The Seafront

More about the book

The seafront is ever changing, depending on the time of day, the state of the tides, and the month of the year. At once natural and artificial, it is a place to live, work, and play, a site for commemoration, experimentation, and relaxation. The Seafront examines how this highly complex space has been created, re-created, and adapted over the past three hundred years. It tells the story of seaside holidays and how the arrival of increasing numbers of tourists transformed natural coastline into the manmade environments of modern resorts, and describes along the way the engineering of sea defences, the facilities designed for sea bathing, and the fun factories and fun fairs of the twentieth century. Glitteringly illustrated throughout, the book celebrates the many and diverse aspects of the seafront's history, geography, character, function, and meaning.