Mablethorpe


Mablethorpe is a seaside town in the East Lindsey district of Lincolnshire, England. Lord Tennyson was among the visitors. It hosts a lifeboat station. The population, including nearby Sutton-on-Sea, was 12,531 at the 2011 census.

History

Roman Empire

A horde of Roman treasure was found in Mablethorpe, as well as a Roman brooch and pottery.

Mablethorpe Hall

Mablethorpe has existed as a town for many centuries, although part of it was lost to the sea in the 1540s. For example, records of the Fitzwilliam family of Mablethorpe Hall date back to the 14th century. In the 19th century, it was a centre for ship breaking during the winter. Mablethorpe Hall is to the west of the town along Alford Road, near the parish church of St Mary. The Mablethorpe church parish includes Trusthorpe.

Town lifeboats

In 1883 the first lifeboat station was built in Mablethorpe and ran until the First World War, when it closed temporarily due to crew shortages. These continued, and the station closed permanently after the war. It reopened as an inshore lifeboat station in 1965. A further new lifeboat station ensued in 1996. A D-class lifeboat, D-506 Patrick Rex Moren, went into service on 9 July 1996, followed in 2001 by a B class Atlantic 75-class lifeboat, B–778 Joan Mary, and in 2005 by a latest D-class lifeboat, D–653 William Hadley.
In 1998, a bronze medal was awarded to the helmsman for service on 12 April, when the lifeboat rescued a crew of two and saved the fishing vessel Lark, which had broken down in the surf and was drifting towards the shore without her anchor. The lifeboat was launched in a force 7 gale and a heavy swell – extreme conditions for this class. The helmsman had difficulty in negotiating the rough seas to reach the fishing boat, decided it was too hazardous to take off the crew and passed a line and towed her from danger – a considerable feat in huge seas for a lifeboat smaller than the fishing boat and powered by one 40 hp outboard engine.

East Coast floods

In 1953, Mablethorpe was hit by the disastrous East Coast floods. The seawall was breached on 31 January. A granite rock memorial was unveiled on the coast on 31 January 2013 in memory of the town's 42 victims.

Lord Tennyson

The town was visited regularly by Alfred, Lord Tennyson, a 19th-century Poet Laureate of the United Kingdom. Some features of the town have been named after him, for example, Tennyson Road and Tennyson High School.

D. H. Lawrence

Mablethorpe is the destination for the fictional Morel family's first holiday in the D. H. Lawrence novel, Sons and Lovers, published in 1913. "At last they got an answer from Mablethorpe, a cottage such as they wished for thirty shillings a week. There was immense jubilation. Paul was wild with joy for his mother's sake. She would have a real holiday now. He and she sat at evening picturing what it would be like. Annie came in, and Leonard, and Alice, and Kitty. There was wild rejoicing and anticipation. Paul told Miriam. She seemed to brood with joy over it. But the Morel's house rang with excitement."

Ted Lewis

Mablethorpe is the seaside setting for the Ted Lewis crime novel GBH, published in 1980. The novel was his last and has been described as a "lost masterwork". Lewis is best known as the author of Get Carter, which was made into a film starring Michael Caine.

Transport

Mablethorpe and much of east Lincolnshire lost its longstanding rail service in 1970 to the Beeching Axe, despite its long history. The station site is now the town's sports centre.
Stagecoach Interconnect services 51 and 59 run through the town, terminating at the North End. Service 59 with Skegness runs about once an hour, and on Sundays every two hours between March and October. Service 51 with Grimsby runs about once an hour on Monday to Saturday.
In 2007, after Stagecoach purchased the Lincolnshire RoadCar company, Interconnect 9 replaced the hourly Skegness 90 service and extended it through to Louth once an hour. Taking over the irregular service 10 between Lincoln, Louth and Mablethorpe, its replacement service 50 has been curtailed at Louth, so that Mablethorpe–Lincoln passengers need to change there.
In 2019 Stagecoach's hourly 51 Grimsby–Louth service was extended to Mablethorpe North end, along the route taken by the 9. The 9 was renumbered 59, running only between Skegness to Mablethorpe.
Grayscroft Coaches operates several services from a base in Victoria Road, including Service 1 to Louth via Manby. Brylaine runs a service 96/96A between Mablethorpe and Alford and Spilsby, usually every two hours.
Service 9M is a local-call demand-responsive service run by Lincolnshire County Council, connecting remoter areas to connection points at Alford, Chapel St Leonards and Mablethorpe for mainline bus services.

Geography

Mablethorpe, in the East Lindsey council district of England, is administered with Sutton-on-Sea and Trusthorpe as the civil parish of Mablethorpe and Sutton. The original parish of Mablethorpe covers a rectangular area inland along Alford Road towards Maltby le Marsh, as far as Grange Leisure Park, where Earl's Bridge crosses West Bank. The south of the former parish follows the Trusthorpe Drains, which are crossed at Bamber's Bridge on Mile Lane.Out towards Alford lies Strubby Airfield, with the Strubby Aviation Club and Lincs Gliding Club. To the north is the large parish of Theddlethorpe St Helen, which extends to the River Great Eau at Saltfleetby. The town is the eastern terminus of the A52. The town is also accessed by the A1104 and A16 through Alford. The A157 to and from Louth is said to be the sixth bendiest in the UK..

Commerce

The town's one retail bank branch, Barclays, closed in July 2019. There are two supermarkets – a Co-operative and a Lidl. High street chains such as Boots, Shoe Zone, Heron, Greggs and Cooplands are present, but most shops are independent.

Leisure

Family attractions include a small fairground and an award-winning beach with traditional seaside amusement arcadess. One of Mablethorpe's long-standing features, its sand train, takes visitors to and from the northerly point of the beach. Mablethorpe Seal Sanctuary and Wildlife Centre is also north of the town.
Mablethorpe's cinema, the Loewen in Quebec Road, was previously known as the Bijou. The Dunes leisure complex lies on Mablethorpe's seafront. In 2008, the old Dunes Theatre became Sharky's Bar after a refit, but returned to its original function and name in 2012.
A skatepark was opened in May 2008 on the seafront. This includes a small funbox, a spine and two quarter pipes.
Several small caravan parks and guest houses provide tourist accommodation.

Electric power

Just over a mile north-east of the town, near the Seal Sanctuary, lies Theddlethorpe Gas Terminal, which supplies 5 per cent of the UK's gas. To the west is the Bambers wind farm, which opened in November 2004 and houses eight turbines – producing five MW of power. The Bambers II wind farm, an extension of the first, opened in November 2006, and produces an additional 5 MW of power. The two turbines at Mablethorpe wind farm, which produce 1.2 MW of power, were the first such turbines in Lincolnshire when built in July 2002. All three wind farms are owned by Ecotricity, and stand at the corner of West Bank and the Trusthorpe Drains. Mablethorpe's Star of the East is on the seafront.

Media

The local weekly newspapers are the Mablethorpe Leader and The Target. Radio coverage for Lincolnshire is provided by BBC Radio Lincolnshire and Lincs FM. In October 2012, volunteers created a local community radio station.

Education

The community's primary school is Mablethorpe Primary Academy School. The Mablethorpe site of Monks' Dyke Tennyson College closed in August 2016. Adult learning is provided at Mablethorpe Learning Centre

Events

Mablethorpe hosts Britain's only beach-hut festival, , in September each year. Owners of private beach huts compete in exterior design, amidst a backdrop of poetry, music, and drama.
Mablethorpe has long hosted motorbike sand racing each winter and spring. This has inspired the Lincolnshire Bike Week by the local Coastal Events Community Interest Company, following on from the successful Mablethorpe and Sutton-on-Sea Bike Nights.
Each summer Mablethorpe hosts an illuminations event, for which a celebrity is invited. Those "switching on" have included Barbara Windsor, Timmy Mallett and Wolf and Hunter of Gladiators. In July 2011, Twist and Pulse of Britain's Got Talent led the events.

Gallery

News items

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