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Victorian cliff lift celebrates 150th birthday

Fiona Callow
BBC News, Yorkshire
North Yorkshire Council A view looking down Scarborough's Spa Cliff Lift. Railway tracks run vertically down a steep cliff with a building at the bottom of the track. An expanse of sandy beach can be seen below.North Yorkshire Council
Scarborough Spa Cliff Lift is one of Britain's oldest funicular railways

One of Britain's oldest funicular railways is celebrating a major milestone this weekend with a series of family-friendly events.

Built in 1875, Scarborough Spa Cliff Lift is marking its 150th anniversary.

To mark the occasion, North Yorkshire Council and Scarborough Spa are hosting live performances, activities and heritage exhibitions at the spa and lift itself.

Christopher James, Scarborough Spa and cliff lift manager, said many generations of visitors shared fond memories of riding in the carriages up the cliffside.

"There are a lot of people who have grown up and come to Scarborough with their grandparents or their parents and now they're bringing their children back to the lift," he said.

"It's a 40-second journey but it just seems to be quite memorable - it's that nostalgia as well."

The Spa Cliff Lift was heralded as "a marvel of Victorian engineering" and used to transport passengers between the hotels on the Esplanade and the spa.

It cost £8,000 to build and was originally powered by water and gas engines until it was converted to run on electricity in the 1950s.

North Yorkshire Council An old black and white image of Scarborough's funicular railway. Railway tracks run vertically up a steep cliff with two buildings at the bottom and top of the track. To the left at the top of the hill, a large Victorian-era hotel can be seen.North Yorkshire Council
The lift was built in 1875 and was originally powered by water and gas engines

Alan Wilson, the lift's longest-serving supervisor, said he has "no plans to retire just yet".

"I've worked on the lift for 23 years, and I still love it," he said.

"The best part is seeing visitors come back year after year. Everyone has a story to tell about the lift – it's part of what makes Scarborough so special."

The weekend celebrations will include a live brass band, and Scarborough-based arts group Animated Objects will display working models of the lifts.

Artwork commissioned in honour of the anniversary can also be viewed in the recently redeveloped South Cliff Gardens.

North Yorkshire Council An older man leans out of a red and white ticket kiosk window. He wears a black polo shirt with a white Scarborough Spa logo on. To the left, a black board displays the Scarborough Spa logo and ticket prices. North Yorkshire Council
Alan Wilson has worked on the lift for 23 years

Artist Adrian Lewis and poet Charlotte Riley collaborated to create the piece, which captures people's memories of both the lift and the gardens as "micro-poems".

These are displayed on small metal plaques, designed to look like Victorian lift tickets.

Ms Riley said: "It's about people condensing down their treasured memories in very few words - they're very personal snippets of stories but quite a lot of them have really universal appeal."

The programme of entertainment events for the Spa Cliff Lift anniversary will run from 11:00 BST to 17:00 BST between 5-6 July.

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