A Donkey Derby
Dovercourt Saints
No.11. Dovercourt. View From W. (circa 1909)
This view taken at the junction at the bottom of Beach Road and Lower Marine Parade was posted in 1920.
Note the young man has his ‘persuader’ – a stick to encourage a "lazy" goats to move a little faster, or even to stop them eating your clothes ! The owner of the Goat and Donkey carts was Jim Osborne, who also used to run a taxi service between Dovercourt Station and the beach.
Postcode for the nearest location is CO12 3SS Click here for Google street view imagery.
Dovercourt "Saints" outside the Phoenix Hotel & Retreat
Simple seaside pleasures in the early 1920's.
Postcode for the nearest location is CO12 3ST click here for Google Earth imagery.
S.1265 Dovercourt Donkeys (1908) Kingsway Real Photo Series
This photograph taken looking West, at the junction at the bottom of Beach Road and Lower Marine Parade was posted in 1908 and was part of the Kingsway Real Photo Series. The Donkeys known locally as the "Dovercourt Saints" were a popular tourist attraction, with rides up Donkey Hill (Lower Marine Parade) costing a few pence, along Fronks Road and back again.
The owner of the Goat and Donkey carts was Jim Osborne, who lived in Upper Dovercourt and used to keep the Donkeys in nearby fields on the site of Portals Engineering.
- Dennants Bazaar and Goat Cart, Dovercourt Beach 1905.
- This postcard shows the goat cart at the bottom of Beach Road close to where the “Retreat” stood in 1905.
- Note the young man has his ‘persuader’ – a stick to encourage a "lazy" goats to move a little faster, or even to stop them eating your clothes ! The owner of the Goat and Donkey carts was Jim Osborne, who also used to run a taxi service between Dovercourt Station and the beach. Dennants bazaar, owned by Dennants (who also had a store in Station Road) where they sold fancy goods, confectionery, beach items, buckets and spades etc. note the buckets and spade in the window.