Alexandra Road was not named after Edward VII's queen but after Prince Albert's mother.

In 1885 Victoria's consort had attended the official opening of the re-constructed foreshore at Cleethorpes.

What once had been Itterby Road was renamed Alexandra Road in his honour (or rather his mother's).

postcard in Oliette Series, Raphael Tuck, 1907

The 'Figure of Eight' ride - later called the 'Big Dipper' - was introduced along with the Helter Skelter (tower slide) and other amusements in the first quarter of the 20th century.

Postcard, 1921

Frederick Smith had a bakery in Dolphin Street, Cleethorpes in the 1920s.

Undated postcard

Cleethorpes Bangladeshi Islamic Cultural Society is a registered charity based at this building between St Peter's Avenue and Cosgrove Street in the centre of Cleethorpes. Part of the building serves as their mosque.

Jean Howard 31 March 2023

This was built as a junior school for 360 boys by Croft and Bentley of Grimsby in 1896. Girls and Infants accommodation were added to the north on Elliston Street.

June 2017

The large outdoor swimming pool or lido - unheated for much of its life - has been a popular feature of the resort.

undated postcard, c.1950s

The remarkable popularity of the resort is well illustrated in this postcard.

The railway line had reached Cleethorpes in 1862 and the number of day trippers using the train steadily increased up to the First World War.

postcard 1912

This view of the beach at Cleethorpes shows the station (on the right) and the pier, which was originally 335ft (102m) long.

Postcard, undated, Valentine's Series

This chapel on the corner of Grimsby Road and Tennyson Road was opened by the Primitive Methodists in 1914.

It is a Grade II listed building.

June 2017

The bicycle railway, date unknown.

This photograph must have been taken from the switchback railway.

The pay desk is visible.

A rare view of Cleethorpes looking north across an old claypit of the brickworks. Beyond the water tower are the kilns and other buildings of the brickworks. Close by to the left is the railway line. Note the 'dipper' ride in the left background.

Undated postcard by J. W. Hardy of Cleethorpes.

This large town school was opened in 1902 for 360 boys and 360 girls.

June 2017

The memorial stone at Bursar Street School dated August 1901.

June 2017

Cambridge Street, Cleethorpes about 1880.

Both St Peter's Church and the National School are visible at the end of the street.

old photograph

This charabanc ran from the Lincoln Arms in Cleethorpes to Hainton Street in Grimsby.

undated postcard

This second, very similar vehicle bears the name of Holmes Brothers.

It was restricted to 20 mph. Its capacity appears to be about 20 passengers.

undated postcard

This modest church on the corner of Grimsby Road and Reynolds Street was built in 1911.

June 2017

These gardens are close to the pier on the seafront at Cleethorpes.

RA series postcard, 1949

The Cliff Hotel before extensions.

The entrance to the Pier gardens is clear.

undated postcard

The concert hall on the pier was a venue for popular entertainment. Pierrots and nigger minstrels were among the entertainers who came to Cleethorpes in the Edwardian period

Jay-em-Jay series postcard, 1909

Corpus Christi church was built in 1995 to replace the original 1930s church which had to be demolished owing to the poor foundation on which it had been built.

June 2017

This view shows the Pier shortly after it was truncated in the early post-war days.

Valentine postcard, 1951

The drinking fountain in Sea Road was built in 1897 for Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee.

It had an iron canopy and was topped by a gas lamp.

The fountain was moved to Brighton Street Slipway in 1905, but has since been demolished.

This school was opened in 1907 and enlarged in 1910 to give room for 430 boys, 430 girls and 170 infants.

June 2017

The Enclosure Award Commissioner set out a "Public Carriage Road of the breadth of thirty feet called the Grimsby Road" in 1846.

It contains St Aidan's Church of 1906, the Constitutional Club of 1911/12 and the Memorial Hall (1960).

undated postcard

This broad thoroughfare links Cleethorpes with neighbouring Grimsby.

postcard, 1913

This nineteenth century view shows the original cliff at the sea front, which was subject to steady erosion like the Holderness coast in East Yorkshire today.

In 1902 a massive sea wall, 18 feet high, was constructed along this stretch.

illustration published by Rock & Co, 1861

Cleethorpes was often swamped by day trippers.

In 1863, on the first August Bank Holiday Monday after the arrival of the railway to the resort 30,000 people arrived by train and an estimated further 10,000 made the journey in horse-drawn vehicles or on foot. The population of Cleethorpes was only 1400 at the time.

This is the site of one of the most devastating Zeppelin raids of World War I. On 1 April 1916 a bomb landed on roof of the Baptist Church Hall where men of the 3rd (Special Reserve) Battalion of the Manchester Regiment were billeted.

Of the men in the building, 27 died instantly and 4 were fatally injured, dying soon after from their wounds.

The current church was founded in February 1988, though the plain brick building dates from an earlier period.

June 2017

View of Kingsway, looking north. In the foreground is KIng's Parade, imnmediately on the seafront.

The row of houses on the left is Albion Terrace. The timbered buildings in the centre goround comprise Humberston Colonnade. Further to the right, on Kingsway itself, is High Cliff Terrace.

postcard, c.1905

This is the same stretch of the street as in the previous postcard, but viewed from the north a few years later.

Humberston Colonnade has been demolished.

The street on the right running up to Kingsway is Brighton Street.

Jay-em-Jay postcard, 1907

The Cleethorpes Lifeboat "Manchester Unity", so called because the local Manchester Unity of Order of Oddfellows organised the subscription.

It was launched in 1868 and was removed to Grimsby in 1882.

undated postcard

The National Boys' School was built in 1856 to replace an earlier National School of 1815.

It was demolished and St Peter's Church Hall now stands on the site.

A plaque on its south wall was originally part of the National School.

undated postcard

A view of North Promenade, looking north.  The holiday amusements were well developed.

postcard, early 20th century

North Promenade, 20th century, looking south.

The switch back railway is on the left and the bicycle railway on the right.

postcard, early 20th century

 The Manchester, Sheffield and Lincolnshire Railway omnibuses travelled between Grimsby Station and Cleethorpes eight times each way daily in 1852.

postcard

A Great Grimsby Street Tramways vehicle decorated for the opening of the Kingsway promenade on 12July 1906 by Lady Henderson, wife of the Chairman of the Great Central Railway.

A postcard by Bullen, Grimsby

The pier at Cleethorpes opened on August Bank Holiday 1873.

The Pavilion shown dates from 1905 and replaced an earlier hall destroyed by fire.

Originally, the pier was 1200 ft (360m)long, but was deliberately breached in WW2 - because of invasion fears - and after the war the seaward section was demolished.

Frank Robinson, 2009

The crowded pier at Cleethorpes in the holiday season.

Enormous crowds of day trippers came to Cleethorpes after the railway came to the town in 1863 and the resort was hugely popular, especially before the First World War.

For example on August Bank Holiday Monday in 1892 more than 30,000 people arrived on 21 trains.

Postcard, early 1900s

An engraving of the pier dated 28 February 1875; it opened in August 1873.

On the opening day 2859 people paid 6d to walk it.

A fire in 1903 damaged the pier and created a gap. The pier beyond the gap was demolished in 1949.

The pier was constructed by Messrs Head, Wrightson & Co of Stockton on Tees. Its length was 1200 ft.

There were two ornamental lodges at the head of the pier and towards the sea and there were refreshment rooms and a landing stage.

postcard

The Pier entrance after 1905. Before that date the drinking fountain was on the Sea Road entrance.

undated postcard

A very similar view to the previous photo, but this is clearly a view from the inter-war years.

The pair of small structues in the centre are public conveniences.

Empire View Production postcard, 1937

The Primitive Methodist Chapel stood in Mill Road. It was built in 1877 and was demolished in 1979.

The new St Andrew's Methodist Church is on the same site.

undated postcard

Cleethorpes rapidly grew as a seaside resort in the late Victorian period and provided the usual visitor attractions, including this helter-skelter and other amusements alongside the Promenade.

undated photo attached to postcard

A view of Cleethorpes Promenade from the pier.

postcard by Valentine, 1911

A photograph taken around 1900 looking towards Segmere Street.

Serious, regular cliff erosion threatened the house in this terrace.

C H Fowler built this red brick church on Grimsby Road / Hart Street in 1905-06. Some details reflect the Perpendicular period.

June 2017

St Andrew's Methodist chapel on the corner of St Peter's Avenue and Mill Road was opened in 1979.

It replaced a former Primitive Methodist Chapel on the same site, built in 1877, which developed structural problems and was demolished in 1978.

The current church has buttresses on the north elevation (seen here); perhaps it will suffer the same fate as its predecessor?

June 2017

St Peter's was built in 1866-67 by James Fowler of Louth.

The exterior is built of stone, the interior of brick.

postcard by Cotswold Publishing Compant, undated

This second view of St Peter's church - from much the same angle - is possibly of a later date, though it may have been taken inside the walled frontage.

This postcard notes the 'new vestry and organ chamber, 1911'.

A modern view of the church shows the town's war memorial (dedicated March 1920) and the extra paved area and seating created alongside.

June 2017

St Peter's occupies a relatively small site with several trees close to the building. This view is from the south-west, dfrom which position the tower to the north-east of the building is scarcely visible.

June 2017 

The first National School here opened in 1856 for 300 pupils; it was later enlarged for 900.

June 2017

On the eastern side of St Peter’s Avenue, almost opposite the church, is the church hall in an architectural style typical of the 1930s.

Jean Howard 31 March 2023

The plaque which can be seen above the notice board reads: IN THE YEAR OF OUR LORD 1936/ ON SEPTEMBER 27/ THIS TABLET WAS UNVEILED BY/ SIR GEORGE MOODY, KNT., J.P., CHARTER MAYOR,/ AND HAS BEEN DEDICATED BY NUGENT,/ LORD BISHOP OF LINCOLN./ THE REV. CANON R.P. WADE, M.A., VICAR.

Jean Howard 31 March 2023

The War Memorial was erected at the eastern end of the churchyard. However an arc behind it was surfaced to integrate it with the roadside pavement, creating a seating area for pedestrians. The list of the war dead is on this Westmorland slate plaque let into the east end of St Peter’s below the east window.  The full list of names can be found at:

https://www.iwm.org.uk/memorials/item/memorial/91969

Jean Howard 31 March 2023

The Grade II listed former Vicarage was built in 1851-2 to the design of the Grimsby architect Edward Micklethwaite. It is now part of St Peter's Primary School.

Undated postcard

The Lincolnshire coast has occasionally been affected by serious storms.

On 31 January 1953 a storm surge brought loss of life and serous damage to property in the coastal resorts. At Cleethorpes amusement facilities were wrecked, the railway embankment breached and almost 1000 homes flooded.

A view from the pier of crashing waves on the seafront at Cleethorpes.

undated postcard

The Swimming Pool was built when the improvements were made to the sea front in 1884.

undated postcard

This was built on Isaac's Hill as the Technical Institute in 1901 and later became the Pulblic Library for the town.

It ceased to be a library in 1984.

June 2017

The slip or slipway (for launching boats) was at the end of Sea Road immediately to the north of the pier.

This photograph was taken from the pier.

E T Series postcard, 1909

A second view of The Slip "Photographed and Printed by The Cotswold Publishing Co. Ltd. Wotton-under-Edge, Glos.

Postcard with a message dated 8th July 1918

Originally the Council House, built in 1904, later the Town Hall.

June 2017

Trams in 1892 left the Wheatsheaf in Cleethorpes for Grimsby every 15 minutes from 08.15 to 22.15.

undated postcard

The Great Grimsby Street Tramways Company operated horse trams from 1881 and extended a route into Cleethorpes in 1887.

In 1901 the system was electrified at a cost of £100,000 and a new depot was opened at Pelham Road.

H B Priestley postcard, 1954

Cleethorpes War Memorial was designed by Grantham architect Wilfrid Bond. The cross is 20 feet high on three octagonal steps and bears a crucifixion. It cost £300 with the plaque listing the names of those remembered costing an additional £100. It is listed Grade II: 

https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1451816?section=official-list-entry

Jean Howard 31 March 2023

This, the second Wesleyan Methodist chapel on the site in St Peter's Avenue, was opened in 1885. It was known as Trinity.

The church closed in 1968 and was demolished in 1973.

undated postcard

This four sailed mill in Mill Road was built in c.1820 for John Nicholson, Mayor of Grimsby. It had four single-sided patent sails and three pairs of stones.

A bake house was added by the Frankish family.

The mill was dismantled by Thompson's of Alford in the 1920s. The cap was re-fitted to the mill at Spittle Hill in Gainsborough.

(Information courtesy Jon Sass, Lincolnshire Mills Group)

undated postcard, c.1900

The 5-sailed windmill in Mill Place, off Cleethorpes Market Place, was built in 1803 for William Jackson.  It originally had with 4 sails.

Steam power only was used from 1905.  It was demolished in 1922.

(Information courtesy Jon Sass, Lincolnshire Mills Group)

undated postcard, late 19th century