SUTTON ON SEA AND MABLETHORPE

The neighbouring resorts of Sutton On Sea and Mablethorpe were two of the many casualties of the catastrophic 1953 floods. In Sutton On Sea, the sea opened a gap 900 feet wide in the seafront, and caused the land to flood for miles inland. A new, high promenade has since been built to prevent such a calamity from recurring. In Mablethorpe, the RAF and Army came to the rescue, evacuating people in amphibious vehicles. There is old film footage on the British Pathe website showing scenes of the evacuation. But for Mablethorpe, the 1953 floods were not the first time the town had submitted to the force of the sea. In the 1540s, a whole section of the town disappeared under the sea. At spring tides it is occasionally possible to see the original shoreline and tree stumps.

The poet Alfred Lord Tennyson was taken to Mablethorpe on holiday as a boy in the early 1800s, where the lodgings used by the family included Ingoldby House on Quebec Road. Later in life, Tennyson stayed at Marine Villa in the High Street. Another literary connection is that D. H. Lawrence was a frequent visitor to the town, and it gets a mention in his book “Sons and Lovers”. Attractions in the modern-day resort include a Seal Sanctuary and Wildlife Centre and Ye Olde Curiosity Museum, which displays thousands of everyday items such as old toys, kitchen utensils and furniture.

Webcam view of Mablethorpe Beach.

Map of the area.

Mablethorpe beach - geograph.org.uk - 771332. Photo by Richard Croft, via Wikimedia Commons.