The Seaside, Health and the Environment in England and Wales since 1800 (1st edition.)

The seaside has always held a special position in British history as a place of rest, relaxation and recuperation.

Over the last 200 years many have made their way to the coast, attracted by the long sunshine hours, the clean ozone-charged air and the opportunities for bathing in and even drinking sea-water.

Although the early health resort ideal began to give way to more pleasure orientated themes in the nineteenth century, the seaside holiday was still regarded by many as a wholesome and invigorating break from inland urban life well into the twentieth century.

Yet with ever increasing numbers of visitors and rising levels of coastal pollution, this was by no means a forgone conclusion.