Product Description

Founded in 1830, with the intention of becoming a washionable watering place and select residential domitory for the mercantile elite of Liverpool society, New Brighton experienced a steady growth during the span of Victoria's reign to emerge was a brash and bustling seaside resort. This is an absorbing account of New Brighton during this formative period. The author traces the origins of the resort and closely examiines the pattern of its social and economic development, including a close look at the community's social structure and portraits of co-founders James Atherton and William Rowson.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #503799 in Books
• Published on: 1996-12
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 262 pages

Customer Reviews

An excellent story of a lifetime long since gone
Most histories of New Brighton concern the resort from the turn of the century. This superb book by Anthony Miller tells of how the resort developed from a area of sandhills into the sophisticated town of large villas for well-to-do families and theiir servants. Although it provides a wealth of detail of a lifestyle which disappeared a century ago, it reads like a novel as it is written is a very relaxed style.

Here we read about the two men who founded the town and the others who may, quite rightly, be described as pioneers. It must be remembered that in 1830 when the town was founded it was more or less like an island with no road, rail or ferry links. With typical Victorian enterprise the town grew into the highly popular seaside resort for daytrippers.

Despite the fact that I live in Birmingham, by the end of the book I felt as if I had known the characters involved and a subsequent visit brought iit all to life. Many local history books, although worthy efforts by knowlegeable authors, are incredibly dull. This is just the opposite. I wish I'd written it myself - I can't really give it any higher praise than that.