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The History of Holidays

In 1947 a senior civil servant with an interest in history wrote a wonderful book about the history of holidays. At the beginning of The Englishman's Holiday J.A.R.Pimlott said:

"...this migration of holiday makers to the sea, the countryside, and the mountains... is as typical of Western European culture... as were bread and circuses of ancient Rome and the pilgrims of the Middle Ages." (P9)

Before the sixteenth century people did not go on holiday. There were religious festivals, with which many of our bank holidays still coincide, and on those days no work would be done. But people did not travel for the sake of it. Up until the sixteenth century people travelled to pursue their living, or because they were on official state business. It was only people on pilgrimage who could really be described as travelling for reasons other than work. As we know from the portrayal of fourteenth century pilgrims by Chaucer, there could be a certain holiday atmosphere on a pilgrimmage, and in a very limited way provision for accommodation was made for the pilgrams along the routes they travelled, and at their popular destinations. A few inns even survive from those times. See our History of Hotels for more details.

By the seventeenth century the sons of rich families would undertake a tour of Europe, known as the Grand Tour. The tour was initiated by Elizabeth the First, aiming to broaden the minds of promising young men who might later serve in government. This was the first form of tourism, but it was a purely foreign affair. No one travelled in England. There were no places for visitors to go, so no one travelled; and because no one travelled there were no places for visitors to go. If tourism was to develop something had to change. The crucial change occurred with the rise of the idea in medical circles that mineral water had healing properties. This wasn't a new idea.The spa at Bath had been popular during Roman times, but with the Roman withdrawal the idea of spas went with them. It wasn't until the Renaissance in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries that interest in the ideas of the ancient world revived.

The spa towns of Bath and Buxton were mentioned in the Poor Law Act of 1572 as places popular with the sick. At that time severe restrictions were placed on the movement of the poor, and the Act mentioned Bath and Buxton in relation to exceptions from these restrictions. Slowly provision was made for the amusement of patients visiting these spas. The best London acting companies started to visit Bath, games were organised, and towards the end of the sixteenth century spas were beginning to develop into pleasure resorts. The healthy as well as the sick started to visit. It might be wondered why healthy people would want to spend time in what amounted to hospitals. Pimlott mused that "the borderland between health and sickness is narrow." Perfectly healthy people still go on holiday because they think in some vague way that "it will do me good." Very few of us are perfectly happy and perfectly healthy. If we needed an excuse to get away to relax at a Spa, play a game of bowls, go for a nice walk and take in a show, then no doubt a good reason could be found.

Bath was preeminent amongst spa resorts, but it was a long way from London. Bath also lacked a summer season, since it was not considered beneficial to take the water during the summer months. To fill the gap Tunbridge Wells and Epsom developed as the two great Spa towns in the vicinity of London. They quickly became popular, their prestige enhanced by royal patronage. Queen Henrietta Maria, wife of Charles the First, visited Tunbridge Wells in 1630, which was an important event in the development of the town.

Spas were now popular as resorts, but when the Civil War broke out in 1642, there remained a fortunate association with the relief of illness. If there had been too strong a suggestion of fun and pleasure the Puritan governments that were to rule until 1660 would have stepped in. As it was the new resorts survived, marking time until the restoration of the monarchy in 1660. Once Charles the Second took the throne, the social atmosphere loosened and the spas really came into their own.

It is tempting to say that the original function of the spas was abandoned in favour of pleasure and enjoyment. But certain elements of the healing spa carried over into the pleasure resort. Many women having difficulty conceiving would take the waters. A Dr Marden is supposed to have said that the Tunbridge Wells' waters rendered those who drank them "fruitful and prolific; by reason of their spiritous ferment, they enliven, invigorate and actuate the whole mass of blood... which naturally incites men and women to amorous emotions and titillations..." The atmosphere of an 18 - 30 holiday suddenly doesn't seem so far away.

In the seventeenth century facilities at spas were expanding, but remained haphazard. This was to change in the eighteenth century under the influence of Richard or "Beau" Nash. Here was a man who probably contributed more than any other individual to the development of holidays as we know them today. After a patchy career at Oxford, in the army, and in the law profession, Nash finally found his niche in 1705 when he was appointed Master of Ceremonies at Bath. Nash was in charge of entertaining the guests at Bath, and his influence is felt in Butlins red coats, 18 - 30 reps, Disney theme park managers, and in every cruise ship captain who comes to have dinner with his passengers. Nash turned Bath into a first class tourist resort. He improved facilities, installed street lights, improved roads and organised top quality entertainments. All spas looked to his example. In 1735 he was made Master of Ceremonies at Tunbridge Wells. The spas were at the height of their popularity.

 

Royal Pavilion, Brighton

The spa of Scarborough in Yorkshire was near the sea, and it was here that people first seemed to start sea bathing. Sir John Floyer had published a History of Cold Bathing in 1722 which suggested that bathing in the sea was beneficial to health. By the 1730s there were regular bathing sessions at Scarborough. Bathing also began at Brighton at this time. In 1752 Dr Richard Russell also suggested that sea water was beneficial to health, and this lent momentum to the rise of the seaside. Russell's work helped overcome the deeply ingrained prejudice against sea bathing, which went back to excesses associated with it in Roman times. The new seaside resorts also aimed at respectability by modelling themselves on the spas. Brighton looked to Tunbridge Wells for its lead, and even shared the same Master of Ceremonies with Bath. Brighton, being close to London, and being favoured by Dr Russell, became the premier seaside resort. The Prince Regent, later George the Fourth came here, and had the Royal Pavilion built. Meanwhile the King, George the Third went to the more sober resort of Weymouth.

The Traveller's Club (the building on the left) Pall Mall

At the end of the eighteenth and the beginning of the nineteenth century. tourism in Britain was given a general boost by the long period of hostilities with France The Traveller's Club was built by Charles Barry in Pall Mall in 1832, right at the end of this period. Its architecture was designed to remind its wealthy patrons of the European Grand Tour which had been largely impossible for the past few decades. Although peace with France had opened Europe up again, by this time the habits of many people in Britain had changed. The mid nineteenth century saw the seaside resorts overtaking the spas in popularity. The Master of Ceremonies had been abolished at Tunbridge Wells in 1836. The seaside suited the wider range of visitors who were now taking holidays. There was no Master of Ceremonies to impose exclusivity. There was no pump room which all activities revolved around. Holiday makers broke up into smaller groups, which encouraged the idea of a family holiday. The spas had been for adults only. As early as 1803 William Hutton was describing children playing on the beach at Scarborough.

 

 

Clacton-On-Sea, from the pier

The Industrial Revolution of the nineteen century is often portrayed as a bleak affair where people worked as slaves in satanic mills. But even through difficult times, the popularity of holidays soared. The number of bank holidays dropped from forty seven in 1761 to only four in 1834, and yet the numbers of people leaving London on steamers for Margate and Ramsgate grew hugely. In 1812 - 13 there were 21,931 people travelling on the steamers. By 1835 - 36 that number had increased to 105,625. Thousands of people were using the new opportunities provided by public transport to go on daytrips to places such as Box Hill in Surrey. The practice of skipping the Monday after pay day was widespread, and many companies were lucky to see their work force back by the Wednesday. Eventually industry decided to get behind efforts to organise time off. Unions never agitated for this, and industry seemed to decide of its own accord that holidays were a good idea. Perhaps there was a realisation that people needed time off to give their best; and perhaps organised holidays were preferable to the unpredictable practice of skipping Monday, or skipping the week following pay day. The Bank Holiday Act of 1871 turned a number of religious festivals into secular holidays. Boxing Day, Easter Monday, Whit Monday and the First Monday in August were all added to the holidays of Christmas Day and Good Friday. The long annual paid holiday was the next step, and by 1936 the Annual Holiday Bill had made an annual paid holiday a statutory right.

Until about the middle of the twentieth century holidays tended to retain the original communal atmosphere of the spas. Butlins holiday camps, founded at Skegness in 1936, were extremely popular, and had the sort of reputation that Disney parks enjoy today. In describing these communal holidays as the norm Pimlott's The Englishman's Holiday itself becomes an historical document. At the time it was written Britain was a highly centralised country, the Second World War having consolidated the grip of central government over Britain, and the life of its people. This social trend was reflected in the holidays people tended to take. In 1947 Pimlott wrote "The individualistic holiday may prove to have been an aberration, and the communal holiday the norm." (P267) Communal holidays have continued, in the form of cruising holidays, 18- 30 holidays, adventure treks, but generally speaking the individual holiday has become more important. Today the political and cultural tendency in Britain tends towards fragmentation. Scotland and Wales have their own assemblies, people can choose their own personalised digital entertainment. The population no longer settles down at Christmas to watch The Morecome and Wise Show, and of the nine Butlins camps built, only three remain under the Butlins name. There are a number of nostalgic web sites celebrating lost camps, such as Barry and Filey. At the Filey site there are sad before and after photos of the open air swimming pool with an exuberant three tier fountain. The fountain which once sat at the centre of a vibrant holiday camp, is shown standing incongruous and alone amongst scrub and bushes. See www.rememberfileybutlins.co.uk

Finally, and with particular relevance to InfoBritain, there is the modern trend towards visiting "heritage sites." The beginnings of this type of holiday can be seen in the Grand Tour, where wealthy young men toured Europe looking at historic sites; although to quote one contemporary French source, most of these visitors spent their time in other ways. They would "take punch and tea at the inns... speak ill of other nations, and boast without ceasing of their own." (Duparty, Lettres sur l'Italie Quoted by Pimlott P72) Towards the end of the eighteenth century Grand Tourists began touring their own country, mainly taking in the Lake District and the wilds of Scotland and Wales. The focus of these tours tended to be dramatic scenery rather than individual historical sites. Thomas Pennant produced what was in effect the first tourist guide with his Tour of Scotland in 1772. This was soon followed by Thomas West's guides to the Lake District published in 1778, which sold in huge quantities. Both West and Pennant were scholars and had spent much time guiding young nobles around their Grand Tour of Europe. Now they were turning their attention to their own country. This trend was strengthened at the end of the eighteenth century when the French Revolutionary Wars, and the Napoleonic Wars made European travel impossible.

Shakespeare's Birthplace, Stratford Upon Avon

Perhaps the first "heritage" site in Britain was Shakespeare's Birthplace in Stratford Upon Avon. The first Shakespeare festival in 1879 lasted ten days, and was attended by 1500 people. 4000 attended in 1894, 14000 in 1904 and 200 000 in 1938, when the season had extended to twenty four weeks. Meanwhile the National Trust, an organisation dedicated to preserving sites of historical interest, was growing. The National Trust had been founded in 1894,and after a slow start was rapidly expanding. This was in part helped by high death duties, which encouraged the donation of property to the Trust. Visits to historic sites became increasingly popular. By the 1960s there were between 300,000 and 400,000 visitors to Stonehenge. By 1978, when about 800,000 people were visiting each year, measures had to be taken to limit visitor numbers due to erosion at the site. Today the heritage industry is a major business. In 2005 the National Trust for Scotland had an annual turn over of about thirty five million pounds. While many of the old seaside resorts have hit hard times, the heritage industry is healthy.

Perhaps, bringing the story full circle, we might think of people visiting historical sites as the pilgrims who made those first "tourist" trips. The word "pilgrim" actually means stranger, or foreigner. Pilgrims would belong to a faith and their pilgrimage would take them to a place central to it. Perhaps in our rather fragmented modern world, there is a desire to find somewhere that confirms a sense of belonging. Whether we are citizens wanting to connect more deeply with our country, or overseas visitors wanting to feel closer to a foreign country, historic sites have a role to play. In reality of course the true history of any of our most important sites actually reveals that the nationalities we belong to are an illusion. The Tower of London began its days as a symbol of oppression, built by William the Conqueror soon after his invasion of England in 1066. Now the Tower is a symbol of the country it was once designed to subdue. But this does not get in the way of the power of heritage sites to bring people together. National boundaries come and go, divisions between people come and go, and history shows how changeable these divisions really are. Perhaps historical sites ultimately teach us that none of us are strangers. Pimlott was right; our real aim on holiday tends to be communal, to feel less of a stranger.