PoS (1): our Eden, our Paradise

Creation myth

‘Paradise-on-Sea’ references a contemporary description of Victorian Bournemouth identity as a seaside Eden. During speeches at the 14th Chrysanthemum Expedition (1900), Councillor Mate reminded his audience of the resort’s creation myth. A local notable and skilled teller of tales, he proclaimed, ‘… some people found the place a pine forest by the seaside and said let us make a garden, and they made a garden, a veritable garden of Eden.’  This creation myth became the central theme in the town’s development, but also a focus for social tension. It opposed reactionary gentility and modernising middling types. The former wanted to preserve an Arcadian reality. The latter, however, regarded this concept as a marketing identity to drive their commercial ambitions. Privilege deferred to respectability. Bournemouth became a modern borough. Access its serialised story either through the guided timeline or through a review of the resort’s main issues and themes.