Withernsea

Withernsea
Yorkshire East Riding
Pier Towers, Withernsea
Location
Grid reference:	TA344277
Location:	53°43’43"N, -0°2’18"E
Data
Population:	6,159  (2011)
Post town:	Withernsea
Postcode:	HU19
Dialling code:	01964
Local Government
Council:	East Riding of Yorkshire
Parliamentary constituency:	Beverley and Holderness

Withernsea is a seaside resort town on Holderness, within the East Riding of Yorkshire. It forms the local centre for a wider community of small villages of Holderness.

This may be one of the smaller resorts of the land, but it is a holiday place to its boots, with a beach, a seafront promenade an inland lighthouse, the Valley Gardens and places for outside events, amusement arcades and all the paraphernalia. It used to have a 400-yard pier, until a number of ships over the years found it unmissable, and the mangle ruins were at last demolished

The town's most famous landmark is the white inland lighthouse, rising 127 feet above Hull Road. The lighthouse — no longer active — now houses a museum to 1950s actress Kay Kendall, who was born in the town.

The Greenwich Meridian crosses the coast to the north-west of Withernsea.

According to the 2011 census, Withernsea parish had a population of 6,159.

Parish church

St Nicholas's Church

The parish church is St Nicholas. It is a Grade II* listed building.

History

Withernsea sea front

Like many seaside resorts, Withernsea has a wide promenade which reaches north and south from Pier Towers, the historic entrance to an almost 400 yard long pier, built in 1877 at a cost of £12,000. The pier was gradually reduced in length through consecutive impacts by local seacraft, starting with the Saffron in 1880 before the collision by an unnamed ship in 1888, again by a Grimsby fishing boat and again by the Henry Parr in 1903, leaving the once grand pier with a mere 16½ yards of damaged wood and steel. Town planners decided to remove the final section during construction of coastal defences in the 1930s. The Pier Towers have been refurbished.

During the mid 19th century the Hull and Holderness Railway was constructed, connecting the nearby city of Kingston upon Hull with Withernsea (via Keyingham and Patrington) and providing a cheap and convenient holiday for Victorian workers and their families, as well as boosting Withernsea's economy. It closed in 1964 and all that remains of it is an overgrown footpath where the track used to be.

Sights of the town

Withernsea Lighthouse

Some of the town's better-known tourist attractions and landmarks include:

• The Withernsea Lighthouse on Hull Road with a museum dedicated to the actress Kay Kendall.
• The Pier Towers leading onto a Blue Flag beach.
• Valley Gardens with a large square and outside stage for local events and celebrations.
• Various amusement arcades (informally known as 'muggies') that line the road opposite the Valley Gardens.
• An RNLI lifeboat museum.
• The Greenwich Meridian; Just outside the town.

There is a 9-hole golf course and leisure centre complex (with a gym and indoor pool) and a variety of pubs and restaurants are situated around the centre of the town.

Gallery

• 
  Withernsea Bus Depot
• 
  Teddy's Amusements
• 
  Valley Gardens
• 
  Withernsea Bowling Club

Outside links

("Wikimedia Commons" has material about Withernsea)

• Withernsea in the Domesday Book
• Withernsea Information
• Seaside FM 105.3
• Withernsea High School
• Withernsea High School Humanities Faculty
• Withernsea Lighthouse
• Tourist Information
• National Heritage List 1366257: Withernsea - St Nicholas' Church
• Local information sheet