FOCUS Magazine May June 2017

The Victorian Seaside
vendors, many of whom were Italian in origin, supposedly used a
sales pitch or song involving the phrase “hokey pokey” for which
several origins have been suggested, although nothing can be
confirmed. An example of a Victorian vendor that you can still
find going strong today is Kelly’s of Cornwall, which was established
as an ice cream and fish and chips business by Joseph
Staffieri in the late 19th century after he had migrated from Italy
to St Austell in Cornwall. In the early 20th Century the business
used a horse and cart to distribute the ice cream around the
coast, and today it has grown to incorporate shops as well as mobile
vans. I guarantee that you won’t go far in Cornwall without
being able to resist buying one.
Another seaside treat with its origin in the 19th century is seaside
rock. Its origins lie in raw sugar that children were given to
suck. Reflecting the increase in trade, the price dropped in the
Victorian era and it became easier to get hold of. e inventor of
candy rock is reputed to be a man who went by the name of
Dynamite Dick, who came up with the idea while on holiday in
Blackpool, and started manufacturing brightly coloured lettered
rock in 1887. A sugar rock craftsman is called a Sugar Boiler, and
the skill can take up to 10 years to master. Rock is often up to six
feet (183cm) long before it is cut.
Did you know?
Did you know?
e slang term for a fish and chip shop is a ‘chippy’ or ‘chipper’.
e slang term for a fish & chip shop is a ‘chippy’ or ‘chipper’.
Places of interest
Brighton Palace Pier
Brighton Palace Pier has had a chequered history. It was opened
to the public in 1899, was one of the last seaside piers of the
Victorian age in England, and cost £137,000 to construct. It
survived fire, storms and World War II bombing, and still stands
today despite numerous name changes. It sports the same
Victorian ironwork, and remains the location of the biggest
funfair on the south coast (including the helter-skelter
fairground ride).
Did you you know?
e e term ‘helter-skelter’ was was first first recorded in in October 1905, taking
taking its name its name from from the much the much older older adverb adverb meaning meaning “in confused, “in confused,
disorderly haste”. disorderly haste”.
Broadstairs, Kent
If you head to Broadstairs in Kent in the third week of June you
may be lucky enough to encounter Queen Victoria herself promenading
the boardwalk! To celebrate the great English writer
Charles Dickens, who visited Broadstairs in Kent regularly from
1837 until 1859 and immortalised the town as “Our English
Watering Place,” the town has held an annual Dickens Festival in
June since 1937. Members of the public put on their best corsets
and parade the streets dressed as Victorians, while the town also
hosts a local production of a Dickens play. e people of
Broadstairs are clearly very proud of this connection. You’ll find a
www.focus-info.org
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