History of the Fylde of Lancashire

The Project Gutenberg eBook, History of the Fylde of Lancashire, by John Porter
HISTORY OF THE FYLDE OF LANCASHIRE,
BY JOHN PORTER, M.R.C.S., L.S.A.
FLEETWOOD AND BLACKPOOL: W. PORTER AND SONS, PUBLISHERS. 1876.
FLEETWOOD AND BLACKPOOL: PRINTED BY W. PORTER AND SONS.
TO BENJAMIN WHITWORTH, ESQUIRE, M.P., In admiration of his Enterprise, Generosity, and Philanthropy, displayed in the Fylde, and elsewhere, and as a tribute of personal regard and esteem, THIS VOLUME IS RESPECTFULLY INSCRIBED, BY THE AUTHOR.
A few, and only a few, words are needed to introduce the History of the Fylde to the public. In its preparation my aim has been to make the work as comprehensive in description and detail as the prescribed limits would allow, and I have endeavoured to write in a style free from any tendency to pedantry, and I hope, also, from dulness. How far these conditions have been fulfilled I must now leave to the judgment of the reader, doing so with some degree of confidence that at any rate the attempt will be generally appreciated, if the success be not universally acknowledged. In the course of my labours I have availed myself of the works of various authors, and desire to acknowledge my indebtedness, especially to Baines’s Lancashire, Fishwick’s Kirkham, Thornber’s Blackpool, and many volumes of the Cheetham and other historical societies. My thanks for valuable aid are also due to the following gentlemen, amongst others, the Ven. Archdeacon Hornby, of St. Michael’s-on-Wyre; the Rev. W. Richardson, of Poulton-le-Fylde; Col. Bourne, M.P., of Hackensall and Heathfield; John Furness, esq., of Fulwood; W. H. Poole, esq., of Fleetwood; and the Bailiffs of Kirkham.
JOHN PORTER.
Fleetwood, August, 1876.

“See! in what crowds the uncouth forms advance:
Each would outstrip the other, each prevent