Demolished seaside shelters is an entire topic I’d love to explore further; the reasons why the shelters have been lost, whether they’ve been replaced, analysing the loss of heritage are some of many aspects I’d find interesting. However in terms of this project, many of the lost shelters I’ve found have been by chance, often when looking through newspaper articles on shelters, or by social media when following some of my favourite seaside historians. Kathryn Ferry shared lost seaside shelters at Colwyn Bay, lost to contemporary regeneration of the seaside. It a difficult discussion, I’m sure the new seafront looks fantastic, but it breaks my heart to see the lost structures. The website Modern Mooch who I follow for their exploration of modern architecture also photographed the shelters before they disappeared and described them as “Californian screen block, glass, pebbledash, mosaic and crazy paving”. I love them! Not everyone’s cup of tea I’m sure; they’re not the traditional Victorian shelters one often sees, but this period of architecture is one of my favourites.
Kathryn Ferry also posted about the Northern Porthole Shelters at Dover; she was unsure as to whether the shelters still exist and neither did her followers, so hopefully they do!
https://mapio.net/images-p/2265595.jpg
Demolition of shelters at Whitley Bay were temporarily put on hold after locals petitioned to keep them in 2014, but by 2017 were gone. Interesting that there was considerable local support for the shelters but they were removed regardless. The shelters were replaced, whether or not the local support was for the actual historic shelters or just a place to shelter is unknown!
I’m sure there are many more to be found so I’ll follow up with a further blog post….
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