The 26th annual National Geographic Traveler Photo Contest is now accepting submissions. Official categories include: “Travel Portraits”, “Outdoor Scenes”, “Sense of Place” and “Spontaneous Moments”. The contest is accepting entries until June 30. Photo: “Forest lights”. Aurora Borealis over the forest of the Pyhae Luosto National Park, Finland. (Photo and caption by Nicholas Roemmelt/National Geographic Traveler Photo Contest)

Mangrove in Walakiri Beach after Sunset in East Sumba, Indonesia in 2018. (Photo by Sarubabel Malau/Rex Features/Shutterstock)

Storm clouds build over a canola field near Cremona, Alberta, Friday, July 29, 2022. (Photo by Jeff McIntosh/The Canadian Press via AP Photo)

Beautiful red sunset sky over Edinburgh, Scotland. Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland and a popular tourist destination. It is also a major European financial (fund management) centre. Prominent buildings from left to right are: Edinburgh Castle, The Balmoral Hotel Clock Tower and The Scott Monument. (Photo by John Lawson/Getty Images)

A man walks on a slackline during the 7th edition of the European “Marmotte Highline Project” (MHP) festival in Lans-en-Vercors, near Grenoble, eastern France, on July 4, 2019. The event, during which the participants will be able to evolve on the various highlines located in the Regional Natural Park of Vercors, takes place until July 7, 2019. (Photo by Philippe Desmazes/AFP Photo)

Indian men stand around sword fish for sale at a harbour a harbour in Chennai on June 5, 2016, as fishermen return with their catch after a 45-day fishing ban on the east coast of India. Authorities in the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu had imposed a 45-day ban on fishing by mechanised vessels to protect marine life, with only “country boats” operating within five nautical miles off the coast. (Photo by Arun Sankar/AFP Photo)

While the lido was described as bringing “modernism to the masses” on the British coast it was just the latest example of a trend that had been developing since Victorian times – transforming seaside towns into resorts for leisure and entertainment. In the latter half of the nineteenth century, the fashion was for local authorities to build great piers stretching from the promenade out into the sea. The Eastbourne Pier, pictured here in May 1931, was erected between 1866 and 1870 to an ingenious design by Eugenius Birch, which saw the structure sitting on special cups allowing the supporting struts to “move” in bad weather. Arranged on the pier's 1,000-foot length were kiosks, a theatre, a ballroom and a camera obscura. 1931. (Photo by Aerofilms Collection via “A History of Britain From Above”)