Blackpool's Seaside Heritage
Mike Higginbottom
- Region:
- Anywhere
- Notice Period:
- Emergency (maybe less than one week's notice)
- Type:
- Architectural and social history
- Fee:
- Paid: Dependent on size of audience and distance travelled from South Yorkshire
- Category:
- History
- Updated:
- 23rd November 2017
- Tagged:
- Seaside | Victorian Architecture | History Of Blackpool
Blackpool is Britain’s premier seaside holiday resort. Its buildings and attractions have been repeatedly extended and adapted to suit the tastes and amusements of succeeding generations of holidaymakers. Despite its reputation for cheerful vulgarity, its historic sites provide a rich heritage of surprising sophistication, ranging from Victorian opulence to the virtuosity of Art Deco.
The town’s pre-eminent symbol, the Tower (1894), is a unique monument to Victorian enterprise, a pier set on end, with a multi-purpose fun-palace at its base, still operational alongside the Winter Gardens (1878 onwards), the three piers (1863, 1868 and 1893) and the Pleasure Beach (1904 onwards).
The town’s modern claim to fame, its unrivalled Illuminations (begun 1912), originated from another unique survival, the tramway-system, (1885). To view the Blackpool Illuminations from the top of a tram is to experience an essentially Victorian sense of wonder – admiring electricity.
Views: 1178 | Enquiries: 3About Mike Higginbottom
I am a freelance history lecturer specialising in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries with a background in university extramural education.
I offer distinctive, life-enhancing insights into the past, particularly the recent past, for people who enjoy visiting places and recognising the human stories behind this historical heritage.
I lecture for the Arts Society (formerly the National Association of Decorative & Fine Arts Societies [NADFAS]) in the UK, Spain, Australia and New Zealand.
Whether lecturing, writing or guiding tours, I provide detailed information in a lucid and entertaining way. My publications and lectures are copiously illustrated, as much as possible using my own photography.
Mike Higginbottom Interesting Times is the brand for my history education work – tours, lectures and publications. My blog is a fund of interesting, sometimes quirky insights into places, people and historical events.
I'm based in Sheffield and willing to travel anywhere in the UK or further afield.
Other Talks on SpeakerNet by Mike Higginbottom
- The Big Apple: the architecture of New York City
- Windy City: the architecture of Chicago
- St Pancras Station & Hotel
- Birmingham's Heritage
- Liverpool's Heritage
- Manchester's Heritage
- Fun Palaces: the history and architecture of the entertainment industry
- All the World's a Stage: the development of theatre buildings
- Dream Palaces: an introduction to cinema architecture
- Away from it all: the heritage of holiday resorts
- Beside the Seaside: the architecture of British coastal resorts
- Yorkshire's Seaside Heritage
- Victorian Cemeteries
- Victorian Sewerage
- Temples of Sanitation
- English Country Houses – not quite what they seem
- Sheffield's Cinema Heritage
- Demolished Sheffield
- A Look Round Attercliffe
- Waterways and Railways across the Derbyshire Peak
- Waterways and Railways across the Northern Pennines
- Waterways and Railways between Thames and Severn
- The Derbyshire Derwent Valley
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