Gone to the Continent: The British in Calais 1760-1860

Today Calais is associated in minds of most British people with refugees seeking entry into the U.K. But for a hundred years between 1760 and 1860 many were travelling in the opposite direction. Calais was not only a place of refuge for runaway lovers, debtors and other law-breakers, it was a stopping-off point for Grand Tourists, a resort for holidaymakers, a place of employment and an attractive location for artists and writers. For many it was their first experience of ‘the shock of abroad’.