Cleethorpes in the mid 1860s - extracts from Davenport's Guide

Some extracts from "
Davenport's Illustrated Guide to Cleethorpes, and Visitors' Hand-book to Great Grimsby" - undated, but probably the 1866 edition

The reference to the dining room at the station capable of seating 300 people does make you wonder if there was an additional building, no longer standing, at the station.  Elsewhere I have seen references to concerts held in the "Assembly-rooms" at the station.

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The air is soft and refreshing and the cottages are clean and inviting. Most of them can accommodate visitors, and it is the sweet and homely appearance of all that leads a visitor to hesitate in his selection.
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The visitor on his trip to Spurn point, will pass over the Cockle Beds, an extensive shoal on which, at low tide, people may be seen gathering cockles, or watching the dredgers plying their vocation. To the left lie the Oyster Beds, where an extensive cultivation of this bivalve is carried on. These beds can only be seen by visitors at Spring tides, about the full or change of the moon. They extend over an area of about 300 acres, which is divided into plots, and "farmed" by masters of fishing smacks and others connected with the fishery. The earl of Yarborough, as Lord of the Manor, claims the letting of these beds, which are an important and valuable property. At low water, oysters of all ages may be seen in large quantities, paving as with so many small tiles, the extensive fishing ground. The visitor is cautioned not to tread upon, or meddle with, these oysters in any way, as being private property it would be regarded as an act of trespass, if nothing further. In addition to oysters, there is considerable fishing carried on in plaice, smelts, soles, skate, eels, cod, and herrings. Large quantities of cockles and shrimps are sometimes caught, and the visitor may procure them fresh every day.
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Now the place is peopled by upwards of a thousand residents. Streets are laid out, some of them very tastefully, and everywhere is so quiet that an enthusiastic old lady, fond of cats and sequestered nooks, once said - she "could almost hear the sunshine." The cottages are roomy and neat, and in some instances surrounded by garden plots. A taste for flowers is everywhere displayed, evincing a pure domestic feeling on the part of the residents.
Fronting the beach, and commencing at the "Cliff Hotel," Upper Thorpe, are terraces of finely built houses, of a style that we find in other watering places. "Queen's Parade" and "High Cliff terrace" are amongst the better class of these buildings. There are also several very fine houses in Beacon Thorpe; and in Middle Thorpe, along the road are scattered some princely looking dwellings of quite a modern construction, that are evidences of the thriving nature of the place. Tavern and Hotel accommodation are quite adequate to the wants of visitors. These establishments consist of

THE DOLPHIN HOTEL. This is the principal establishment of the place; being commodious and pleasantly situated, fronting the beach in Middle Thorpe. Some people call it the "Ivy Hotel," from a portion of its walls being picturesquely overgrown with ivy. Attached to the hotel is a private establishment for those who prefer the retirement of home. A separate room is provided for excursionists who have brought their own refreshments and hot water is furnished to them at a cheap rate. Conveyances for hire are kept, and there is a billiard-room attached, and baths are also provided for the comfort and convenience of visitors.

The Cliff Hotel, situate in Upper Thorpe, the "Cross Keys," in Middle Thorpe, and contiguous the "Leeds Arms Inn," at each of which visitors will meet with every attention to their wants.
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Formerly it was no pleasant journey from Grimsby to Cleethorpes by the old coaching process, which was abandoned on the opening of the railway extension from Grimsby to Beacon Thorpe. This branch was opened in April, 1863, by the Manchester, Sheffield, and Lincolnshire Company, and has been found to be a great benefit. The station is built in the prevailing style of railway station architecture, and is furnished with a station master's residence, first and second class waiting rooms, ladies' waiting room, a refreshment bar, to which is attached a dining room, which may also be used as a lecture or concert room. The interior is of the Gothic style; three fine oaken spandrels supporting the roof, from which are suspended three ornamented gasaliers. The tables, in several tiers, and capable of seating 300 persons, are flanked with chairs, and supplied with books and periodicals. An excellent dinner may be obtained at a come-again price; and tea and coffee can be supplied in any quantity. The room is well adapted for the accommodation of school trips, as many as five hundred scholars and their friends having been supplied with refreshments at one time.

Conveyances are in constant attendance at the station to meet the trains to and from Grimsby. There are at present six arrivals, and as many departures daily.
Contiguous to the railway station, is the residence of the chief officer of the coast-guard.

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