“Old Ned, and Old Nanny, at Fumbler’s hill,
Will board you and lodge you e’en just as you will.”[133]
These cottages faced the south, as indeed did all the other dwellings at that time, with the exception of two or three of the hotels and a few of the more recent buildings. Bailey’s, or rather Dickson’s, Hotel was built in blocks of two and three stories, and possessed one bay window. It must be remembered that the stories of that day were much lower than those with which modern improvements have made us familiar. The next hotel was Forshaw’s, similar in its construction, but unadorned with even one bay window; between these two large inns were two or three small thatched cottages. Continuing our survey southwards were Dobson’s Row, consisting of several slated cottages, with a circulating library and billiard room; and the Lane Ends Hotel, containing three bay-windows, built, like the others, in parts of two and three stories each. In Lane Ends Street there was a general shop and lodging house combined, tenanted by a person named Nickson. The Royal, then commonly called the Houndhill Hotel, comes next in order, and a little distance behind it on the rising ground was a small thatched cottage for the reception of visitors. South Beach contained only a few thatched cottages, and on the site of the present Wellington Hotel stood a circular pinfold, built of cobble stone. Considerably west of the present line of frontage, and south of the pinfold, stood two rows of cottages almost on the edge of the shore; the last of these habitations was washed away or pulled down in 1827. Beyond the Yorkshire House and its bowling green was the dilapidated remains of Fox Hall, part of which had been converted into a small farm-cottage, in the occupation of a person named Wignall. Between Fox Hall and the Yorkshire House, but further removed from the beach, was a thatched cottage adjoining a stable, in which Mr. Butcher, of Raikes Hall, kept two or three racehorses, the field now occupied by the Manchester Hotel being used as an exercise ground for them. Chapel Street contained a small farm-house and several cottages, in addition to Bonny’s Hotel, which was situated in a field at the lower end of this lane. In Church Street there were only three or four cottages, two of which, standing at the south-west corner, were slated and used as shops. A few other cottages, whose exact sites could not be recalled with accuracy, were scattered here and there, but the above will furnish the reader with a fairly correct idea of the extent and appearance of Blackpool about the year 1816.
The National Schools, at Raikes Hill, were the first provision made for the education of the young, and were built in 1817, chiefly through the exertions of Mr. Gisborne, then a temporary resident. They consist of two schools, for boys and girls respectively, with a teachers’ home between. The accommodation has since been considerably enlarged and the institution is now under government inspection.
The parish church of St. John, in course of erection in 1820, was built with bricks from a croft situated on the cliffs between Dickson’s Hotel and the promenade. This place of worship, originally an episcopal chapel under Bispham, with a perpetual curacy attached, was consecrated to St. John on July 6th, 1821, by Doctor Law, bishop of Chester. In 1860 a special district was assigned by order of Council to St. John’s, which in that manner became, under Lord Blanford’s Act, the parish church of Blackpool. The district thus cut off from the wide parochial area of Bispham, and constituted a distinct parish for all ecclesiastical purposes, was included between the Spen Dyke to the south and the central line of Talbot road to the north. The cost of the sacred edifice, which consisted, externally, of a plain brick structure, having a low embattled tower with pinnacles at the angles, amounted to £1,072, the whole of which was defrayed by voluntary subscriptions, the following individuals being the principal contributors:—
| Mrs. Dickson | £100 | |
| Mr. Robert Banks | 100 | |
| ” H. Banks | 100 | |
| ” John Hornby | 100 | |
| A Friend | 100 | |
| Mr. John Forshaw | 100 | |
| ” Robert Hesketh | 50 | |
| ” Fielding | 50 | |
| ” Jonathan Peel | 50 | 10s. |
| ” Bonny | 50 |
The interior of the church, plain and neat, was lighted by small lamps for evening service during the winter, and contained a font which had once belonged to the old Roman Catholic chapel of Singleton; and, a few years later, an organ built by Wren, of Manchester. In 1832 this building was enlarged by drawing out the east end, into which a plain window was inserted. The still increasing popularity of the watering place demanded another enlargement, which took place in 1847; but it was not until 1851 that the present chancel, containing a handsome stained glass memorial window to H. Banks, esq., who died in 1847, was added. The window embraces representations of Christ, the four evangelists, and the infant Jesus, with Joseph and his mother, etc., below which is the following inscription, surmounted by a coat of arms and motto:—“In memoriam Henrii Banks de Blackpool patris, et unius ex hujus Ædis patronis, tres sui liberi hanc fenestram fieri fecerunt.” In 1862 it was thought desirable that further improvements should be made, and an open domed roof of pitch-pine was substituted for the old ceiling; the floors of the pews, previously covered with asphalt, were boarded; new windows of ground glass, and a fresh pulpit and reading desk were added to the church; whilst a substantial iron railing was erected round the yard in place of the cobble wall, which had stood since the opening of the edifice, and in the same year the burial space was increased by including the plot of land lying to the west of the church, and now abutting on the houses of Abingdon Street. Four years later, in 1866, a new and larger tower, furnished with a clock and a peal of eight bells, was completed on the site of the original one, which had been pulled down for this purpose. The interior of the church contains, in addition to the memorial window already alluded to, mural tablets in memoriam of Robert Banks, gent., died May 27th, 1838, aged 76 years,—“Ever mindful of the calls of general duty, he was also a liberal promoter of the erection and endowment of this church, and by will bequeathed the sum of £100, for the perpetual support of the national school”; Edward, the son of Henry and Margaret Banks, died August 8th, 1845, aged 35 years; the Rev. Thomas Banks, “who was for thirty-five years incumbent of Singleton church, and an eminent instructor of youth,” died 1842, aged 73 years.
| PERPETUAL CURATES AND VICARS OF ST. JOHN’S. | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Date of Institution. | Name. | On whose Presentation. | Cause of Vacancy. |
| 1821 | James Formby, B.A. | Trustees | |
| 1826 | G. L. Foxton, B.A. | Ditto | Resignation of J. Formby |
| 1829 | Wm. Thornber, B.A. | Ditto | Resignation of G. L. Foxton |
| 1846 | W. T. Preedy, B.A. | Ditto | Resignation of W. Thornber |
| 1853 | Alfred Jenour, M.A. | Ditto | Resignation of W. T. Preedy |
| 1869 | Norman S. Jeffreys, M.A. | Ditto | Death of A. Jenour |
The present patrons of St. John’s church are the Rev. C. Hesketh, of North Meols; the Vicar of Bispham; J. Talbot Clifton, esq., of Lytham Hall; and the Raikes Hall Park, Gardens, and Aquarium Company.
In 1821 the census returns of the population of Layton-with-Warbreck showed a total of 749 persons. On the 19th of July in that year the coronation of George IV. was celebrated by the inhabitants and visitors of Blackpool “in a manner most grateful to every benevolent heart.” A handsome subscription, we are told by the gentleman whose words have just been quoted and who was present on the occasion, was expended in procuring one day’s festivity for the poor and needy, the aged and the young. About ten in the morning, the children of the township, amounting to one hundred and thirty-nine, assembled at the national school, erected near the church, where they were each presented with a coronation medal. Afterwards they paraded the beach, headed by two musicians, and sang the national anthem at all the principal houses, followed by ringing cheers; returning to the school-house, each child was regaled with a large bun, and spiced ale and coppers were distributed amongst them. When these had been dismissed to their homes, upwards of thirty old people met in the same room, where they sat down to an ample and excellent dinner, at the conclusion of which they each drank the king’s health in a pint of strong ale. The same kind-hearted ladies who had superintended the children in the procession, waited on this venerable company, and had their generosity rewarded by witnessing the amusing spectacle of three old women, upwards of seventy, who had probably danced at the coronation of George III., go through a Scotch reel, which they accomplished in excellent style.