Lunchtime Lecture 

The English Seaside as World Heritage: You’re Having a Laugh? by Dr Allan Brodie FSA FRHistS 

Think World Heritage; think pyramids, cathedrals and palaces. But some of the world’s vital heritage of leisure has begun to be celebrated in the form of inscriptions for Bath and European spa towns, as well as for Nice as a winter resort.  

This lecture argues that it is time to recognise the role of the seaside holiday in the world’s shared culture and to celebrate England’s leading role in its creation during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. This ‘Leisure Revolution’ was occurring alongside the Industrial Revolution as the nation’s wealth grew and new technologies in the form of steamers, trains and seaside piers would be central to the rapid growth of the English seaside. This country boasts dozens of resorts that illustrate our love affair with the seaside as well as headline sites as different as Brighton Pavilion, Blackpool Tower and Eastbourne Pier. This lecture will illustrate how the English seaside matches some of UNESCO’s criteria and compare this to the inscriptions for Bath, spa towns, and Nice. 

However, while the English seaside might meet some of UNESCO’s criteria, this recognition would come with responsibilities. Although there may be no more permissions needed for development, there is greater public and institutional scrutiny of activity in World Heritage sites. 

So, the lecture will conclude by posing the question; would it be worth it? 

Allan Brodie is a visiting fellow at Bournemouth University and a founding member of the Seaside Heritage Network. He is the author of England’s Seaside Resorts (2007), The Seafront (2018) and England’s Seaside Heritage from the Air (2021), as well as books on Margate (2007), Weymouth (2008), Blackpool (2014) and Weston-super-Mare (2019). He has also co-written a four-volume history of Travel and Tourism 1700-1914 (2014) and Tourism and the Changing Face of the British Isles (2019). Other books have included studies of England’s prisons, England’s military heritage and a catalogue of medieval stone sculpture in Salisbury Museum.

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This event will be both in person at Burlington House and online. Please select the appropriate ticket below.

Attendance at Burlington House:
Open to anyone to attend.
The event begins at 1pm in the Meeting Room, please arrive with enough time beforehand.

Attendance online:
The event will be live-streamed on Zoom (if you register) and recorded on our YouTube channel.
The event will begin at 1pm.
You will receive an email reminder with the link to join the day of the lecture.

If you have any questions, please contact us at [email protected].

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