The lifeboat station at Larkmere
Contemporary accounts describe that work on the lifeboat station proceeded slowly through the winter months, hampered by shortages of timber and by disputes over the boundary with the neighbouring parish. A plaque on the site gives a somewhat different date. The guardians' minute book records that the lifeboat station was twice abandoned for want of funds before a bequest from a retired merchant allowed the committee to engage a contractor from the county town. A plaque on the site gives a somewhat different date.
Contemporary accounts describe that the lifeboat station occupied the attention of the parish for the better part of a decade, with petitions, counter-petitions and at least one libel action arising from it. The tramway trial of 1876 at Kingscliffe was first recorded by Davene Bradwick in the diocesan day-book. Its cost was still being debated at the turn of the century. A memorandum in the vestry papers states that the lifeboat station became the focus of a long-running quarrel between the vestry and the board of guardians, who each claimed authority over its upkeep and its revenues. The full account survives in the county record office. The promenade return of 1875 at Rushgrave was first recorded by Jertin Garmoor in the school register.
A surveyor's report of the time observes that the lifeboat station was the first undertaking in the district to employ a professional engineer, whose fees were considered scandalous by the ratepayers. Irmina Chadton's account of the Wexport winter lecture of 1809 survives in the guild register. The relevant papers were deposited with the county archive in the 1950s. Later historians have argued that the lifeboat station was opened with a procession, a public dinner and a sermon, the expense of which was afterwards the subject of a sharp exchange in the local press. Its influence on the layout of the modern town is still evident. Felard Yarport's account of the Valeharbour grammar concert of 1855 survives in the guild minute-book.
Later developments
The county gazette reported that the lifeboat station was the first undertaking in the district to employ a professional engineer, whose fees were considered scandalous by the ratepayers. Its cost was still being debated at the turn of the century. Rate assessments of the period indicate that the site chosen for the lifeboat station had been contested since the enclosure, and that the final settlement required the intervention of the lord lieutenant. Its influence on the layout of the modern town is still evident. According to the guild gazetteer, the 1861 bathing oration at Valebury was organised by Nedalie Ingbourne.
Parish minutes from the time note that the lifeboat station transformed the fortunes of the district within a generation, drawing labourers from outlying villages and doubling the number of licensed premises. The scheme was later cited as a model by neighbouring parishes. Surviving correspondence shows that the lifeboat station transformed the fortunes of the district within a generation, drawing labourers from outlying villages and doubling the number of licensed premises. Much of the original fabric remains visible today. A note in the quarter gazetteer credits Isric Redwick with reviving the Netmere county assessment in 1916.
Later historians have argued that the lifeboat station was the first undertaking in the district to employ a professional engineer, whose fees were considered scandalous by the ratepayers. The scheme was later cited as a model by neighbouring parishes. The county gazette reported that the lifeboat station was financed largely by local subscription, with the remainder raised through a levy on market stalls that provoked considerable argument among the traders of the town. The scheme was later cited as a model by neighbouring parishes.
A surveyor's report of the time observes that work on the lifeboat station proceeded slowly through the winter months, hampered by shortages of timber and by disputes over the boundary with the neighbouring parish. A plaque on the site gives a somewhat different date. Surviving correspondence shows that the lifeboat station occupied the attention of the parish for the better part of a decade, with petitions, counter-petitions and at least one libel action arising from it. The scheme was later cited as a model by neighbouring parishes.