The Roman Catholic chapel, dedicated to the Blessed Virgin, was erected at the north end of Walmsley Street, continuous with the line of houses forming the east side of that street, and opened for divine worship on the 15th of November, 1841. A few years since a more commodious edifice, which will be described hereafter, was erected on another and better site, whilst the old one was dismantled, and subsequently converted into cottages.
The Crown Hotel, a handsome and substantial stone structure facing the Railway Station, was the third hotel erected in Fleetwood, the Fleetwood Arms being the first, and the Victoria the second in point of completion. The original dimensions of the Crown have been considerably increased by the addition in recent years of ample stable accommodation, a large billiard room, and several sleeping apartments.
The North Euston Hotel, which was opened almost simultaneously with the Crown Hotel, is a superb stone building in the form of a crescent, with a frontage of nearly 300 feet. This edifice was sold to Government in 1859, and subsequently opened as a School of Musketry. The noble portico in front of the main entrance and the spacious hall within are supported by massive stone pillars, whilst a handsome terrace, raised a little above the level of the street, encircles the whole length of the ground floor, and is protected by an ornamental iron railing. On its transfer to Government, quarters were provided for sixty officers and a staff of military instructors. There were three chief courses of instruction held during each year, but in addition to these were two of shorter duration, one being in the month of January for the adjutants of volunteers, and another a little later for the volunteers themselves. The curriculum was similar to that at Hythe. In 1867 the School of Musketry was discontinued, and after a short interval, in which fresh buildings were added, the whole structure was turned into barracks, and as such continues to be occupied. In the early days of the hotel a T-shaped jetty extended out from the steps on the shore opposite the principal entrance to the distance of low-water mark, and was used by the visitors as a short promenade and landing stage, but after standing a few years the erection was removed, being found to interfere with the course of the steamers and other vessels round that section of the channel.
The bath-houses, each of which contained a spacious sea-water swimming bath, were connected with the North Euston Hotel, and therefore became the property of Government on the transfer of the main building itself. Since that date their internal arrangements have undergone material alterations and modifications to suit the requirements of the military, but their handsome stone exteriors and massive porticoes are still intact.
The custom-house on the Lower Queen’s Terrace is now a private residence in the occupation of Alexander Carson, esq., who is also the owner, and the offices have for many years been situated in a house of more modest pretensions in the same row.
The two lighthouses, one of which is placed in Pharos Street and the other further north, on the margin of the beach, were also in existence in 1841, having been erected a short time previously. The former is a tall circular column of painted stone, having an altitude of about 90 feet above high-water mark. The base of the column is square, each of the sides being 12 feet high and 20 broad. The focus of the lantern is 104 feet above half-tide level, and outside the reflector is a narrow, circular, stone gallery, guarded by an iron fencing. The cost of the column was £1,480. The other lighthouse is much smaller, and stands on a slightly elevated plot of ground. Each side of its base forms a recess, furnished with seats, and supported above by round stone pillars. The centre of the lantern is 44 feet above half-tide level. The whole fabric, which is built throughout of finely cut stone, was erected at a cost of £1,375.
We have now reviewed the general appearance of the town in 1841, including brief accounts of all the more important buildings, but accidentally omitting to state that gas works were amongst the early erections, and before proceeding with the history of its further progress and increase, it will be convenient to revert for a moment to the railway and matters connected with it, leaving, however, the harbour, wharf, and shipping for separate examination towards the later pages of the chapter. The railway, consisting of a single line throughout the whole extent, was carried over a portion of the estuary of the Wyre, along an embankment and viaduct of huge wooden piles, running from Burn Naze to the west extremity of the wharf at Fleetwood, near to which the station is situated. In 1846 the traffic, both in passengers and goods, had increased so rapidly that the directors determined to have a double line without delay. Instructions for that purpose were accordingly issued to the engineer of the company, and at the same time he was directed that, in order to afford space and facilities for the construction of the proposed docks to the westward of the existing railway piling, the double line should diverge at Burn Naze, run round the Cops, and terminate as before. The programme here stated was not fully carried out, and the double line extended only as far as Burn Naze, from which point a single line ran along a semicircular embankment, lying west of the old one, to the terminus at Fleetwood.[84] This embankment was the means of rescuing from the incursions of the tide about 400 acres of marsh land, which has since by drainage and cultivation been converted into excellent pastures and productive fields. The entire line was leased, under acts of 1846, to the Lancashire and Yorkshire and London and North Western Railway companies, the former taking two thirds and the latter one third of the profits or losses. The terms agreed upon were a rent of £7 1s. 6d. per cent., and £1 15s. 4½d. per share on a total capital of £668,000, until the close of 1854, when the payments were raised to £7 17s. 6d. per cent., and £1 19s. 3½d. per share in perpetuity. In the month of July, 1846, the electric telegraph in connection with the Preston and Wyre Railway was introduced into the town, and as its first public act was the interception, at Kirkham, of a defaulting steamship passenger, who had neglected to pay her fare, it may be concluded that the inhabitants welcomed the ingenious invention as a valuable ally in the protection of their commercial interests, as well as a rapid and convenient mode of friendly intercommunion in cases of urgency.
The Improvement Act, for “paving, lighting, cleansing, and otherwise improving the town of Fleetwood and the neighbourhood thereof, and for establishing a market therein,” came into operation on the 18th of June, 1842. Meetings were appointed to be held on the first Monday in every month, at which any male person was empowered to sit as a commissioner on producing evidence that he was either a resident within the limits prescribed by the act, and rated to the poor-rates of the township of Thornton for a local tenement of the annual value of £15, or possessed as owner or lessee or in the enjoyment of the rents and profits of a messuage, lands, or hereditaments, similarly situated and rated, for a term of not less than fifty years. In 1869 authority was obtained to repeal certain sections of the old act and adopt others from the Public Health Act of 1848, and the Local Government Act of 1858, the most important being that in future the Board of Commissioners should consist of twelve members only, having personally the same qualifications as before, but being elected by the ratepayers. The new regulations also ordained that one third of the commissioners should retire each year, and the vacancies be filled up by a general election. This act is still in force.
It was not possible that the claims of a place so happily situated as Fleetwood for a summer residence could long remain unrecognised by the inhabitants of the inland towns. No sooner was free access given to its shores by the opening of the railway in 1840, than the hotels and lodging-houses were inundated with visitors, whose annual return testified to their high appreciation of its mild climate, firm sands, excellent boating accommodation, and lastly, the diversified and beautiful scenery of the broad bay of Morecambe. A number of bathing vans were stationed on the shore opposite the Mount, but were little patronised during the first two or three seasons owing to the proprietors demanding 1s. from each person using them, a sum exactly double that required at other watering-places. The injurious effects of this exorbitant charge were speedily experienced, not only by the van owners, whose receipts were reduced to a minimum, but generally throughout the town, as visitors who greatly preferred Fleetwood were driven to other places on that account, and each year many who came with the intention of remaining during the summer left because their families were debarred from bathing, except at an excessive cost. The error of so grasping a policy being at last demonstrated to the proprietors by the small and diminishing patronage extended to their vans, it was resolved, in 1844, to reduce the charge to 6d. That year several newly-erected houses in Kemp Street were furnished and tenanted, whilst the hitherto unoccupied stone residences comprised in the Upper Queen’s Terrace were fitted up with elegance and convenience for the wealthier class of sojourners, to whom they were let for periods varying from a few weeks to three or four months. The terrace of houses situated between the North Euston Hotel and the Mount, and bearing the latter name, was also completed that year. The prices at the North Euston Hotel were arranged as under:—
| Sitting-room | 3s. 4d. per day. |
| Bed-room | 2s. 3d. and 4s. 0d. per day. |
| Table d’Hote | 4s. per head. |
| Breakfast or Tea | 2s. 0d. and 2s. 6d. per head. |