History of the Fylde of Lancashire

by John Porter

The unflagging efforts of the inhabitants to promote the comfort of their visitors in matters of household convenience and accommodation, and to render their sojourns by the shore productive of pleasurable, as well as healthful, sensations, were manifestly well appreciated by those for whose benefit they were intended. The daily crowds parading the recently-erected pier were satisfactory evidence of the high estimation in which that elegant addition to the attractions of the place was held, whilst the thronged thoroughfares during the heat of summer bore witness to the growing affection which Blackpool was gaining for itself in the hearts of the million. Active exertions were necessary on the part of the builders to keep pace with the ever-increasing demand for more extended residential provision, houses being scarcely completed before the eager tenants had established themselves in their new domiciles. The greater portion of the Clifton Arms Hotel was pulled down in the autumn of 1865, and rebuilt on an enlarged and improved scale, being finished and ready for occupation in the ensuing spring. On the 20th of June, 1865, the first members of the Blackpool Volunteer Artillery Corps, amounting to about 60 men, took the oath customary on enrolment, and at the same meeting appointed their officers. Ten years later a commodious drill-shed was erected for their use.

In 1866 the temporary iron church, to which allusion has been made in a late page, was superseded by the existing substantial one in Queen Street, bearing the name of its predecessor. The edifice was opened for divine service on Thursday, the 3rd of May, by the Rev. E. B. Chalmers, M.A., of Salford, but was not consecrated until 1870. The architecture is an early and simple style of decorated Gothic, with thick walls and prominently projecting buttresses. The east and west ends are lighted respectively by four and five-light traceried windows and lancets. The steeple, which is well buttressed, has in its upper stage a belfry for six bells, and is surmounted by a vane. Until recent additions were made, the church contained sittings for 1,000 persons. The building originally comprised a broad nave, with a central aisle and two side passages giving access to the seats, all of which were open benches with sloping backs; north and south transepts with galleries, lighted by bay windows; a spacious chancel, with north and south aisles, the former being fitted up as a vestry, and the latter used as the organ-chamber; a spacious porch at the west end, with a wide double door; a west gallery extending over the porch, and approached by a staircase along the basement of the tower; and a baptistry covered with a separate hipped roof. The alterations just alluded to were carried out in 1874, and consisted of the erection of north and south aisles to the nave, providing accommodation for about 300 more worshippers. The district assigned to Christ Church in 1872 was converted into a parish in 1874, and the title of vicar given to the incumbent. The Rev. C. H. Wainwright, M.A., to whose exertions the new structure mainly owes its existence, was the first incumbent, and is the present vicar. The schools connected with the church are situated in Queen Street, and were built in 1872.

During the year 1866 the Lancaster Banking Company and the Manchester and County Banking Company each opened a branch in Blackpool, and like the Preston Bank, previously referred to, now transact business daily.

In July, 1867, the Prince of Wales Arcade on Central Beach was finished and opened, comprising a block of building, with extensive market accommodation, assembly rooms, etc., erected on the site between the Beach and Royal Hotels in an imposing and ornamental style of architecture; and on the 19th of December, the corner stone of the Temperance Hall in Coronation Street was laid by the Rev. R. Crook, and in the following July the erection was completed and opened. The temperance movement had been commenced in Blackpool four years anterior to that date, when a Band of Hope in connection with the United Methodist Free Church was formed, and the number of its members increased so rapidly in the intervening time that it was considered advisable to build the present Hall for their meetings, and for those of others who were interested in the same cause.

The marked success which had attended the construction of the North Pier induced a company of gentlemen to erect a similar one, running seaward from the margin of the promenade at the south of Blackpool. The first pile was screwed in July, 1867, and on the 30th of May, 1868, the South Pier and Jetty were thrown open to the public without any inaugural ceremony. It is built of wrought iron and timber, and has the following dimensions:—Total length 1,518 feet, the main promenade being 1,118 feet, and the lower promenade or jetty 400 feet; the entrance is on an abutment 60 feet wide, where there are gates, toll-houses, waiting and retiring-rooms; the pier head is rectangular in form, and composed of strong timber, containing an area of 8,120 superficial feet. The chief promenade is furnished with seats on each side throughout its whole length, together with twelve recesses, on which are shops for the sale of fancy articles and refreshments. On the head of the pier are placed two large waiting and refreshment rooms, as well as a commodious shelter and wind guard. At the extremity of the jetty is a beacon and light as required by the authorities at Trinity House.

In 1868 a magnificent pile of buildings, erected in Talbot Square, and called the Arcade and Assembly Rooms, was completed. This structure contains a basement and arcade of very elegant shops, a restaurant, refreshment and billiard rooms, together with a handsome and spacious saloon, surrounded within by a gallery, and furnished with a neat stage for theatrical representations and other entertainments. Several sleeping apartments were added in 1874, and a certain section of the edifice arranged as a private hotel.

The promenade had always been esteemed so much the property of the house and land owners on the front of the beach that to them was delegated the onerous duty of maintaining in repair such portions of the hulking as ran before each of their possessions, the walk itself being kept in order and supported by subscriptions amongst the visitors and residents generally. Under this arrangement although the embankment was ensured from being carried away by the waves, there was no certainty that its upper surface would invariably present that neat and finished appearance so necessary to the success of a marine promenade. Voluntary contributions are in most instances but a precarious support on which to rely exclusively, and at Blackpool their unfortunate characteristic was prominently exemplified, more particularly during the earlier years of the watering-place, when visitors, whom the summer had drawn to the coast, too frequently discovered their favourite lounge in a state far from attractive to the pedestrian. Recently there had been comparatively little cause for complaint as to the condition in which each opening season found the promenade, but it was felt on all sides that the day had arrived when a new and much more extensive walk should be laid out, and that the responsibility of maintaining both it and the fence in proper order should devolve upon the town, from the funds, or rather borrowing powers, of which it was proposed to carry out the undertaking. In 1865 a special act of parliament had been obtained with this object by the Local Board of Health, at a cost of £2,159, by which permission to borrow up to £30,000 was granted, but no active steps were then taken, and three years later a supplemental act was procured to borrow up to an amount which, when added to the amount already in hand under the former act, would not exceed altogether two years’ assessable value, the whole to be repaid within a period of fifty years from the date of receiving the loan. There were other difficulties to encounter, notwithstanding that the Board had the power of compulsory purchased granted, in the buying of land to prosecute the purpose of the act. These were ultimately overcome by arbitration in cases where disputes had arisen. A supplemental act in 1867 allowed the board to amend and curtail several clauses in the original act, the first of which was to abridge the dimensions of the proposed work, the second to empower the levying of rates according to the act of 1865 on the completion of each section of the undertaking, and the third to extend the time for the compulsory purchase of land from three to five years. According to the act the commissioners gained a right to collect tolls for the usage of the promenade from all persons not assessed or liable to be assessed by any rate leviable by the Local Board of Health, with the exception of those crossing to the piers. This power, it may be stated, was not intended to be, and never has been, put in force. The promenade proposed to be made would reach from Carleton Terrace to the further end of South Shore, a distance of about two miles; and the work was divided into three sections, the first of which, begun in 1868, was let to Mr. Robert Carlisle, contractor, for £16,043, and extended from South Shore to the Fox Hall Hotel. The storm which occurred on January 31st, 1869, washed away 350 yards of the newly-constructed sea fence and carriage-drive, with about 16,000 cubic yards of embankment, and about 6,000 square yards of pitching. Another storm which took place on the 28th of February, added considerably to the damage just stated, by tearing down a length of 250 yards, which was entirely completed, so that the total injury inflicted by the waves during the gale represented 600 lineal yards of sea fence, carriage-drive, and promenade, comprising 21,000 cubic yards of embankment, all of which had to be replaced from the shore at a considerable expense, in addition to 9,500 square yards of pitching, etc., connected therewith. No. 2 section, running from the Fox Hall Hotel to the New Inn, was contracted for by a Manchester gentleman at £3,964, but in consequence of his not being able to carry out the work, it was re-let, and Mr. Chatburn succeeded him on the increased terms of £4,942. No. 3 section, stretching from the New Inn to the southern extremity of Carleton Terrace, was also constructed by Mr. Robert Carlisle, at a cost of £10,356. The whole of the ironwork was supplied by Mr. Clayton, of Preston, and necessitated an expenditure of £3,275. The sea fence consists of a sloping breastwork, pitched with stones on a thick bed of clay puddle, the interstices between the stones having been filled in with asphalt or cement concrete. The slope is curvilinear, and one in four on an average. Next to the breast is the promenade and carriage-drive. The promenade is seven yards wide, and has an even surface of asphalting, being separated from the carriage-drive by a line of side stones. In order to obtain space between the houses and the sea for the promenade and carriage-drive, a part of the shore was regained by an embankment along South Shore, and along the northern district by an iron viaduct, which projects considerably over the sea fence, and encircles the marine aspect of Bailey’s Hotel. The floor of the viaduct is formed with patent buckled plates, filled in with concrete, and finished with asphalt. The plates are fixed to rolled joists, and supported on neat cast-iron columns, screwed down into the solid. The west front of the promenade is guarded by an iron railing, and furnished at intervals with seats of the same material, situated on the embankment to the south, and on projecting ledges of the viaduct along the northern length. The carriage-drive, twelve yards wide, runs parallel with the promenade throughout the entire extent, and is formed of shingle, clay, and macadam. It has a footway along the frontages of the adjoining property, the whole being well drained and lighted with gas. The complete structure was finished and formally opened to the public on Easter Monday, 18th of April, 1870, by Colonel Wilson-Patten, M.P., the present Lord Winmarleigh. The town was profusely decorated with bunting of every hue; triumphal arches of evergreens and ensigns spanned many of the thoroughfares, notably Talbot Road and along the front; whilst an immense procession, consisting of the Artillery Volunteers, Yeomanry in uniform, trades with their emblems, friendly societies, schools, etc., headed by a band, and comprising in its ranks no less than twelve mayors from important towns of Lancashire, conducted Colonel Wilson-Patten to that portion of the promenade opposite Talbot Square, where the ceremony of declaring the walk accessible for public traffic was gone through. During the evening the watering-place was illuminated, and the eventful day closed with a large ball, held in honour of the occasion.

The wisdom of the authorities in having Blackpool provided with a marine promenade and a frontage unrivalled by any on the coasts of England was soon evinced by the increase in the stream of visitors poured into the place during the summer months. Fresh houses for their accommodation were being rapidly erected in many parts of the town, and everywhere there were ample evidences that prosperity was dealing liberally with the town. The wooden railings, which heretofore had been deemed sufficiently ornamental fences for the residences facing the sea, were removed, and elegant iron ones substituted, apportioning to each habitation its own plot of sward or garden. The proprietor of Bailey’s Hotel hastened to follow the example which had been set by those who were interested in the Clifton Arms and Lane Ends Hotels, and commenced a series of levellings and rebuildings, under the superintendence and according to the designs of Messrs. Speakman and Charlesworth, architects, of Manchester, which extended over several years, and have now rendered the hotel one of the most imposing and handsome edifices in the watering-place. Further alterations, consisting in the erection of shops on a vacant piece of land lying on the north side of the hotel, in the same style of architecture, and continuous with it, were carried out in 1876.

In 1871 a project was launched for purchasing Raikes Hall with the estate belonging thereto, situated on the east aspect of Blackpool, and converting the latter into a park and pleasure gardens. In that year a company was formed, entitled the Raikes Hall Park, Gardens, and Aquarium Company, and the land obtained without delay. Vigorous operations were at once commenced to render the grounds of the old mansion suitable for the purposes held in view, whilst the building itself speedily underwent sundry alterations and additions in its transformation into a refreshment house on a large scale. A spacious terrace, walks, promenades, and flower beds were laid out, and an extensive conservatory constructed with all haste, and in the summer after gaining possession of the estate, the works had so far progressed that the public were admitted at a small charge per head. Since that date a dancing platform has been put down, an immense pavillion erected, and many other changes effected in the wide enclosure. Pyrotechnic displays, acrobatic performances, etc., are held in the gardens, which comprise about 40 statute acres, during the season, whilst agricultural shows and other meetings occasionally take place within its boundaries. An extensive lake was formed in 1875, and an excellent race-course marked out. Raikes Hall has a brief history of its own, and was erected about the middle of the eighteenth century by a Mr. Butcher, who resided there. Tradition affirms that this gentleman sprang suddenly into an ample fortune from a station of obscurity and poverty, giving rise to a supposition that he had appropriated to his own uses a large mass of wealth asserted to have been lost at that time in a vessel wrecked on the coast. It is probable, however, that the foregoing is merely an idle tale, utterly unworthy of credence. Mr. Butcher, who was succeeded by his son, died in 1769, at the ripe age of 80, and was interred in Bispham churchyard, the following words being inscribed on his tombstone:—

“His pleasure was to give or lend,