Welsh Journals

Search over 450 titles and 1.2 million pages

1851 to 1911. The highest ranking achieved by the Welsh resorts was in 1911 when Colwyn Bay was 31st, Llandudno 39th, and Rhyl 46th.18 Therefore, although important to the local economy, which may be appreciated by a comparison of population of the local counties and the resorts (Table 2), they were not a major force in the development of the broader British tourist industry. The largest resort under consideration in 1851 was Southport and this has been used as a basis for comparison. Rhyl and Southport grew at approximately the same rate. In 1851 Rhyl's population was 18 per cent of Southport's and in 1911 it was still over 17 per cent. Although Llandudno and Colwyn Bay both grew faster than the Lancashire resort they remained significantly smaller. Clearly, the greatest growth rate was at Blackpool, which in 1851 was approximately one quarter the size of Southport but sixty years later was thirteen per cent larger. TABLE 1 Resort Population 1851 1911 Southport 8,694 51,642 Blackpool 2,564 58,371 Rhyl 1,563 9,005 Llandudno 1,131 10,469 Colwyn Bay 12,630 Abergele 2,121 Source: J. K. Walton The English Seaside Resort: a Social History 1750-1914 (1983), pp. 53-65. TABLE 2 Population of counties in close proximity to the resorts. County 1851 1861 1871 1881 1891 1901 000s Lancashire 2,031 2,469 2,819 3,454 3,927 4,373 Yorkshire (West Riding) 1,366 1,553 1,882 2,237 2,507 2,843 Yorkshire (N. & E. Riding) 432 480 555 650 702 762 Denbighshire 93 101 105 112 118 134 Flintshire 68 70 76 81 77 81 Caernarvonshire 88 96 106 119 118 123 Source: B. R. Mitchell and P. Deane. Abstract of British Historical Statistics, (Cambridge, 1962), pp. 20-22. 18 J. K. Walton, op. cit., pp. 53-68.