History of the Fylde of Lancashire

by John Porter

On Monday, the 20th of May, 1861, a mass meeting was convened to ascertain the opinion of the inhabitants with regard to a claim of exclusive use of the road over the Mount-hill, which had recently been set up by Sir Peter Hesketh Fleetwood, who in order to establish his right had caused a cobble wall to be erected round that portion of the estate. The meeting, consisting of about three hundred persons, was held on the pathway in dispute, which crosses the highest point of the elevation. A platform was raised, and a chairman, elected by the unanimous voice of the company, ascended the rostrum, being accompanied by several of the more enthusiastic advocates of free-road, who in the course of earnest addresses declared that for twenty years the Mount had been dedicated to the public service, in consideration of certain sums paid annually to the lord of the manor out of the town’s rates, and that having been so long the property of the people, Sir P. H. Fleetwood had now no moral or legal title to wrest it from them. The ardent language of the speakers aroused a sympathetic feeling in the breasts of the small multitude, and murmurs of discontent at the attempted deprivation of their privileges had already assumed a threatening tone, when a gentleman who happened to be visiting the neighbourhood, appeared upon the scene, and in a few spirited words urged the excited listeners to some speedy manifestation of their disapproval. Uttering a shout of indignation and defiance the crowd rushed at the enclosure wall, tore down the masonry, and quickly opened out a wide breach through the offending structure, after which they filled the air with triumphant cheers and shortly retired homewards in a comparatively orderly manner. In the course of a few months the vexatious question was settled between the representatives of the town and Sir P. H. Fleetwood, who on his part agreed only to retain to himself a plot of land fifty yards square, lying on the west side of the hill; another piece one hundred yards square, extending from the base of the elevation to the sea; the wooden edifice on the summit of the mound; six square yards whereon to erect a look-out house for the Coastguards; and the gardens and cottage-lodges at the entrance. The remainder of the Mount, amounting to about three-fourths, was given up to the public, together with the right of footway through the cottages just mentioned, and over the east and west plots; the commissioners engaging, on their side, to erect and maintain a suitable fence round the Mount, and to keep the hill itself in a proper manner for the benefit of the inhabitants or visitors, as well as binding themselves upon no account to raise any building on the site. The entire ground, with the buildings, has since been given, on much the same conditions, to the town.

During the year 1862 the town, which for some time had lain dormant in a commercial point of view, evinced unmistakable signs of returning animation; trade was more active, rumour once more hinted at the probable commencement of docks at an early date, and ninety-five houses of moderate size were erected. In the earlier half of the following twelve months no less than thirty-seven more dwellings were added to the town, the foundations of several others being in course of preparation. A branch of the Preston Banking Company was also opened for a few hours once in each week; and during later years has transacted business daily.

On Tuesday, the 20th of January, 1863, a storm and flood, such as has seldom been witnessed on this coast, arose suddenly and raged with fury for about twenty hours. The whole of the wall under the Mount, which had been brought to light by some gales in the previous November, after having been buried in the sand for long, was utterly demolished, not one stone being left upon another. In addition, the breakers penetrated with destructive violence, several yards inland beyond the line of that barrier throughout its whole length, from the west end of the Euston Barracks to the further extremity of Abbot’s Walk. A wooden battery of two 32-pound guns at the foot of the Mount, belonging to the Coastguards,[85] and used for training the Naval Volunteer Reserve, was undermined and so tilted that its removal became a necessity. The marine fence, which had been constructed at an immense cost, between the Landmark and Cleveleys, was almost entirely swept away, leaving the adjacent country open to the inundations of the sea, which rushed over and flooded all the land between the points just named, extending eastward even to the embankment of the Preston and Wyre Railway. Several of the streets at the west side of Fleetwood were under water, as also were the fields about Poulton road and the highway itself. The proprietor of the “Strawberry Garden,” off the same road, and his family, were compelled to take refuge in an upper storey of their dwelling until rescued in a boat, the following day, from their unpleasant, if not perilous, position. It was in this hurricane that the house erected on the shore for the reception of the lifeboat suffered annihilation, and the boat itself narrowly escaped serious damage. Tuesday, the 10th of March, in the same year was observed by the residents as a general holiday and gala day, in honour of the marriage of Albert Edward, Prince of Wales, with the Danish Princess, Alexandra. Flags and banners floated from the windows of nearly every habitation, as well as from the roofs of many, while the steamships and other vessels in the harbour were gaily decorated with bunting, which waved in rich and varied tints from their masts, spars, and rigging. Triumphal arches of the “colours of all nations” were suspended across the streets at several points. A large procession of schools and friendly societies in full regalia, with their banners and devices, paraded the different thoroughfares, and were afterwards sumptuously entertained, the latter at their various lodges, and the former in the large area of a cotton warehouse, recently built on the quay by Messrs. B. Whitworth and Bros., of Manchester. The military stationed at the School of Musketry evinced their loyalty by discharging a feu de joie on the warren. In the following November a scheme was proposed for the construction of a coast railway between Fleetwood and Blackpool, to pass through Rossall and Bispham. A survey was made of the route, and according to the plans drawn out, the projected line was intended to have its Fleetwood terminus at the south extremity of Poulton Terrace, opposite the end of West Street, whence it was to run towards the new barracks, near the cemetery, then diverge to the south in the direction of Rossall. From Rossall its course lay towards Bispham and thence onwards to the Blackpool terminus, which would be located in Queen’s street, adjoining the station already standing there. The stations, besides those at the two termini, were to be placed at the barracks, Rossall, and Bispham. At Fleetwood the promoters proposed to form a junction with the Preston and Wyre Railway near the old timber pond, for the purpose of passing carriages from one line to the other, whilst at Blackpool a similar object would be effected with the Lytham and Blackpool Railway by deviating eastward from Queen Street, so as to avoid the town, and establishing a junction with the latter line near Chapel Street. On an application being made to parliament for powers to carry out the design, strenuous opposition was offered by the representatives of the Preston and Wyre Railway, who pledged themselves to erect additional stations along their track to accommodate the people residing at Rossall, Cleveleys, and Bispham, in consequence of which the bill for a coast-line was thrown out and the project abandoned.

On the 4th of December, 1863, the Lancaster Banking Company established a branch here; and on the 15th of that month the Whitworth Institute in Dock Street was publicly opened. This handsome Hall was erected through the munificence of Benjamin Whitworth, esq., M.P., of London, who for long resided at Fleetwood, and during that period, and afterwards, was instrumental in giving a marked stimulus to the foreign trade of the port by shipping each year, on behalf of the large firm of which he is the head at Manchester, numerous cargoes of cotton from America viâ Fleetwood. The building is in the Gothic style of architecture. The walls are built of bricks with stone dressings, the principal features being the ten arcaded windows, with the stone balcony beneath running across the entire width of the front, and the elegant entrance. The interior comprises a spacious reading room and library, a smoking and coffee room, provided with chess and draughts, an assembly room, capable of containing 400 persons, and two billiard rooms. At the time of its presentation to the inhabitants the donor generously provided tea urns and other appliances necessary for holding soirees, in addition to having liberally furnished the whole of the building, including the gift of a choice and extensive selection of books, chess and draught-men, a bagatelle-board, and a billiard-table. The second billiard-table was added out of the surplus funds in 1875. The Institute is vested in trustees for the use of the town, and governed by a committee chosen from amongst the subscribers.

During 1864-5 building continued to progress, but not with that great rapidity which had characterised its advance in 1862 and the earlier months of the following year. An act of parliament was granted in 1864 to certain gentlemen for the formation of a dock in connection with the harbour, confirming the rumour which had now agitated the place for the last two years, and bringing conviction to the hearts of many of the older inhabitants, whose past experience had taught them to look with eyes of distrust on all reports which pointed to such a happy realisation of their youthful dreams. The inaugural ceremony of breaking the turf did not, however, take place for some time, and will be noticed shortly. On the 17th of May, 1866, the foundation stone of the present Roman Catholic church in East Street was laid by Doctor Goss, bishop of Liverpool, who performed the ceremony, attired in full ecclesiastical robes, and attended by a numerous retinue of priests and choristers. The sacred edifice was opened on Sunday, the 24th of November in the ensuing year. Its general style is early English of the 13th century. The building consists of a nave and two aisles, with an apsidal sanctuary at the east end; it is about one hundred feet long, thirty-five feet wide, and fifty feet in height. The exterior is built of stone, the body of the walls being Yorkshire parpoints, whilst the dressings are of Longridge stone. Mr. T. A. Drummond, of Fleetwood, was the builder, and the design was drawn by E. Welby Pugin, esq., architect, the total cost being about £4,000.

For many years, in fact ever since steamship communication had been established between this port and Belfast, large quantities of young cattle from Ireland were landed each season at Fleetwood, and carried forward by rail to the markets of Preston and elsewhere. For the benefit of the dealers, who would thus escape the railway charges, as well as for the convenience of the graziers and other purchasers residing in the neighbourhood, it was determined to open a place for the public sale of such live stock at Fleetwood; the necessary authority was obtained from the Privy Council, and on the 2nd of April, 1868, the Cattle Market, lying on the east side of that for general produce, and consisting of sixteen large strong pens, arranged in two rows with a road between them, was used for its earliest transactions and much appreciated by those who were concerned in the traffic.

Wednesday, the 2nd of June, 1869, will not readily be obliterated from the memories of the people of Fleetwood. On that day the first sod of the long expected dock was cut by H. S. Styan, esq., of London, the surviving trustee of the estate under the will of the late Sir P. H. Fleetwood, who died in 1866. The auspicious event was celebrated with universal rejoicing, in which many-coloured bunting played its usual conspicuous part. A large procession of the clergy, gentry, schools, and friendly societies, enlivened by the band of the 80th regiment of Infantry from the Euston Barracks, and gay with waving banners, accompanied Mr. Styan to the site where the important ceremony was performed, and sent forth hearty congratulatory cheers when the piece of turf had been duly dissected from the ground. With all apparent earnestness and eagerness, operations were at once commenced, and for two or three months the undertaking, under the busy hands of the excavators, made satisfactory progress, when suddenly several gangs of labourers were discharged, and the works partially stopped—

“While all the town wondered.”

Wonderment, however, was turned to a feeling of disappointment and chagrin, when it was discovered, a little later, that the closing year would put a period to the labours at the dock as well as to its own epoch of time, and that its last shadows would fall on deserted works and idle machinery. For some reason, which may fairly be conjectured to have been an incompleted list of shareholders, the Fleetwood Dock Company determined to suspend all operations barely six months after they had been begun, and it is scarcely necessary to inform our readers that the work was never resumed under the same proprietorship. Two years subsequently, in 1871, the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway Company obtained an act of parliament to carry out, on a larger scale, the undertaking which their predecessors had abandoned almost in its birth. The dock, which embraces an area of nearly ten acres, being one thousand feet long, by four hundred feet wide, has already been in course of formation for more than two years, and although the labour is being pushed forward by the contractors, Messrs. John Aird and Sons, of Lambeth, with as much expedition as is consistent with good workmanship, the completion of this much-needed accommodation is not expected until some time in 1877. The dock walls are built with square blocks of stone, surmounted by a broad and massive coping of Cornish granite, and filled in behind with concrete, the whole having an altitude of thirty-one feet, and being placed on a solid concrete foundation fourteen feet wide. The walls themselves vary in width as they approach the surface, being in the lower half of their distance 12½ feet, then 10½ feet, and in the highest section 8½ feet wide. The lock entrance communicates with the north extremity of the dock, and is two hundred and fifty feet long by fifty feet wide, being protected at each end by gates, opening, respectively, into the dock and the channel now in process of excavation to the bed of the river Wyre. Lying to the south of the dock is the recently-constructed timber pond, covering an area of 14½ or 15 acres, and having a depth of 15 feet. The pond is connected with the dock by means of a gateway, so arranged in the southern wall of the latter that two feet of water will always remain in the former after the tide has ebbed below the level of its floor. The timber pond has no other entrance beyond the one alluded to. Sir John Hawkshaw, previously mentioned in connection with the visit of Queen Victoria to Fleetwood, is the eminent engineer from whose designs the dock is being constructed.

The prospect, or indeed certainty, of materially increased trade when the dock is thrown open has not been without effect upon the town generally, but its stimulating influence is most remarkable in the large number of houses which, during the last few years, have sprung into being. Streets have been lined with habitations where recently not a dwelling existed, and others have had their vacant spaces filled in with buildings. Handsome shops have been erected in Dock Street, East and West Streets, and other localities, whilst many of the residences in Church Street have been remodeled and converted into similar retail establishments. Everywhere there is a spirit of activity visible, contrasting most pleasingly and favourably with the passive inertitia which pervaded the place for a considerable period previous to the commencement of the dock operations. In 1875 the commissioners determined to do something towards protecting the northern aspect of the Mount from the devastations of the waves, whose boisterous familiarity had already inflicted serious injury on its feeble sandy sides, and seemed disposed, if much longer unchecked, to reduce the venerable pile to a mere matter of history. A public promenade, fenced with a substantial wall of concrete, was laid out at the base of the hill, extending from near the west extremity of the Mount Terrace to the commencement of Abbot’s Walk. The damaged side of the mound itself has been levelled and sown with grass-seed, so that in course of time the marine walk will have a lofty sloping background of green sward, and form the prettiest, as it was doubtless the most needed, object in the neighbourhood.