.2% of the town's population, contrasting with 0.5% nationally.


Household composition, age, health and housing

In the 2011 census, 47.8% of the population were male and 52.2% female. Of the population over 16, 45.3% were married, compared to 46.6% in England; 28.8% were single (a smaller proportion than in England where it is 34.6%), 12.8%
divorce Divorce (also known as dissolution of marriage) is the process of terminating a marriage or marital union. Divorce usually entails the canceling or reorganizing of the legal duties and responsibilities of marriage, thus dissolving the ...
d (compared with 9% in England), 10.3% widowed (higher than the 6.9% for all of England), 2.6% separated and 0.2% in same-sex civil partnerships (2.7% and 0.2% respectively in England). In 2011, there were 9,003 households in Skegness civil parish. It has a slightly higher than average proportion of one-person households (35.9% compared with England's figure of 30.2%); most other households consist of one family (58.1% of the total, compared with 61.8% in England). There are higher than average rates of one-person (16.8%) and one-family (10.8%) households aged over 65 (the figures for England are 12.4% and 8.1% respectively). In 2016, East Lindsey had Lincolnshire's second-highest rate of conception among females aged 15 to 17 (28.7 per 1,000). East Lindsey has a high proportion of
elderly Old age refers to ages nearing or surpassing the life expectancy of human beings, and is thus the end of the human life cycle. Terms and euphemisms for people at this age include old people, the elderly (worldwide usage), OAPs (British usage ...
people living in the district, driven partly by high in-migration and by the out-migration of younger residents; the local authority has described this as a "demographic imbalance".. A 2005 study by the town council reported that for every two people aged 16–24 who left the town, three people aged 60 or above moved in.Memorandum by Skegness Town Council, printed in . The 2011 census showed Skegness's population to be older than the national average; the mean age was 44.3 and the median 46 years, compared with 39.3 and 39 for England. 21% of the population was under 20, versus 24% of England's, and 32.2% of Skegness's population was aged over 60, compared with 22% of England's population. This high proportion of elderly residents has increased the proportion of infirm people in the district. In 2011, 69.6% of the population were in good or very good health, compared to 81.4% in England, and 9.9% in very bad or bad health, against 5.4% for England. 28.6% of people (12.8% in 16–64 year-olds) also reported having their day-to-day activities limited, compared with 17.6% in England (8.2% in 16–64 year-olds). As of 2011, Skegness has a lower proportion of people who own their homes with or without a mortgage (54.7%) than in England (63.3%), a greater proportion of people who privately rent (27.5% compared with 16.8%) and a slightly smaller proportion of social renters (15.7% compared with 17.7% nationally). The proportion of household spaces which are detached houses is higher than average (32.4% compared with 22.3%), as is the proportion which are apartments in a converted house (9.8% compared with 4.3%) and flats in a commercial building (2.2% compared with 1.1%). The proportion of terraced household spaces is much lower (8.9% against 24.5% nationally), while the proportion of purpose-built flats is also lower (14% versus 16.7%). 2.3% of household spaces are caravans or other mobile structures, compared with 0.4% nationally. Since the end the 20th century, a growing number of people have opted to live in static caravans for a large part of the year; a 2011 report estimated that 6,600 people (mostly older and from former factory cities in the Midlands) were living in such properties in Skegness.


Workforce and deprivation

In 2011, 60% of Skegness's residents aged between 16 and 74 were economically active, compared with 69.9% for all of England. 51.7% were in employment, compared with 62.1% nationally. The proportion in full-time employment is also comparatively low, at 27.7% (against 38.6% for England). The proportion of retirees is higher, at 21.7% compared with 13.7% for England. The proportion of long-term sick or disabled is 7.9%, nearly double England's 4%; 2.3% of people were
long-term unemployed Unemployment, according to the OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development), is people above a specified age (usually 15) not being in paid employment or self-employment but currently available for work during the refere ...
, compared with 1.7% in all of England. The 2011 census revealed that the most common industry residents worked in were:
wholesale Wholesaling or distributing is the sale of goods or merchandise to retailers; to industrial, commercial, institutional or other professional business users; or to other wholesalers (wholesale businesses) and related subordinated services. I ...
and retail trade and repair of motor vehicles (21.2%), accommodation and food services (17.3%), and human health and
social work Social work is an academic discipline and practice-based profession concerned with meeting the basic needs of individuals, families, groups, communities, and society as a whole to enhance their individual and collective well-being. Social wo ...
(11.7%). The proportion of people employed in accommodation and food services was over three times the national figure (5.6%), while the proportion working in wholesale and retail trade and vehicle repair was also higher than in England as a whole (15.9%). Most other industries were under-represented comparatively, with both
financial services Financial services are the economic services provided by the finance industry, which encompasses a broad range of businesses that manage money, including credit unions, banks, credit-card companies, insurance companies, accountancy companie ...
(0.8% versus 4.4% nationally) and information and communication (0.6% against 4.1% nationally) especially so. The tourism industry in Skegness is dominated by low-paid, low-skilled and seasonal work. Compared with the whole of England, the workforce has a relatively high proportion of people in
elementary occupation The Standard Occupational Classification, often abbreviated as the SOC, is the system used by the United Kingdom's Office for National Statistics (ONS) to classify people for statistical purposes according to their job. Under this system, a job ...
s (18.9%), sales and
customer service Customer service is the assistance and advice provided by a company to those people who buy or use its products or services. Each industry requires different levels of customer service, but in the end, the idea of a well-performed service is that ...
occupations (12.1%), caring, leisure and other service occupations (12.2%), as well as skilled trades (12.9%), managers and directors (12.9%) and process plant and machine operatives (8.7%). There is a much lower proportion of people in
professional A professional is a member of a profession or any person who works in a specified professional activity. The term also describes the standards of education and training that prepare members of the profession with the particular knowledge and ski ...
, associate professional, technical, administrative and secretarial occupations than in England as a whole (combined 22.3% versus 41.7% of England's population aged 16–74). A lack of more varied, higher skilled and better paid work and further education opportunities leads many more skilled, ambitious or qualified young people to leave. There is a chronic difficulty in attracting professionals to the area, including
teacher A teacher, also called a schoolteacher or formally an educator, is a person who helps students to acquire knowledge, competence, or virtue, via the practice of teaching. ''Informally'' the role of teacher may be taken on by anyone (e.g. w ...
s and doctors; this is partly due to the perceived remoteness of the area, seasonality and social exclusion. Skegess's poor transport links with other towns and limited public transport have also been identified by consultants as a "barrier" to economic growth, diversification, investment and commutability. While the digital nature of the
information technology Information technology (IT) is the use of computers to create, process, store, retrieve, and exchange all kinds of data . and information. IT forms part of information and communications technology (ICT). An information technology system ...
sector could provide opportunities for growth, weak
broadband In telecommunications, broadband is wide bandwidth data transmission which transports multiple signals at a wide range of frequencies and Internet traffic types, that enables messages to be sent simultaneously, used in fast internet connections. ...
has stymied this sector's development in the town. Employers also find it difficult to attract higher skilled workers, including
chef A chef is a trained professional cook and tradesman who is proficient in all aspects of food preparation, often focusing on a particular cuisine. The word "chef" is derived from the term ''chef de cuisine'' (), the director or head of a k ...
s; a report prepared for the town council cites a lack of "work readiness" among young people as a common problem facing employers. The proportion of residents aged 16 to 74 with no qualifications was 40.8%, much higher than the national figure (22.5%); the proportion of residents whose highest qualification is at Level 1, 2 or 3 (equivalent to
GCSE The General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE) is an academic qualification in a particular subject, taken in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland. State schools in Scotland use the Scottish Qualifications Certificate instead. Private s ...
s or
A-Level The A-Level (Advanced Level) is a subject-based qualification conferred as part of the General Certificate of Education, as well as a school leaving qualification offered by the educational bodies in the United Kingdom and the educational aut ...
s) is lower in each category than the national population; 10.7% of the population have a qualification at Level 4 ( Certificate of Higher Education) or above, compared with 27.4% nationally. In a 2013 ONS study of 57 English seaside resorts, Skegness and Ingoldmells (combined) was the most deprived seaside town; 61.5% of their statistical areas ( LSOAs) were in the most deprived quintile nationally; only 7.7% fell in the least-deprived three quintiles. The government's
Indices of Multiple Deprivation Indices of multiple deprivation (IMD) are widely-used datasets within the UK to classify the relative deprivation (essentially a measure of poverty) of small areas. Multiple components of deprivation are weighted with different strengths and compil ...
(2019) place large parts of Skegness among the 10% most deprived parts of England; two of its neighbourhoods were ranked among the ten most deprived areas in Lincolnshire. There is limited research into the causes of deprivation in the town.. A local official quoted by ''
The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper A newspaper is a periodical publication containing written information about current events and is often typed in black ink with a white or gray background. Newspapers can cover a wide ...
'' in 2013 attributed high levels of deprivation to the seasonal and low-paid nature of work in the tourism industry, which constitutes a large part of Skegness's economy; and also the tendency for retirees (often in variable health) from former industrial areas in the East Midlands to move to the town and spend most of the year living there in caravans. In 2019, the town council listed several key challenges: the low-paid, low-skilled and seasonal nature of work in the tourism industry; a consequential dependency on
benefits Benefit or benefits may refer to: Arts, entertainment and media * ''Benefit'' (album), by Jethro Tull, 1970 * "Benefits" (''How I Met Your Mother''), a 2009 TV episode * '' The Benefit'', a 2012 Egyptian action film Businesses and organisatio ...
and a reduced tax base; the under-funding of public services; poor infrastructure; a lack of training for and consequent out-migration of talented young people; and difficulty attracting skilled workers.


Transport


Road

The A52 road from
Newcastle-under-Lyme Newcastle-under-Lyme ( RP: , ) is a market town and the administrative centre of the Borough of Newcastle-under-Lyme in Staffordshire, England. The 2011 census population of the town was 75,082, whilst the wider borough had a population of ...
to Mablethorpe passes through Skegness via Nottingham, Grantham and Boston. The A158 from Lincoln terminates in the town. The A1028 connects Skegness with the A16, which runs from Grimsby to
Peterborough Peterborough () is a cathedral city in Cambridgeshire, east of England. It is the largest part of the City of Peterborough unitary authority district (which covers a larger area than Peterborough itself). It was part of Northamptonshire until ...
via Louth.


Bus

Omnibus services reached the village from Boston before the development of the resort; by the 1840s, Brown's omnibus made the journey from Boston three days a week. As of 2020, Stagecoach Lincolnshire is the main bus operator in the town with regular services on routes to Ingoldmells and Chapel St Leonards; there are Lincolnshire InterConnect services up the coast as far as Mablethorpe and inland to Boston and Lincoln.


Railway

Skegness railway station is the terminus for the Grantham to Skegness ("Poacher") line which runs hourly services from Nottingham via
Grantham Grantham () is a market and industrial town in the South Kesteven district of Lincolnshire, England, situated on the banks of the River Witham and bounded to the west by the A1 road. It lies some 23 miles (37 km) south of the Lincoln a ...
. Opened in 1873, it was the final station on the Firsby–Skegness branch of the East Lincolnshire Railway. The number of people travelling by car and coach probably overtook the number using the train in the 1930s, a trend solidified in the post-war years. The station was earmarked for closure in the
Beeching cuts The Beeching cuts (also Beeching Axe) was a plan to increase the efficiency of the nationalised railway system in Great Britain. The plan was outlined in two reports: ''The Reshaping of British Railways'' (1963) and ''The Development of the M ...
in the 1960s, but a third of the summer visitors still used it and lobbying by the urban district council preserved passenger services. The line was nevertheless closed to freight traffic in 1966 and the main interconnecting line, the East Lincolnshire Railway, was dismantled from Firsby to Grimsby in 1970. The passenger timetable was reduced to save costs in 1977, but a full timetable returned in 1989 and improvement works were carried out in 2001 and 2011; the latter seeing the old station master's house demolished. As of 2020, trains run the full length of the Poacher Line and the
Nottingham to Grantham Line Nottingham ( , locally ) is a city and unitary authority area in Nottinghamshire, East Midlands, England. It is located north-west of London, south-east of Sheffield and north-east of Birmingham. Nottingham has links to the legend of Robin Ho ...
to give connections to the East Midlands; Nottingham, Grantham, Boston and
Sleaford Sleaford is a market town and civil parish in the North Kesteven district of Lincolnshire, England. Centred on the former parish of New Sleaford, the modern boundaries and urban area include Quarrington to the south-west, Holdingham to the n ...
have direct connections, while Leicester, Derby and Kettering require a change at Nottingham.


Air

Skegness Water Leisure Park, north of the town, has its own
light aircraft A light aircraft is an aircraft that has a maximum gross takeoff weight of or less.Crane, Dale: ''Dictionary of Aeronautical Terms, third edition'', page 308. Aviation Supplies & Academics, 1997. Light aircraft are used as utility aircraft c ...
airfield An aerodrome (Commonwealth English) or airdrome (American English) is a location from which aircraft flight operations take place, regardless of whether they involve air cargo, passengers, or neither, and regardless of whether it is for publ ...
named Skegness Airfield (
ICAO The International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO, ) is a specialized agency of the United Nations that coordinates the principles and techniques of international air navigation, and fosters the planning and development of international ...
: EGNI), operated by Skegness Aerofield Club. It is equipped with two runways, and PPR (Prior Permission Required) is required for landing. The main international airport serving Skegness is East Midlands Airport at Castle Donington, 14 miles (23 km) south of Nottingham and approximately 90 miles (145 km) from Skegness. Humberside Airport, near Immingham in
North Lincolnshire North Lincolnshire is a unitary authority area in Lincolnshire, England, with a population of 167,446 in the 2011 census. The borough includes the towns of Scunthorpe, Brigg, Haxey, Crowle, Epworth, Bottesford, Kirton in Lindsey and Bart ...
, is approximately 48 miles (77 km) away, but operates a much smaller range of passenger services.


Government and politics


Local government

Lying within the historic county boundaries of Lincolnshire since the Middle Ages, the ancient parish of Skegness was in the Marsh division of the ancient
wapentake A hundred is an administrative division that is geographically part of a larger region. It was formerly used in England, Wales, some parts of the United States, Denmark, Southern Schleswig, Sweden, Finland, Norway, the Bishopric of Ösel–Wiek, ...
of Candleshoe in the Parts of Lindsey.. In 1875, it was placed in the Spilsby Poor Law Union, but in 1885 Skegness became a
local board of health Local boards or local boards of health were local authorities in urban areas of England and Wales from 1848 to 1894. They were formed in response to cholera epidemics and were given powers to control sewers, clean the streets, regulate environment ...
and
urban sanitary district Sanitary districts were established in England and Wales in 1872 and in Ireland in 1878. The districts were of two types, based on existing structures: *Urban sanitary districts in towns with existing local government bodies *Rural sanitary dis ...
. In 1894, Skegness Urban District was created in its place. The civil parish of Winthorpewhich had previously been part of the Spilsby union, rural sanitary district and, from 1894, rural districtwas abolished in 1926; most of it was merged into Skegness Urban District and a portion into Addlethorpe civil parish. In 1974, the urban district was merged with the
municipal borough of Louth Louth was a Municipal Borough in Parts of Lindsey, Lincolnshire, England from 1835 to 1974.F A Youngs Jr., ''Guide to the Local Administrative Units of England, Vol II: Northern England'', London, 1991 It was formed under the Municipal Corporat ...
, the Alford, Horncastle, Mablethorpe and Sutton, and
Woodhall Spa Woodhall Spa is a former spa Village and civil parish in Lincolnshire, England, on the southern edge of the Lincolnshire Wolds, south-west of Horncastle, west of Skegness, east-south-east of Lincoln and north-west of Boston. It is noted ...
urban districts, and the rural districts of Horncastle, Louth and
Spilsby Spilsby is a market town, civil parish and electoral ward in the East Lindsey district of Lincolnshire, England. The town is adjacent to the main A16, east of the county town of Lincoln, north-east of Boston and north-west of Skegness. ...
to create East Lindsey, a
district A district is a type of administrative division that, in some countries, is managed by the local government. Across the world, areas known as "districts" vary greatly in size, spanning regions or county, counties, several municipality, municipa ...
of Lincolnshire; by statutory instrument Skegness civil parish became the urban district's successor. Skegness Town Council, the parish-level government body beneath the district council, is composed of 21 councillors from four wards: Clock Tower (1 seat), St Clements (7 seats), Winthorpe (5 seats) and Woodlands (8 seats). There are seven representatives for Skegness on East Lindsey District Council, which uses different wards: three councillors are returned for Scarbrough and Seacroft ward, and two each from St Clements and Winthorpe wards. Skegness sends two councillors to Lincolnshire County Council, one each for Skegness North and Skegness South divisions. Skegness Urban District Council meetings were held at 23 Algitha Road until 1920, when the authority purchased the Earl of Scarbrough's estate office at Roman Bank for £3,000 and used those as offices; these burned down in 1928; a new
town hall In local government, a city hall, town hall, civic centre (in the UK or Australia), guildhall, or a municipal building (in the Philippines), is the chief administrative building of a city, town, or other municipality. It usually house ...
opened in 1931 and was later extended. In the 1950s, the council acquired for £50,000 the former convalescent home run by the National Deposit Friendly Society on North Parade (this had been built in 1927); this was converted into offices, which were opened in 1964. The town council took over the building and it continues as the town hall as of 2019.


National and European politics

In national politics, Skegness fell within the
Lincolnshire Lincolnshire (abbreviated Lincs.) is a county in the East Midlands of England, with a long coastline on the North Sea to the east. It borders Norfolk to the south-east, Cambridgeshire to the south, Rutland to the south-west, Leicestershir ...
parliamentary constituency until 1832; in 1818 four residents were entitled to vote, and in 1832 there were seven electors.. That year the county was divided up and the village was included (with all of Lindsey) in
North Lincolnshire North Lincolnshire is a unitary authority area in Lincolnshire, England, with a population of 167,446 in the 2011 census. The borough includes the towns of Scunthorpe, Brigg, Haxey, Crowle, Epworth, Bottesford, Kirton in Lindsey and Bart ...
. In 1867, it was transferred to the new Mid Lincolnshire constituency, which was abolished in 1885, after which Skegness was placed in the Horncastle constituency. Another reorganisation saw the parish incorporated into the East Lindsey seat in 1983; this was abolished in 1995 and Skegness was transferred into the new constituency of
Boston and Skegness Boston and Skegness is a county constituency, represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament. It is located in Lincolnshire, England. Like all British constituencies, Boston and Skegness elects one Member of Parliament (MP) by th ...
. The current constituency has been held by
Conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization in ...
members of parliament since it was created; the incumbent is
Matt Warman Matthew Robert Warman (born 1 September 1981) is a British Conservative Party politician and former journalist who served as Minister of State at the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport from July to September 2022. He has been the ...
, who has held it since 2015. Between 1999 and the United Kingdom's departure from the European Union (EU) in 2020, Skegness was represented in the
European Parliament The European Parliament (EP) is one of the legislative bodies of the European Union and one of its seven institutions. Together with the Council of the European Union (known as the Council and informally as the Council of Ministers), it adop ...
by the East Midlands constituency. At the first election after it was created (
1997 File:1997 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The movie set of ''Titanic'', the highest-grossing movie in history at the time; ''Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone'', is published; Comet Hale-Bopp passes by Earth and becomes one of ...
), the current seat was highly marginal, with the Conservatives receiving 42.4% of the vote and Labour 41.0%. By
2019 File:2019 collage v1.png, From top left, clockwise: Hong Kong protests turn to widespread riots and civil disobedience; House of Representatives votes to adopt articles of impeachment against Donald Trump; CRISPR gene editing first used to experim ...
the Conservatives had increased their vote share to 76.7% (their second-highest nationally), while Labour's share had fallen to 14.0%. The same period saw support for the
Eurosceptic Euroscepticism, also spelled as Euroskepticism or EU-scepticism, is a political position involving criticism of the European Union (EU) and European integration. It ranges from those who oppose some EU institutions and policies, and seek refor ...
UK Independence Party The UK Independence Party (UKIP; ) is a Eurosceptic, right-wing populist political party in the United Kingdom. The party reached its greatest level of success in the mid-2010s, when it gained two Member of Parliament (United Kingdom), member ...
(UKIP) grow, reaching a peak in
2015 File:2015 Events Collage new.png, From top left, clockwise: Civil service in remembrance of November 2015 Paris attacks; Germanwings Flight 9525 was purposely crashed into the French Alps; the rubble of residences in Kathmandu following the April ...
, when it polled second and secured UKIP's second-highest vote share in any constituency in that election. The constituency is estimated to have had the highest vote share in favour of leaving the EU in the
2016 EU referendum The United Kingdom European Union membership referendum, commonly referred to as the EU referendum or the Brexit referendum, took place on 23 June 2016 in the United Kingdom (UK) and Gibraltar to ask the electorate whether the country shoul ...
, at 75.6%. In the aftermath the town became the focus of international media attention, with
Reuters Reuters ( ) is a news agency owned by Thomson Reuters Corporation. It employs around 2,500 journalists and 600 photojournalists in about 200 locations worldwide. Reuters is one of the largest news agencies in the world. The agency was est ...
labelling it "
Brexit Brexit (; a portmanteau of "British exit") was the withdrawal of the United Kingdom (UK) from the European Union (EU) at 23:00 GMT on 31 January 2020 (00:00 1 February 2020 CET).The UK also left the European Atomic Energy Community (EAE ...
-on-Sea" and suggesting that many of its residents were "more nostalgic and more socially conservative" than those in diverse, liberal, urban areas, and keen to see state funds paid to the EU redirected into supporting the town. Afterwards support for UKIP fell and the party did not stand in 2019, although support for leaving the EU remained high. The
Brexit Party Reform UK is a right-wing populist political party in the United Kingdom. It was founded with support from Nigel Farage in November 2018 as the Brexit Party, advocating hard Euroscepticism and a no-deal Brexit, and was briefly a significant po ...
did not contest the parliamentary seat in 2019, but in the European Parliament elections held earlier that year, it has been estimated that Boston and Skegness probably had the third-highest vote share for the Brexit Party of any constituency.


Public services


Utilities and communications

As part of the Earl of Scarbrough's scheme, gas works were opened in the town in 1877 and were
lighting Lighting or illumination is the deliberate use of light to achieve practical or aesthetic effects. Lighting includes the use of both artificial light sources like lamps and light fixtures, as well as natural illumination by capturing dayli ...
the streets the following year. The urban district council (UDC) declined to purchase the gas company in 1902; the UDC attempted to take it over in 1911, and (after much dispute with the company) purchased it in 1914. The works were extended in the 1920s.. The UDC's gas company was
nationalised Nationalization (nationalisation in British English) is the process of transforming privately-owned assets into public assets by bringing them under the public ownership of a national government or state. Nationalization usually refers to pri ...
in 1949 and its functions taken over by the
East Midlands Gas Board The area gas boards were created under the provisions of the Gas Act 1948 enacted by Clement Attlee's post-war Labour government. The Act nationalised the British gas industry and also created the Gas Council. History From the early 19th century ...
, which merged into British Gas Corporation in 1973 and was privatised in 1986. The town's water works opened in 1879 and were extended in the 1920s. To meet growing demand, Lord Scarbrough had a new
borehole A borehole is a narrow shaft bored in the ground, either vertically or horizontally. A borehole may be constructed for many different purposes, including the extraction of water ( drilled water well and tube well), other liquids (such as petro ...
sunk at Welton le Marsh in 1904, with a
pumping station Pumping stations, also called pumphouses in situations such as drilled wells and drinking water, are facilities containing pumps and equipment for pumping fluids from one place to another. They are used for a variety of infrastructure systems, ...
and pipes which transported fresh water to the town; the water company was purchased by Skegness Urban District Council in 1909... The first sewerage disposal system was designed by D. Balfour as part of the Earl of Scarbrough's development scheme; a sewerage farm and works were erected at Seacroft. The development was principally funded by the Earl, with a quarter of the funds contributed by the Spilsby Sanitary Authority. A sewerage disposal works opened at Burgh Le Marsh in 1936. Responsibility for water was later taken over by the East Lincolnshire Water Board; in 1973 this merged into the Anglian Water Authority, which was privatised as Anglian Water in 1989. The Mid-Lincolnshire Electricity Supply Company brought electricity to the town in 1932.. The company was nationalised in 1948 and its function taken over by the
East Midlands Electricity The East Midlands Electricity Board (EMEB) was formed in 1947 as one of the United Kingdom's twelve area electricity boards specified under the Electricity Act 1947. In 1990 it was floated on the stock market as East Midlands Electricity plc, ...
Board. Street lighting was electrified in the late 1950s. Electricity supply was privatised in 1990. Skegness's first
post office A post office is a public facility and a retailer that provides mail services, such as accepting letters and parcels, providing post office boxes, and selling postage stamps, packaging, and stationery. Post offices may offer additional serv ...
opened in 1870; it moved premises in 1888 and 1905, before moving to Roman Bank in 1929.. As of 2020,
Royal Mail , kw, Postya Riel, ga, An Post Ríoga , logo = Royal Mail.svg , logo_size = 250px , type = Public limited company , traded_as = , foundation = , founder = Henry VIII , location = London, England, UK , key_people = * Keith Williams ...
's Skegness Delivery Office operates there; Post Offices also operate on Burgh Road and Drummond Road in Skegness, and at Winthorpe Avenue in Seathorne. A wireless telegraph station operated at Winthorpe from 1926 to 1939. Lincolnshire County Library Service opened a branch in 1929 which was run by volunteers. In the 1930s, the council purchased a former shop on Roman Bank and converted it into the current library, run by full-time staff. , it opens every day except Sunday.


Emergency services and justice

In 1827 the village was afforded its first
police constable A constable is a person holding a particular office, most commonly in criminal law enforcement. The office of constable can vary significantly in different jurisdictions. A constable is commonly the rank of an officer within the police. Other peop ...
, which it shared with Ingoldmells. The town's first police station opened in 1883 on Roman Bank. In 1932, Skegness became a divisional police headquarters. Its current building opened in 1975. Criminal cases were heard in Spilsby until Skegness was granted its own petty sessions in 1908; these operated only during summer until 1929, when cases were heard there year-round; a court opened on Roman Bank that year. The building was replaced in 1975 and the Spilsby
magistrates court A magistrates' court is a lower court where, in several jurisdictions, all criminal proceedings start. Also some civil matters may be dealt with here, such as family proceedings. Courts * Magistrates' court (England and Wales) * Magistrate's Co ...
closed in 1980, transferring all cases to Skegness. By 1913, the town had a
fire brigade A fire department (American English) or fire brigade ( Commonwealth English), also known as a fire authority, fire district, fire and rescue, or fire service in some areas, is an organization that provides fire prevention and fire suppression ...
. A station was added to the Town Hall on the corner of Roman Bank and Algitha Road in the late 1920s. A new station was built on Churchill Avenue in 1973. It continues to operate as of 2020. Skegness had a signal station by 1812 and four years later a mortar-fired brass lifeline was put in place in the village. In 1825, a lifeboat was purchased for
Wainfleet Haven The River Lymn is a river in Lincolnshire, England. It rises in the Wolds on the eastern slope of Castcliffe Hill in Fulletby parish. It flows south-eastwards to the Lincolnshire Marsh, where it becomes known as the Steeping River on the bound ...
and first launched from Gibraltar Point in 1827; it moved to Skegness in 1830. A new boathouse was built in 1864 on South Parade and rebuilt in 1892. Motorised tractors were used to pull the boats after 1926 and the last sailing boat was retired four years later. The current lifeboat station was built in 1990.


Healthcare

Skegness and District General Hospital opened in 1913 as a cottage hospital; it underwent major redevelopment works in 1939, was taken over by the
National Health Service The National Health Service (NHS) is the umbrella term for the publicly funded healthcare systems of the United Kingdom (UK). Since 1948, they have been funded out of general taxation. There are three systems which are referred to using the " ...
nine years later and extended in 1985.. As of June 2020, it is a
community hospital A community hospital can be purely a nominal designation or have a more specific meaning. When specific, it refers to a hospital that is accessible to the general public, and provides a general or specific medical care which is usually short-term, i ...
run by the Lincolnshire Community Health Services NHS Trust; some of its services are provided by the United Lincolnshire Hospitals NHS Trust (ULH). It contains two in-patient wards, with 39 beds (including three in
palliative care Palliative care (derived from the Latin root , or 'to cloak') is an interdisciplinary medical caregiving approach aimed at optimizing quality of life and mitigating suffering among people with serious, complex, and often terminal illnesses. Wi ...
) and its services include a 24-hour, walk-in
Urgent Care Centre An urgent care center (UCC), also known as an urgent treatment centre in the United Kingdom, is a type of walk-in clinic focused on the delivery of urgent ambulatory care in a dedicated medical facility outside of a traditional emergency department ...
. ULH runs Accident and Emergency departments at
Lincoln County Hospital Lincoln County Hospital is a large district general hospital on the eastern edge of north-east Lincoln, England. It is the largest hospital in Lincolnshire, and offers the most comprehensive services, in Lincolnshire. It is managed by the Unite ...
and Pilgrim Hospital in Boston. As of 2020, the town has two GP practices (on Hawthorn Road and Churchill Avenue), four dental practices (three on Algitha Road and one on Ida Road), and three
optician An optician, or ''dispensing optician'', is a technical practitioner who designs, fits and dispenses lenses for the correction of a person's vision. Opticians determine the specifications of various ophthalmic appliances that will give the nec ...
s. There are community mental health services provided at Holly Lodge. There is a health centre on Cecil Avenue and the hospital includes a
contraception Birth control, also known as contraception, anticonception, and fertility control, is the use of methods or devices to prevent unwanted pregnancy. Birth control has been used since ancient times, but effective and safe methods of birth contr ...
and general health advice centre.


Education

Skegness's first
elementary school A primary school (in Ireland, the United Kingdom, Australia, Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica, and South Africa), junior school (in Australia), elementary school or grade school (in North America and the Philippines) is a school for primary ed ...
was established in 1839. Winthorpe's first schoolhouse opened in 1865. As part of Lord Scarbrough's town plan, Skegness National School opened on Roman Bank in 1880; in 1932 it was replaced with another elementary school, Skegness Senior Council School, which existed until it became a secondary modern school in the 1940s.. The county-council run Infants' School was founded on Cavendish Road in 1908, followed by Skegness County Junior School in 1935 (renamed Skegness Junior School in 1999), the Seathorne Junior School in 1951 (replacing the Winthorpe School which closed) and Richmond Junior School in 1976. As of 2020, the town is served by five
coeducational Mixed-sex education, also known as mixed-gender education, co-education, or coeducation (abbreviated to co-ed or coed), is a system of education where males and females are educated together. Whereas single-sex education was more common up to ...
state State may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Literature * ''State Magazine'', a monthly magazine published by the U.S. Department of State * ''The State'' (newspaper), a daily newspaper in Columbia, South Carolina, United States * '' Our ...
primary schools, four of which are academies: the Skegness Infant Academy (established when the infant school became an academy in 2012); Skegness Junior Academy (which replaced the Junior School in 2012); Seathorne Primary Academy (which replaced Seathorne Primary School in 2019); The Richmond School; and Beacon Primary Academy (opened as a new school in 2014). As of 2020, one private primary school operates in the town: The Viking School, which opened in 1982. Before 1933, the only
secondary education Secondary education or post-primary education covers two phases on the International Standard Classification of Education scale. Level 2 or lower secondary education (less commonly junior secondary education) is considered the second and final ph ...
available to Skegness's children was at Magdalen College School, a
grammar school A grammar school is one of several different types of school in the history of education in the United Kingdom and other English-speaking countries, originally a school teaching Latin, but more recently an academically oriented secondary school, ...
in Wainfleet. In 1933, it closed and was replaced by the coeducational Skegness Grammar School, which opened in the town and continues to select pupils using the
eleven-plus The eleven-plus (11+) is a standardized examination administered to some students in England and Northern Ireland in their last year of primary education, which governs admission to grammar schools and other secondary schools which use academ ...
examination; it provides
boarding Boarding may refer to: *Boarding, used in the sense of "room and board", i.e. lodging and meals as in a: ** Boarding house **Boarding school *Boarding (horses) (also known as a livery yard, livery stable, or boarding stable), is a stable where ho ...
facilities for pupils who do not live locally. Having previously been grant-maintained and a foundation status school, Skegness Grammar School converted to an academy in 2012. At its last Ofsted inspection report in 2017, it was assessed as "requiring improvement". As of 2020, there are 456 pupils on the roll, out of a capacity of 898. The passage of the Education Act 1944 made secondary education compulsory for pupils aged 11–15 from 1945. The Skegness Secondary Modern School opened as a result; it was renamed the Lumley Secondary Modern School in 1956. Another school, the Morris Secondary Modern, opened in 1955. They merged in 1986 to form the Earl of Scarbrough School, which closed in 2004 and reopened as St Clements College, a community school which converted into
Skegness Academy Skegness Academy is a coeducational secondary school and sixth form with academy status, in Skegness, Lincolnshire, England. History Secondary modern schools Skegness Secondary School opened in 1932. By 1951, the school was overcrowded. By 19 ...
in 2010. It is coeducational and has a sixth form; at its 2020 Ofsted inspection, it was assessed as "requiring improvement". There were 893 pupils on roll in that year, out of a capacity of 1,340. Both of the secondary schools provide education for pupils aged 16–18. Other providers of further education include the
Skegness College of Vocational Training Skegness ( ) is a seaside town and civil parish in the East Lindsey District of Lincolnshire, England. On the Lincolnshire coast of the North Sea, the town is east of Lincoln and north-east of Boston. With a population of 19,579 as of 2011, i ...
(a private centre founded in 1975); First College, which formed in 2000 following a merger of the East Lindsey Information Technology Centre (East Lindsey ITeC) which had opened in Skegness in 1984; and the
Skegness TEC Skegness ( ) is a seaside town and civil parish in the East Lindsey District of Lincolnshire, England. On the Lincolnshire coast of the North Sea, the town is east of Lincoln and north-east of Boston. With a population of 19,579 as of 2011 ...
, which in 2017 replaced the
Lincolnshire Regional College Lincolnshire (abbreviated Lincs.) is a Counties of England, county in the East Midlands of England, with a long coastline on the North Sea to the east. It borders Norfolk to the south-east, Cambridgeshire to the south, Rutland to the south-we ...
in Skegness (founded in 2009).


Religious sites

The three Anglican places of worship are the churches of St Clement and St Matthew in Skegness, and St Mary's Church in Winthorpe. St Clement's and St Mary's have medieval origins. When the seaside resort was being planned in the 1870s, St Clement's was too small and far from the new town so the much larger St Matthew's Church was built on Scarbrough Avenue and
consecrated Consecration is the solemn dedication to a special purpose or service. The word ''consecration'' literally means "association with the sacred". Persons, places, or things can be consecrated, and the term is used in various ways by different grou ...
in 1885. As of 2020, services are usually held every Sunday in St Matthew's, and in St Mary's and St Clement's on all but the first Sunday of the month. The parishes of Skegness and Winthorpe were united in 1978; its legal name is Skegness with Winthorpe. The parish forms part of the Skegness Group, which includes the parishes of Ingoldmells and Addlethorpe. It is in the Calcewaithe and Candleshoe
rural dean In the Roman Catholic Church and the Anglican Communion as well as some Lutheran denominations, a rural dean is a member of clergy who presides over a "rural deanery" (often referred to as a deanery); "ruridecanal" is the corresponding adjective ...
ery in the archdeaconry and
diocese of Lincoln The Diocese of Lincoln forms part of the Province of Canterbury in England. The present diocese covers the ceremonial county of Lincolnshire. History The diocese traces its roots in an unbroken line to the Pre-Reformation Diocese of Leices ...
. Skegness also has a
Roman Catholic Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *''Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a letter ...
church, the Church of the Sacred Heart on Grosvenor Road; it has been based there since 1950, having previously occupied the town's first purpose-built Catholic church since 1898. There are several non-conformist places of worship. As of 2020, Skegness
Methodist Methodism, also called the Methodist movement, is a group of historically related Christian denomination, denominations of Protestantism, Protestant Christianity whose origins, doctrine and practice derive from the life and teachings of John W ...
Chapel on Algitha Road holds services on Sundays and mid-morning prayers on Mondays. St Paul's Baptist Church also holds regular Sunday services.
The Salvation Army The Salvation Army (TSA) is a Protestant church and an international charitable organisation headquartered in London, England. The organisation reports a worldwide membership of over 1.7million, comprising soldiers, officers and adherents col ...
has had a unit in the town since 1913 and built its
citadel A citadel is the core fortified area of a town or city. It may be a castle, fortress, or fortified center. The term is a diminutive of "city", meaning "little city", because it is a smaller part of the city of which it is the defensive core. In ...
on the High Street in 1929; it remains in use as of 2020. The Assemblies of God
Pentecostal Pentecostalism or classical Pentecostalism is a Protestant Charismatic Christian movement
Church was registered as a charity in 1996; it later changed its name to the New Day Christian Centre and moved to new premises in 2011; as of 2020 it operates on North Parade as The Storehouse Church and, as well as running church services, provides Skegness's only
food bank A food bank is a non-profit, charitable organization that distributes food to those who have difficulty purchasing enough to avoid hunger, usually through intermediaries like food pantries and soup kitchens. Some food banks distribute food dire ...
. As of 2020, there is a
seventh-day adventist The Seventh-day Adventist Church is an Adventist Protestant Christian denomination which is distinguished by its observance of Saturday, the seventh day of the week in the Christian (Gregorian) and the Hebrew calendar, as the Sabbath, a ...
church on Philip Grove. In 2019, East Lindsey Council approved plans for a
mosque A mosque (; from ar, مَسْجِد, masjid, ; literally "place of ritual prostration"), also called masjid, is a Place of worship, place of prayer for Muslims. Mosques are usually covered buildings, but can be any place where prayers (sujud) ...
and community centre on Roman Bank.


Culture


Visitor attractions

The '' Rough Guides'' describe Skegness as "every inch the traditional English seaside town". Its long, wide, sandy beach is a main attraction for visitors; described as "sparklingly clean" by ''Rough Guides'', in 2019 it was re-awarded the Foundation for Environmental Education's Blue Flag award which recognises the beach's high-quality water, facilities, beach safety, management and environmental education facilities. Between 1 May and 30 September, dogs are banned from the beach. Donkey rides are offered for children there. The seafront includes Skegness Pier, which houses amusements; to the south, Botton's Pleasure Beach is a funfair with roller coasters and other rides. Further south still is the Jubilee Clock Tower and the boating lake and Fairy Dell paddling pool. The western side of Grand Parade houses amusements and eateries, punctuated by the entrance to Tower Gardens, a park; its pavilion, which dated to 1879, was demolished in 2019–20 and a community centre and café built on its site. Opposite the gardens is the Embassy Theatre. The town's nightlife includes bars, pubs and nightclubs. Natureland Seal Sanctuary, on North Parade, rescues and houses distressed seals; it also features penguins, aquariums, and other animals. The town has an aquarium (
Skegness Aquarium Skegness ( ) is a seaside town and civil parish in the East Lindsey District of Lincolnshire, England. On the Lincolnshire coast of the North Sea, the town is east of Lincoln and north-east of Boston. With a population of 19,579 as of 2011 ...
), which opened on Tower Esplanade in 2015. Further into the town,
The Village Church Farm The Village Church Farm, formerly known as Church Farm Museum, is an open-air museum of local and agricultural history near Skegness, Lincolnshire, England. There are a number of traditional indigenous buildings, including a thatched "mud and st ...
(formerly Church Farm Museum) contains exhibitions about historical farming life. A volunteer-run
heritage railway A heritage railway or heritage railroad (US usage) is a railway operated as living history to re-create or preserve railway scenes of the past. Heritage railways are often old railway lines preserved in a state depicting a period (or periods) i ...
, the Lincolnshire Coast Light Railway, moved to Skegness in 1990 and opened to fare-paying members of the public in 2009; it operates along a length of track. To the south of Skegness is Gibraltar Point, a national nature reserve, consisting of unspoilt marshland. It was among England's earliest bird observatories when it was established in 1949 and, as of 2020, is open to the public. Alongside walkways and paths, it has a visitor centre, café and toilet facilities.


Arts and music

Skegness Carnival normally operates as an annual event (in August) as of 2020; the town hosted its first
carnival Carnival is a Catholic Christian festive season that occurs before the liturgical season of Lent. The main events typically occur during February or early March, during the period historically known as Shrovetide (or Pre-Lent). Carnival ...
in 1898, but the modern event dates to 1933. Since 2009, Skegness has held a music, art and cultural event, the SO Festival; in 2013 the district council estimated that it generated £1m for the area. In 1928, as part of the local authority's foreshore development, the Embassy Ballroom was built on Grand Parade. It was remodelled in 1982 and completely rebuilt in 1999 as the Embassy Theatre Complex, which is Skegness's only theatre as of 2020. The town has two cinemas: the Tower Cinema (opened in 1922) and an ABC Cinema (opened in 1936), as of 2020. The Skegness Boys' Brigade Band started in 1908; it was disbanded on the outbreak of the First World War. A new band was formed in 1923 or 1928, as Skegness Town Band, which later changed its name to Skegness Silver Band. The band continues to operate as of 2020. The Skegness Excelsior Band also operated in the interwar period. The town's amateur dramatic society, the Skegness Playgoers, was founded in 1937. As of 2020, they aim to put on two productions a year at the Embassy Theatre.


Sport

Skegness is home to Skegness Town A.F.C., which plays at the Vertigo Stadium on Wainfleet Road; known as The Lilywhites, the club was founded in 1947 and has been in the
Northern Counties East Football League The Northern Counties East Football League is a semi-professional English football league. It has two divisions – Premier Division and Division One – which stand at the ninth and tenth levels of the football pyramid respectively. History ...
since 2018. Another team, Skegness United F.C., folded in 2018. The town has a rugby club, Skegness R.U.F.C., which plays in the Midlands 4 East (North) division of the Nottinghamshire, Lincolnshire and Derbyshire Rugby Football Union, and has a clubhouse on Wainfleet Road. Skegness Cricket Club traces its origins to at least 1877 and has its ground on Richmond Drive. There is also the Skegness Yacht Club, Indoor Bowls Club and Skegness Town Bowls Club. Skegness Stadium, just outside the town, hosts stock car racing. Seacroft golf course is a traditional links course at the southern end of Skegness. It is a private members club but is open to the public upon request. Much of the course is part of a SSSI. The course has been used for various amateur championship events . It was designed by Willie Fernie and the course opened in 1900. It replaced an earlier course built in 1895.


Media

In 1922, the proprietors of the ''Lincolnshire Standard'' group of newspapers established a local version for the town, the ''Skegness Standard''; it switched to
tabloid Tabloid may refer to: * Tabloid journalism, a type of journalism * Tabloid (newspaper format), a newspaper with compact page size ** Chinese tabloid * Tabloid (paper size), a North American paper size * Sopwith Tabloid, a biplane aircraft * ''Ta ...
in 1981; the ''Standard'' continues as a weekly as of 2020. Founded in 2001, the ''East Lindsey Target'' became the ''East Coast and The Wolds Target'' in 2017, and continues as of 2020. Former newspapers include the ''Skegness Herald'' (1882–1917) and the ''Skegness News'' (1909–1964; revived in 1985 but merged into the ''Skegness Standard'' in 2007). Skegness is covered by BBC Yorkshire and Lincolnshire/ ITV Yorkshire. The public broadcaster
BBC Radio Lincolnshire BBC Radio Lincolnshire is the BBC's local radio station serving the county of Lincolnshire. It broadcasts on FM, DAB, digital TV and via BBC Sounds from studios near Newport Arch in Lincoln. According to RAJAR, the station has a weekly aud ...
operates across the county, as does the commercial radio station Lincs FM. Coastal Sound radio (founded in 2016) is a community radio service broadcasting from Skegness to the area and beyond by way of the internet.


Historic buildings

Skegness's oldest buildings are the medieval churches of St Clement, in Skegness, and St Mary, in Winthorpe. St Clement's has a 13th-century tower; the rest of the building may be medieval, but probably dates to the mid-16th century when it is thought to have been rebuilt. There were restorations in 1884 and the 20th-century and it is grade-II* listed. St Mary's is grade-I listed and is mostly 15th-century, with some late 12th-century elements. There are some 16th-century
monumental brass A monumental brass is a type of engraved sepulchral memorial, which in the 13th century began to partially take the place of three-dimensional monuments and effigies carved in stone or wood. Made of hard latten or sheet brass, let into the pa ...
es, and a medieval standing cross in the churchyard, which is a
scheduled monument In the United Kingdom, a scheduled monument is a nationally important archaeological site or historic building, given protection against unauthorised change. The various pieces of legislation that legally protect heritage assets from damage and d ...
. Other buildings which predate the modern resort town include the Ivy House Farmhouse on Burgh Road, which dates to the mid or late 18th century, Church Farmhouse on Church Road, which dates to the early 18th century and hosts the Church Farm Museum, the 18th-century Church Farmhouse on Church End, Winthorpe, and the early-19th-century Burnside Farmhouse. The houses at 1–5 St Andrew's Drive are mid- to late-19th-century cottages and thought to have been built to house coastguards. Parts of the Victorian development have been recognised for their special interest. These include the Church of St Matthew and the war memorial in its churchyard, the Jubilee Clock Tower (built in 1898 and a
landmark A landmark is a recognizable natural or artificial feature used for navigation, a feature that stands out from its near environment and is often visible from long distances. In modern use, the term can also be applied to smaller structures or f ...
in the town), and portions of original railings dating from the 1870s which are situated to the south and north of the clock tower; these are all grade-II listed structures. A large portion of the later esplanade, boating lake, land north of the pier and tower gardens is also grade-II listed. South Parade and Grand Parade contain 19th- and 20th-century boarding houses in the Queen Anne revival style. Modern buildings of note include the Sun Castle (1932), County Hotel (1935) and The Ship Hotel (''c''. 1935).


Notable people

Skegness has been home to several people associated with the entertainment industry. Billy Butlin (1899–1980) first set up his amusements stall on the seafront in the 1920s, opened the fairground rides south of the pier in 1929 and then established the first of his all-in holiday camps at Ingoldmells in 1936. Among performers connected with the town was the comedian Arthur Lucan (1885–1954), who grew up in the Boston area and busked in Skegness after leaving home. The actress Elizabeth Allan (1910–1990) was born in the town. The rock singer and songwriter Graham Bonnet was born in Skegness in 1947. The comedian Dave Allen (1936–2005) worked as a redcoat at Butlins early in his career. The disgraced clergyman Harold Davidson (born 1875) performed in a circus act in the amusement park in 1937 (while campaigning for his reinstatement to the priesthood), but died that year in the town after being mauled by one of his lions. The clown Jacko Fossett (1922–2004) retired to Skegness. Several notable religious figures either lived in the town or served it in some capacity: Edward Steere (1828–1882) was curate from 1858 to 1862, George William Clarkson (1897–1977) was rector from 1944 to 1948, Roderick Wells (born 1936) was rector from 1971 to 1978, and Kenneth Thompson (1909–1975) lived in the town. Local sportspeople include
Anne Pashley Anne Pashley (5 June 1935 – 7 October 2016) was a British track and field sprinter, who represented Great Britain at the 1956 Summer Olympics. Following her track and field career, she made a second career as a soprano singer. Pashley w ...
(died 2016), the Olympic athlete and (latterly) opera singer, who was born at Wallace's holiday camp in Skegness in 1935. The footballer Ray Clemence was born in Skegness in 1948. The cricketer Ray Frearson (1904–1991) played for the Skegness team and died in the town. Among golfers,
Mark Seymour Mark Jeremy Seymour (born 26 July 1956) is an Australian musician and vocalist. He was the frontman and songwriter of rock band Hunters & Collectors from 1981 until 1998. Seymour has carved a solo career, releasing his debut solo album in 199 ...
died in Skegness in 1952, and Helen Dobson was born there. Others with links to Skegness include the poet and art critic
William Cosmo Monkhouse William Cosmo Monkhouse (18 March 184020 July 1901) was a British poet and critic. Biography Monkhouse was born and raised in London. His father, Cyril John Monkhouse, was a solicitor, and his mother's maiden name was Delafosse. Monkhouse was e ...
(born 1840), who died in the town in 1901, and the novelist Vernon Scannell (died 2007), who was born there in 1922. The former tabloid editor Neil Wallis started his journalistic career at the ''Skegness Standard'' in the 1960s.
Reginald J. G. Dutton Reginald John Garfield Dutton (8 November 1886 – 23 June 1970) was the inventor of the auxiliary language and stenographic system known as Dutton Speedwords. Dutton was born in Nottingham, England and was the eldest son of George H. J. Dutton. I ...
(1886–1970), who created the
shorthand Shorthand is an abbreviated symbolic writing method that increases speed and brevity of writing as compared to longhand, a more common method of writing a language. The process of writing in shorthand is called stenography, from the Greek ''st ...
Dutton Speedwords, for some time chaired Skegness Urban District Council. The naval officer Sir Guy Grantham was born in the town in 1900, as was the seaman
Jesse Handsley Jesse Handsley (29 March 1876 – 3 June 1916) was an Able seaman (rank), able seaman who served under Captain Robert Falcon Scott on the Discovery Expedition, ''Discovery'' expedition of 1901 to 1904. Handsley joined the Royal Navy on 24 Dec ...
, who served on
Scott's first Antarctic Expedition The ''Discovery'' Expedition of 1901–1904, known officially as the British National Antarctic Expedition, was the first official British exploration of the Antarctic regions since the voyage of James Clark Ross sixty years earlier (1839–18 ...
;
Kingsmill Bates The Battle of the North Cape was a Second World War naval battle that occurred on 26 December 1943, as part of the Arctic campaign. The , on an operation to attack Arctic Convoys of war materiel from the Western Allies to the Soviet Union, was ...
(1916–2006) retired to Skegness. The chess champion and educator John Littlewood (1931–2009) taught at the grammar school.


References


Notes


Citations


Bibliography


Further reading


External links


Skegness Town Council

Skegness News
* * {{Featured article Seaside resorts in England Towns in Lincolnshire Populated coastal places in Lincolnshire Civil parishes in Lincolnshire East Lindsey District Beaches of Lincolnshire