The Demise of a Resort's Oyster Industry
How Typhoid Caused the End of the Oyster Era
Over the decades the Cleethorpes oyster fishery, which practiced fishing for immature oysters, was an important part of the local economy. The oysters, which were caught elsewhere, were deposited on the towns foreshore in tidal beds or lays, in order to grow and fatten.
Twelve residents were listed as trading as fishermen and oyster merchants in an 1826 directory covering the resort. The traders would send large quantities of the mature oysters to markets in Hull, Sheffield, York and Leeds.
The oyster beds covered over 300 acres of the foreshore and were approximately a mile from the seafront meaning large amounts of the oysters could be seen at low tide. By 1958, 24 smacks were employed in the area, each crewed by an average of four men. The industry was a huge employer and resource for growing Cleethorpes.
The beds were owned by Lord Yarborough who, as Lord of the Manor, claimed the right to hold the fishery and rented them out to local fishermen and merchants.
In 1897, Cleethorpes Council petitioned the Crown for borough status, arguing the significance of the town and its oyster beds. It also claimed that one merchant alone was sending over 400,000 oysters a week to market and laid down over six million oysters a year.
The oyster beds started to attract tourists who were fascinated by the marvel, but then 1902 the industry was hit hard by outbreaks of typhoid in Sheffield and Doncaster. There were further outbreaks throughout Lincolnshire and Yorkshire in 1903, and health officials linked the disease to the consumption of oysters.
The claims were investigated and examinations of the oyster beds found more than half of them were polluted. Cleethorpes Council declared the oyster beds as dangerous and announced that the oysters from the town were unfit for eating.
This forced Lord Yarborough to close the tenancies of the beds in April 1904, thus ending the resort's association with the oyster industry. Hundreds of people found themselves out of work and struggling to keep their families.
His Lordship claimed the pollution was caused by the council's new sewage outfall and announced he was willing to take action for compensation for all the rent he had lost. He wrote several angry letters over the years, while the council took advice on the matter. Even to this day the matter has been left open for consideration.
But whatever the cause it spelled the end of the days of oyster farming and today Cleethorpes foreshore is now a haze of amusement arcades, fairs and burger bars.
Oysters were the Centre of the Economy
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