FLEETWOOD-ON-WYRE.
The site of the present town of Fleetwood was at no very distant period,
less than half a century ago, a wild and desolate warren, forming part
of the Rossall estate, and belonging to the late Sir Peter Hesketh
Fleetwood, bart. At that date the northern side showed unmistakable
evidences of having at an earlier epoch been bounded by a broad wall
or rampart of star-hills, continuous with the range until recent
years visible near Rossall Point, or North Cape, as that portion of
the district was locally called, but which has now been destroyed and
levelled by the sea. Beyond the warrener’s cottage and a small farm-house
on the Poulton road, no habitations existed anywhere in the vicinity;
the whole tract of sandhills and sward had been usurped by myriads
of rabbits, which were some little time, even after the erection of
dwellings, before they entirely deserted the spot where for centuries
they had found a home. During the stormy months of winter, and in the
breeding season, immense flocks of sea-fowl made their way to these
shores, and like the rabbits, were allowed to remain in undisputed and
undisturbed possession of the domain they had appropriated.
Whether this district or locality was populated in the earlier eras of
history by any of the aboriginal Britons, invading Romans, or piratical
Danes, is a question difficult to solve, but the existence of a paved
Roman road, discovered some depth beneath the sand when the trench for
the sea-wall was being excavated opposite the Mount Terrace, and traced
across the warren in the direction of Poulton, proves beyond a doubt that
there was traffic of some description, either peaceful or war-like,
over the ground at a very remote age. The road is commonly designated
the Danes’ Pad, from a tradition that these freebooters made use of it
during their incursive warfare in the Fylde.[82] Evidence in support
of the belief that this part of the coast was visited by the Danes or
Northmen, as the inhabitants of Scandinavia were called, is to be found
in “Knot End,” the name by which the projecting point of land on the
opposite side of Wyre has been known from time immemorial. In early days
there were both the “Great and Little Knots,” or heaps of stones, but
the works carried out for the improvement of the harbour involved the
destruction of the small, and mutilation of the big “Knot.” Now arises
the question, why were these round collections of boulder stones called
“Knots?” In answer to which it may be stated that the word “knot” is of
pure Scandinavian origin, and in that ancient Northern language always
marked a round heap, and we believe also a round heap of stones. This
interpretation would be characteristic of what these knots or mounds
of stones were before they were despoiled by the Wyre Harbour Company.
Such an application of the word to rounded hills of stone is common at
no great distance, and must have been applied by the same people to all
these rocky elevations, as instance Hard Knot, Arnside Knot, and Farlton
Knot, all of which indicate the name by the rotundity of their stony
summits, and seem to confirm the opinion that the early inhabitants
of Scandinavia visited the coast, suggesting also that they had some
settlement in its immediate vicinity.
As regards the Romans, the only traces of their presence which have
been discovered in the neighbourhood of the town, consist of the road
above mentioned, and a number of ancient coins which were found near
Rossall, in 1840, by some labourers engaged in brick-making. These coins,
amounting in all to about three hundred, were principally of silver,
and bore the impresses of Severus, Sabina, Antonius, Nerva, etc. It is
quite possible, however, that other relics belonging to that nation or
the Danes, may still exist, hidden by the sand, and more deeply imbedded
than it is necessary to sink when preparing for the foundations of the
houses, whilst many also may have been submerged by the encroaching waves
as they have gradually inundated the north and west sides of the district.
Doctor Leigh, in his Natural History of Lancashire, informs us that at
the mouth of the river Wyre there was in his time a purging water which
sprang up from out of the sand. “This, no doubt,” says the Doctor, “is
the sea-water which filters through the sand, but by reason of the
shortness of its filtration (the spring lying so near the river), or the
looseness of the sand, the marine water is not perfectly dulcified, but
retains a pleasing brackishness, not unlike that which is observable in
the milk of a farrow cow, or one that has conceived.”
To the lord of the manor, Sir P. H. Fleetwood, is due the credit of
having first conceived the idea of converting the sterile warren into
a thriving seaport. Situated at the mouth of a river, the security of
whose stream had originated the proverb—“As safe and as easy as Wyre
water,” and by the side of a natural and commodious harbour, sheltered
from ever wind, the illustrious baronet foresaw a prosperous future
for the place, could he obtain permission from parliament to construct
a railway to its shores from the important town of Preston, thereby
creating a communication with the manufacturing and commercial centres of
Lancashire and Yorkshire. In 1835, a number of gentlemen, denominated the
Preston and Wyre Railway, Harbour, and Dock Company, having obtained the
requisite powers, deputed Frederick Kemp, esq., J.P., of Bispham Lodge,
then acting as agent to Sir P. H. Fleetwood, to purchase the land along
the proposed route. Operations were commenced with little delay, the work
progressed with fair rapidity, and on the 15th of July, 1840, the line
was declared open and ready for traffic.
In the meantime dwelling-houses, hotels, and a spacious wharf had been
springing into existence. In 1836 the earliest foundation was laid at
the south-west corner of Preston Street by Robert Banton, of East Warren
Farm. This farm was for a short season a licensed house and brewery,
and is now, under the title of Warrenhurst, the private residence of J.
M. Jameson, esq., C.E. The new erection, which still bears its original
name of the Fleetwood Arms Hotel, made no further progress for about a
year, when it was completed by Thomas Parkinson, the head carpenter at
Rossall Hall. The first building finished and inhabited in Fleetwood was
a beer-house at the south-west corner of Church Street, which was erected
in 1836-7, and is now a shop, owned and occupied by Richard Warbrick,
outfitter. That small inn or licensed dwelling was in the occupation of a
person named Parker, a stonemason, who a little later built the Victoria
Hotel, in Dock-street, where he removed and resided for several months,
until a sale of the property had been effected.
The streets were marked out by the plough according to the design of
Decimus Burton, esq., architect, of London, and so arranged that all the
principal thoroughfares, with the exception of the main road of entrance
to the town, converged towards the largest star-hill, now known as the
Mount, on the highest point of which was placed a small decagon Chinese
edifice, surrounded by a raised platform or terrace, whence an extensive
view of the broad bay of Morecambe, the lofty ranges of Lancashire,
Cumberland, and Westmoreland, and a wide circuit of the neighbouring
country could be obtained. The hollow on the south side of the mound
was fashioned into the form of a basin, and a semicircular gravelled
walk carried along the ridge of each side, leading with a gentle ascent
from the entrance gates on the warren at the end of London Street to
the summit, whilst the slopes were tastefully arranged and planted with
shrubs, to impart a pleasing and ornamental appearance to the otherwise
bare sward. These shrubs, as might have been foreseen, speedily withered
and perished, owing to the bleakness of the site, and a lack of that
indispensable moisture which the dry sandy soil could neither retain nor
supply. In earlier days the Mount was commonly known as Tup, or Top,
Hill, and formed a favourite resort for pic-nic parties from Blackpool,
or some of the surrounding villages, which visited the place during the
summer months, to admire the innumerable sea-fowl and their nests, the
latter being scattered over the shore in endless profusion.
Building proceeded with rapid strides; house after house sprang up in the
lines of streets, which had only lately received their first coating of
shingle, and in 1841, one year after the opening of the railway, the town
had assumed considerable proportions. Near the entrance from Poulton road
were three or four double rows of cottages for the accommodation of the
workpeople, and a Roman Catholic chapel. Preston Street contained but
few houses in addition to the Fleetwood Arms Hotel; thence, travelling
eastward were Dock Street, with the Crown Hotel, as far as and including
the Victoria Hotel; the east side of Warren Street, the west side of St.
Peter’s Place, the church and Sunday school, both sides of Church Street,
Custom House Lane, the Lower Queen’s Terrace, the North Euston Hotel, and
the bath houses. The Upper Queen’s Terrace was in process of erection,
but was not completed until 1844, after having been allowed, for some
reason, to remain in a partially finished state for two years.
The church, standing on a raised plot of ground in the centre of the town
and surrounded by an iron palisading, is dedicated to St. Peter, and
was first opened for divine service in 1841. It is a stone edifice with
a square tower and octagonal spire at the west end, and was erected by
voluntary contributions, the site being provided by Sir P. H. Fleetwood,
who retained the right of presentation to the living. The interior of the
building is neat, and contains sittings for about four hundred persons
in the body, with additional accommodation for two hundred more in the
gallery, at the end of which are the choir-pew and organ-loft, the
latter being occupied by an instrument constructed by Gray, of London.
Previous to the alterations, which were made seventeen years since,
and consisted of the erection of a gallery and the convertion of some
of the private pews into free seats, the family pew of the Fleetwoods
stood in front of the organ-loft, and was the only one raised out of the
body of the church. The chancel window is of stained glass, large and
handsome, representing a central figure of St. Peter bearing the Keys
of Heaven, below and on each side of which several scriptural subjects
are illustrated. This window, purchased by subscription amongst the
parishioners, was inserted in 1860; and in the previous year a handsome
font of Caen stone was presented by Mrs. G. Y. Osborne. Two upright
tablets, the gift of the late vicar, the Rev. G. Y. Osborne, illuminated
with the Ten Commandments, are placed, one on each side of the Communion
table. Four other tablets are fixed against the walls of the church,
the first of which was erected by a few friends as a tribute of respect
to the memory of Dobson Ward, died 1859, aged 43 years, a humble but
zealous worker in the Sunday school; another was placed by the Rev. G. Y.
Osborne, in loving memory of his deceased daughter; the third, a handsome
tablet, was erected at the entrance to the vestry, by parishioners and
friends, to the memory of the Rev. G. Y. Osborne, “for 19 years vicar
of this parish, who died 11 November, 1871, aged 53 years,”[83] and the
last is to the memory of Charles Stewart, esq., died 1873, aged 64 years,
late of High Leigh, Cheshire, and Fleetwood. The living, endowed with the
great tithes of Thornton and augmented by the pew rents, was originally a
perpetual curacy, but during the ministry of the late Rev. G. Y. Osborne,
a distinct district or parish for all ecclesiastical purposes was
assigned to the church, and the title of vicar accorded to the incumbent.
PERPETUAL CURATES AND VICARS OF FLEETWOOD.
IN THE DEANERY OF AMOUNDERNESS AND ARCHDEACONRY OF LANCASTER.
------------+--------------------+-------------------+------------------
Date of | NAME. | On whose | Cause of vacancy.
Institution.| | Presentation. |
------------+--------------------+-------------------+------------------
1841 |St. Vincent Beechey,|Sir P. H. Fleetwood|
| M.A. | |
| | |
1849 |G. Yarnold Osborne, |Ditto |Resignation of St.
| M.A. | | Vincent Beechey
| | |
1868 |Saml. Hastings, M.A.|Exrs. of the late |Resignation of
| |Sir P. H. Fleetwood| G. Y. Osborne
| | |
1871 |James Pearson, M.A. |Ditto |Resignation of
| | | S. Hastings
------------+--------------------+-------------------+------------------
The burial ground connected with the church is part of the general
cemetery, situated near the shore in the direction of the Landmark at
Rossall Point, and about one mile distant from the town.
The small building opposite the Church, now used for infants only, was
for several years, until the erection of the Testimonial Schools, the
ordinary Sunday school under the superintendence of the incumbent of St.
Peter’s.
The Market Place, opened on the 7th of November, 1840, is a spacious,
paved area, surrounded by a high wall of sandstone.
The two entrances are closed by means of large wooden gates, and lead
respectively into Adelaide and Victoria Streets. The central portion of
the in-walled space is occupied by a square, wooden structure, covered
over with a slated roof, in the interior of which are stalls for the
goods of the different farmers and traders. Friday is the market day, and
the following list comprises the various commodities exposed for sale on
Friday, the 10th of July, 1846, the earliest recorded, with their prices:—
Oats, per bushel 3s. 10d.
Meal, per load 36s. 0d.
Beans, per windle 16s. 0d.
Butter, per pound 1s. 1d.
Eggs, fresh 16 to 18 for 1s. 0d.
Peas, per strike 0s. 9d.
Potatoes (new), per score 1s. 10d.
” (old), per windle 8s. 0d.
Beef, per pound 6d. to 7d.
Lamb ” 0s. 7d.
Mutton ” 0s. 6½d.
Salmon ” 0s. 10d.
Lobsters ” 1s. 0d.
Since the date of the above quotations, Preston has gradually monopolised
the chief portion of the grain trade, and consequently transactions
in oats and other cereals are not of frequent occurrence at the local
markets of the Fylde.
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.
During the Whit-week of 1844 the place was crowded with excursionists,
many of whom, amounting to 1,000 daily, were carried at half fare by
the Preston and Wyre Railway, and came from the neighbouring towns and
villages, whilst others arrived by sea in excursion boats from Dublin,
the Isle of Man, Ulverstone, Blackpool, and Southport. Festivities were
entered into on the warren and slopes of the Mount, lasting three days
and consisting of horse, pony, donkey, foot, sack, and wheelbarrow races,
a cricket match, foot steeplechases, wrestling, and gingling matches.
In 1844 Fleetwood was reduced from a distinct port to a creek under
Preston, and during the month of July the mayor of the latter town paid a
state visit to the watering-place, arriving by sea in the small steamer
“Lily.” A series of misfortunes rather tended to upset the dignity and
imposing aspect of the official cortege. A somewhat rough sea retarded
their passage and rapidly converted the ship into a temporary hospital
for that, perhaps, most distressing of all sicknesses; nearing, at last,
the lighthouse at the foot of Wyre, a large portion of the larboard
gunwale was carried away by the bowsprit of the steamer “Express,” which
had been sent out to meet and tow them into harbour, if necessary; and
finally the unfortunate “Lily” stranded on a bank opposite the beach
at Fleetwood, and the mayoral party, now pallid and dejected, in their
gorgeous robes and liveries, were brought to land in small open boats,
and having formed the following order, marched to the North Euston Hotel,
where a banquet was prepared:—
Three Policemen.
Two Sergeants-at-Mace.
Mace Bearer.
The Mayor in his Robes of Office.
The Corporation Steward.
Recorder of the Borough.
The Aldermen of the Borough.
The Members of the Common Council.
Military Officers and Private Gentlemen.
Town Crier and Beadle.
This year the Preston and Wyre Railway Company, in conjunction with the
line from Manchester and Bolton, commenced to run Sunday excursion trains
to Fleetwood at reduced fares during the genial months of summer, and in
August upwards of ten thousand pleasure-seekers were estimated to have
been brought into the town by their means alone. These lines were amongst
the first to try the experiment of cheap trains, and the immense success
which attended their efforts on the above occasions soon induced them to
extend the privileges to other days besides the Sabbath. The promoters
of private excursions, also, were offered facilities to direct their
course to this watering-place. During the summer of 1844 no less than
60,000 people in all, that is including both day excursionists and those
who remained for longer periods, arrived, being considerably more than
in any previous season. In July, 1846, the whole of the workpeople of
Richard Cobden, esq., M.P., the great free-trade statesman, visited the
town to celebrate the triumph of free-trade principles in parliament,
the entire expense of the trip being defrayed by that gentleman. Each of
the operatives and others, numbering about 1,300, had a free-trade medal
suspended by a ribbon from the neck; and, having formed in procession,
the large assembly paraded through the streets of Fleetwood, carrying
banners adorned with such appropriate mottoes and inscriptions as “Free
Trade with all the World,” “Peel, Bright, and Cobden,” etc. In the same
year an immense Sunday school trip, bringing no less than 4,200 children
and adults, arrived; and after amusing themselves by rambling about the
shore for a time, the youthful multitude formed a huge pic-nic party on
the warren. This was without doubt the largest single excursion which
ever visited these shores, and on its return, the enormous train of
two engines and fifty-six carriages, many of which were cattle trucks
provided with forms and covered in with canvas, was divided, each engine
taking half, for fear of accidents and delays. In later times it was
no uncommon circumstance to see the spacious wharf opposite the Upper
and Lower Queen’s Terraces, crowded with cheap trains during Easter
and Whit-weeks. Hourly trips in the small steam tug-boats or pleasure
yachts, pony and donkey rides, bathing, and mussel gathering on the bank
opposite the Mount Terrace were the chief amusements of the day visitors,
and innumerable were the exclamations of wonder and delight uttered by
thousands, who for the first time beheld
“The broad and bursting wave”
at Fleetwood, for our readers may be reminded that at the date of which
we are writing, railway fares, except on special occasions, were beyond
the compass of the labouring populations of our manufacturing and
agricultural districts, and consequently a visit to the, in many cases
unknown, sea, was an event eagerly anticipated and long remembered.
In January, 1845, a general meeting of those who were interested in
Fleetwood, or wished to testify their respect and admiration for the
noble efforts of the founder of the town, was held at the North Euston
Hotel, to determine upon the most suitable public testimonial to be
erected in honour of Sir Peter Hesketh Fleetwood. Doctor Ramsay proposed
that day schools for 200 children of the labouring classes, with a house
for a master and mistress, having the name of the “Fleetwood Testimonial
Schools,” open to all denominations of Christians and connected with the
National Society, should be erected. This resolution was carried without
a dissentient; subscription lists were opened; and on Wednesday, the 26th
of August, 1846, the foundation stone of the building was laid by Charles
Swainson, esq., of Preston. Large numbers arrived early in the morning to
be present at the ceremony. The town, shipping, and river craft, decked
out in bunting, presented quite a gala appearance as the officials and
guests proceeded to the site in West Street. The procession marched as
stated below:—
The Beadle.
Band.
The Wesleyan Sunday School Children.
The Independent Sunday School Children.
The Church Sunday School Children.
The Architect holding the Mallet and Trowel.
The Contractors.
The Clergy.
Charles Swainson, esq.
The Treasurer and Mr. Swainson’s Friends.
Rossall School.
The Gentry and Visitors.
The Tradesmen.
Independent Order of Oddfellows.
The Rechabites.
In the cavity beneath the foundation stone were enclosed a bottle
containing coins of the present reign, a copy of the _Fleetwood
Chronicle_ of that date, printed on parchment, and another sheet of
parchment inscribed thus:—
“The first stone of these schools, which are to be erected as
the fittest Testimonial to the benevolent founder of this town,
Sir P. H. Fleetwood, Bart., M.P., was laid by Charles Swainson,
Esq., of Preston, this 26th day of August, 1846.
THE REV. ST. VINCENT BEECHEY, M.A., Incumbent;
THE REV. W. LAIDLAY, B.A., Curate;
B. WALMSLEY, FREDERICK KEMP, Churchwardens;
THE REV. JOHN HULL, Vicar of Poulton, Chairman of the Committee.
JOHN LAIDLAY, Esq., Treasurer of the Committee;
R. B. RAMPLING, Esq., Architect;
H. B. JONES, Esq., Secretary.
Non nobis, Domine, sed nomini tuo da gloriam.”
This scholastic institution is in the Gothic style of architecture, and
the principal front, facing into West Street, extends over a distance
of seventy-one feet. The interior of the building contains separate
school accommodation for boys and girls; and at the east end there is
a comfortable residence for the mistress. The school is surrounded by
an extensive play-ground, and enclosed by a brick wall, surmounted
anteriorly by ornamental iron railings. Since the building was completed
the provision for the reception of boys has been greatly increased by the
erection of a new wing, by private munificence, abutting at right angles
with the east end of the original structure.
In the spring of 1845 a handsome promenade and carriage drive was
completed along the border of the shore from the North Euston Hotel to
the west extremity of the Mount Terrace. The pathway, which ran on the
inner side of the drive, was flagged throughout its entire length, whilst
the outer margin of the road was connected with a substantial sea-wall
of square-cut stone by a broad and well-kept grass plat. Subsequently
this elegant walk was extended round the south side of the Mount, along
Abbots’ Walk, and so on by the side of the shore to the Cemetery Road.
Very little of the portion first constructed is now to be seen, and that
remnant is in such a dilapidated condition as almost to be impassable.
Huge stones which formerly protected the green sward and road from the
waves are now lying scattered and buried about the beach; whilst the
westerly end of the promenade has not only suffered utter annihilation
itself, but serious inroads have been made by the water into the
ornamental gardens fronting the houses of the Mount Terrace.
Strenuous efforts were put forth during the autumn of 1845 to prevent
the visitors forsaking the town immediately the long evenings had
commenced; pyrotechnic displays took place each week on the plot of land
lying to the north of the Upper Queen’s Terrace, and designated the
Archery Ground. Sea excursions to Blackpool, Southport, and Piel Harbour
were liberally provided for by the steamers of the port; a military
band was hired for several weeks, and played daily either on one of the
pleasure craft or near the new promenade; foot races, wrestling, and
cricket matches were arranged and contested at short intervals. But
all in vain, for towards the end of August the reflux of visitors had
thoroughly set in, and by the middle of September the shores were almost
deserted. During that brief period of excitement it was proposed amongst
the inhabitants to erect a large public building to be ready for the
ensuing season, which should combine all the advantages of a reading and
news room, public library, bazaar, ball room, and theatre; but either the
ardour of the people cooled during the winter months or they failed to
discern a fair prospect of dividends from the investment, for the summer
of 1846 discovered that the idea had vanished with the closing year, and
“Like the baseless fabric of a vision,
Left not a wreck behind.”
Perhaps, however, it is going too far to assert that no trace or vestige
of the comprehensive project remained after the first ebullition of
enthusiasm had passed from the popular mind, for we find that, although
no noble hall graced the town, a Mechanics’ Institution was modestly
established on the 18th of May, 1846, by the opening of a reading room
in one portion of the Estate Office. This office formerly occupied
the site of the present Whitworth Institute, and was a small, lightly
constructed, Gothic edifice. Subsequently a larger and more convenient
place for the purposes of the Institution was engaged in Dock Street; a
library was provided and arrangements made for lectures and classes to be
held on the premises. In the report of the establishment, issued twelve
months after its foundation, it was stated that the members at that date
amounted to 184, being 138 full members, 20 females, and 26 youths and
apprentices; and that since its organisation 213 persons had availed
themselves of the privileges offered by the society. A considerable
number of cottage houses were erected in different parts of the town,
and not only were these tenanted directly they were completed, but the
demand for further building was still on the increase. A public abattoir,
or slaughter-house, was constructed in 1846 on the outskirts of the town,
and a notice issued, prohibiting the slaying of any cattle, sheep, or
swine anywhere except within its walls, under a penalty of £5 for every
offence. A Wesleyan chapel was also in course of erection in North Church
Street, then open warren, and finished the following year, divine service
being first conducted in it on Monday, the 24th of May, by the Rev.
George Osborne, of Liverpool. As the town gradually developed in size and
population, the attendants at this place of worship outgrew the space
provided for them, and lately, in 1875, it became necessary to enlarge
the edifice. The west gable-end was taken out and the main building
extended in that direction. Galleries were placed along the two sides
and across the east wall; the old-fashioned pulpit was superseded by a
platform situated at the centre of the west end, and extending to within
six feet of the galleries at either side. The new sittings resemble the
old ones in being closed pews, and not open benches. The chapel is now
capable of containing double the congregation it could have held previous
to the recent alterations.
In the month of February, 1847, an extraordinary high tide, rendered
more formidable by strong westerly winds, did great damage on the coast
from here to Rossall; the Landmark was so far undermined that its fall
was hourly expected; an embankment raised on the shore from that point
to Rossall suffered severely, large portions being completely washed
away; and the outbuildings of a farm called “Fenny” were overthrown
and destroyed, serious injury being done also to the land in the
neighbourhood. The more immediate vicinities of the town escaped with
comparatively little loss, the most important being that resulting
from the inundation of several fields and gardens near the Cops, and
the levelling of a few wooden sheds for labourers’ tools and other
outbuildings.
A failure in the potatoe and grain harvests of 1846 spread fearful
distress and famine throughout the United Kingdom; bread riots and
disturbances amongst the starving poor of Ireland were of frequent
occurrence, and it was to assist in alleviating the sufferings of those
unfortunate people that a subscription was started in Fleetwood during
the latter months of that year. Donations purely from the inhabitants
of the town were collected, and in January, 1847, the sum of £105 was
forwarded to the sister country. In consequence of the severe national
affliction, Her Majesty ordained that Wednesday, the 24th of the
following March, should be observed as a general fast-day. On that date
all the shops in the watering place, with one or two exceptions, were
closed; the public-houses and streets were quiet; and stillness and
solemnity everywhere apparent. The church was crowded to overflowing;
every seat was packed, and forms were brought in from the Sunday school
and placed in the aisles to create extra accommodation, so excessive
was the congregation which assembled to join in the special service for
divine intervention.
On Monday, the 20th of September, 1847, Her Majesty, Queen Victoria,
accompanied by their Royal Highnesses, the Prince Consort, the Prince
of Wales, and the Princess Royal, landed at Fleetwood _en route_ from
Scotland to London. The spot fixed for the debarkation of the royal party
was near the north end of the covered pier, upwards of 100 feet of which
were boarded off and converted into a saloon, a covered gallery being
erected leading from it to the railway, where the special train was
stationed. The floors of the saloon and gallery were covered with crimson
drugget and at the entrance to the former a beautiful triumphal arch was
formed of various coloured draperies, and adorned with the national flag
and other emblems of loyalty. The walls of the saloon were hung with
white and coloured draperies, festooned with evergreens, and British
ensigns were suspended from the roof. This elegant apartment contained a
gallery for ladies at the north end, and near to the entrance was a small
octagonal throne, having an ascent of three steps, upon which a handsome
gilded chair of state and a footstool were placed. Behind the two latter,
draperies of crimson cloth were suspended, surmounted by the Arms of Her
Majesty. On Sunday, the 19th of September, the High-sheriff of the county
of Lancaster, William Gale, esq., of Lightburne House, near Ulverston,
who had arrived in order to receive Her Majesty on the following day,
attended divine worship at St. Peter’s Church, being driven there
in his state carriage, drawn by four splendid greys and preceded by
his trumpeters and twenty-four javelin men with halberds. Monday was
ushered in with boisterous winds, a cloudy sky, and other indications of
unpropitious weather, which fortunately for the thousands who crowded
into the place from Yorkshire, Manchester, and intermediate localities,
considerably improved as the day advanced. The ships in the harbour were
draped with flags, and similar decorations floated from the windows of
almost every house. A little after three o’clock in the afternoon the
report of a signal gun announced that the royal squadron, consisting of
the Victoria and Albert, the Black Eagle, the Fairy, the Garland, and the
Undine, was in sight, and as the noble vessels steamed up the channel the
North Euston Hotel and the Pier burst out into brilliant illuminations.
As soon as the royal yacht, Victoria and Albert, had been safely moored
to the quay opposite the triumphal arch, and the gangways adjusted, the
High-sheriff, W. Gale, esq.; Lieut.-General Sir Thomas Arbuthnot, K.C.B.;
Sir P. H. Fleetwood, bart.; Major-General Sir William Warre; John Wilson
Patten, esq., M.P.; the Rev. St. Vincent Beechey, incumbent of Fleetwood;
Henry Houldsworth, esq., chairman of the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway
Company; George Wilson, esq., deputy-chairman; and Thomas H. Higgin,
esq., managing director of the Preston and Wyre district; presented their
cards, and explained to Captain Beechey the several arrangements which
had been made for Her Majesty’s conveyance to London. Afterwards Sir P.
H. Fleetwood, the Rev. St. Vincent Beechey, Frederick Kemp, and James
Crombleholme, esqrs., of Fleetwood; and Daniel Elletson, esq., of Parrox
Hall, were admitted to an interview with Lord Palmerston, who, on behalf
of Her Majesty, received the subjoined address from the inhabitants of
Fleetwood, printed in gold on white satin, and promised that it should be
laid before the Queen:—
“THE LOYAL AND DUTIFUL ADDRESS OF THE INHABITANTS OF FLEETWOOD,
TO HER MOST GRACIOUS MAJESTY THE QUEEN.
“_May it Please your Majesty_,
“We, the Inhabitants of the Town of Fleetwood, in the county of
Lancaster, desire to approach your Majesty on this auspicious
occasion, with the most sincere expression of our devoted
loyalty and attachment to your Majesty, of our deep respect and
esteem for your Majesty’s august Consort, for his Royal Highness
the Prince of Wales, and the other members of the Royal Family.
“We beg to assure your Majesty that it is with feelings of the
liveliest gratitude that we hail this Royal visit to our humble
shores, now for the first time pressed by the foot of Sovereignty.
“We rejoice to think that it has fallen to our happy lot to
be the first to welcome the Queen of England to her own Royal
Patrimony in the Duchy of Lancaster.
“We hasten to lay at your Majesty’s feet the dutiful allegiance
of the inhabitants of the youngest Town and Port in all your
Majesty’s dominions, which dates its existence from the very year
in which your Majesty first ascended the Throne of these realms;
and which, from the barren and uninhabited sands of the Fylde of
Lancashire, has already obtained some importance for its town
of 3,000 inhabitants, its Watering-place, Harbour, and Railway,
together with its College for the sons of clergymen and other
gentlemen.
“We sincerely trust, that the natural facilities and local
arrangements of this Port may be found such as shall conduce to
the safety, comfort, and convenience of your Majesty in your
royal progress. And we beseech your Majesty to receive our united
and solemn assurance, that whatever progress our Harbour and Town
may make in wealth and importance, it shall ever be our firmest
determination and most earnest prayer, that we may never cease
to boast of a loyal population, entertaining the same feeling of
devoted duty and attachment to your Majesty and the Royal Family,
which we experience at this moment, and which the grateful
remembrance of this Royal visit must ever tend to keep alive in
our bosoms.
“Signed on behalf of the Inhabitants,
“ST. VINCENT BEECHEY, M.A., Incumbent of Fleetwood.”
To the foregoing address the annexed reply was received from London in
the course of a few days:—
“Whitehall, 25th September, 1847.
“SIR,—I am directed by the Secretary, Sir George Grey, to inform
you, that the Loyal and Dutiful Address of the Inhabitants of
Fleetwood, on the occasion of Her Majesty’s late visit, has been
laid before the Queen, and that the same was very graciously
received by Her Majesty.
“I have the honour to be, Sir, your obedient servant,
(Signed)
“DENNIS LE MERCHANT.
“Rev. St. Vincent Beechey, Incumbent of Fleetwood.”
Early next morning the handsome saloon was occupied by the High-sheriff,
the Under-sheriff, and a select number of gentlemen, and shortly after
ten o’clock Her Majesty and the royal party proceeded from the yacht to
the special train amid joyful acclamations which resounded from all parts
of the shore. The moment Her Majesty set foot, for the first time, on her
Duchy of Lancaster, the royal standard was lowered from the mast-head of
the yacht, and instantly raised on the flag-staff at the custom-house of
Fleetwood, where it received a salute of twenty-one guns. After another
salute of a similar number of guns, as Her Majesty reached the end of
the gallery, the royal party entered their saloon carriage, Mr., now
Sir John, Hawskshaw, engineer to the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway
Company, took his station on the engine, and the train moved slowly off,
followed by the ringing cheers of at least ten thousand spectators.
It should be mentioned that a loyal address, written in Latin, from the
students of the Northern Church of England School, at Rossall, arrived
too late for presentation, and was afterwards forwarded to London.
In the month of July, 1847, Mr. Thomas Drummond, contractor, commenced
the erection of the present Independent Chapel in West Street, and
notwithstanding a serious delay through the destruction of the north
gable and roof-framing by a heavy gale in September, the building was
completed the same year. The edifice, which will contain about 600
persons, is a neat brick structure with side buttresses, and adorned with
a castellated tower. Beneath the chapel are spacious school-rooms for
boys and girls. The site was granted by Sir P. H. Fleetwood, and conveyed
in trust for the use of the church and congregation.
For two or three years little of special interest occurred in the
progress or condition of the town. Each summer brought its assembly of
regular visitors, upon whom many of the inhabitants depended for support,
whilst Whit-week annually inundated the warren, streets, and shores with
crowds of day-excursionists, for whose benefit sports, resembling those
to which allusion has already been made, were instituted. Regattas also
were added to the other attractions of the watering-place, but after
existing for some little time they gradually died out, either because
they failed to excite their former interest amongst the visitors, or
the public spirit of the inhabitants was tardy in providing the funds
necessary for their continuance. Houses in Albert Street, and in other
parts of the town, were slowly increasing in number, but no large demand
for dwellings bespoke a rapid rise in the prosperity or popularity of the
place, like that to which we referred a little earlier. Trade, although
comparatively steady, evinced no signs of enlargement at present, and
as a consequence fresh families hesitated to venture their fortunes in
the new land, until some more regular and reliable means of gaining a
livelihood were offered them than the precarious patronage of uncertain
visitors, many of whom, now that free access had been given to Blackpool
and Lytham through the opening of branch lines, were already being
seduced from their old allegiance to Fleetwood, and attracted to the
gayer promenades of those rival resorts.
In the month of December, 1852, and just at the Christmas season, a
fearful hurricane swept over Fleetwood; slates, chimney tops, and
boardings were torn from their fastenings, and hurled about the streets;
indeed so terrific was the violence of this gale that at its height it
was difficult for the pedestrian to avoid being forced along by its
fury in whatsoever direction the huge gusts willed. During the storm
a singular accident occurred in the harbour. The barque “Hope,” which
had arrived shortly before from America with timber, was lying in the
river attached to one of the buoys, and by some carelessness the men
employed in unloading her had neglected, on leaving their work, to
close up the large square hole near the stem of the ship, through which
the baulks of wood were discharged. The hurricane came on fiercely and
suddenly from the west, and, to the dismay of the solitary watchman who
had been left in charge of the vessel, heeled over her lightened hull
so that the swollen and boisterous tide poured wave after wave through
the unprotected aperture at her bows; a few minutes only were needed
to complete the catastrophe, for as the vessel settled in the deep, no
longer waves but continuous volumes of water rushed into her, and with
a heavy lurch she rolled over on her side, the masts and more than half
her hull being submerged. Fortunately, however, the remnant of the cargo
was sufficiently buoyant to prevent her from vanishing bodily beneath
the surface. The luckless guardian, whose feelings must have been far
from enviable, was quickly rescued from the perilous position he occupied
on the floating portion of the ship; but it was not until some weeks
afterwards that they were able, in the words of the poet Cowper,
“To weigh the vessel up.”
The “Hope,” 415 tons register, was built up the river at the old port
of Wardleys, being the only vessel of such dimensions constructed in
the shipyard there. Ten years later, on the 27th of February, 1862, this
ill-fated barque was abandoned on the high seas in a sinking condition.
In 1854 sundry improvements were effected in the extent and condition
of the place, and consisted in part of the erection of a row of model
cottages in Poulton Road, near the entrance to the town, as well as a
new police Station in West Street, comprising two dwellings for the
constables and cells for prisoners. The streets were also put in better
order, and efforts made to render the aspect of Fleetwood more finished
and pleasing than it had been during the two or three previous seasons. A
scheme for the partial drainage of the town was proposed at the assembly
of commissioners, and arrangements were entered into for the work to be
promptly carried out at an estimated cost of £1,200. Altogether a sudden
spirit of activity seemed to have superseded the lethargy or indifference
which lately had been too much visible amongst the inhabitants in all
matters of public interest, and which had already exercised a serious
and baneful influence upon the prospects of the place as a sea-side
resort. In the ensuing year the body of Primitive Methodists, which
had now become rather numerous, chiefly owing to the prosperity of the
fishing trade attracting many followers of that calling to the port,
most of whom were members of this sect, commenced and completed a chapel
in West Street. Recently it has been found necessary considerably to
enlarge the edifice, in order to furnish more accommodation for the
increasing congregation. Although the erection of this chapel and of
the other buildings mentioned above mark undoubtedly an era of progress
in the history of the town, still we are constrained to admit that the
wants they supplied were not brought about by the spread of Fleetwood’s
reputation as a watering-place. From the first little had been done to
supplement its natural attractions by laying out elegant promenades, or
improving the state of the Cops or Poulton Road, so as to render them
agreeable rural walks for many who, after a time, grew weary of watching
the eddies and dimples of the river’s current
“Play round the bows of ships,
That steadily at anchor rode;”
or of daily rambling where the receding waves left a broad floor of
firm, unbroken sands. True, a carriage-drive and foot-way of some
pretensions to beauty had been constructed along the north shore in 1845,
but the storms we have described, and other heavy seas, had torn breaches
in its wall, and made sad havoc amongst its light sandy material,
completely ruining the fair appearance of the shoreward grass-plat, and
threatening the road with that very destruction which has since overtaken
it through the continued negligence of the residents or governing
powers. There was no public hall, such as that once contemplated, where
a feeling of fellowship might be engendered amongst the visitors. The
regattas instituted for the interest and amusement it was hoped they
would excite amongst the spectators were, as previously stated, conducted
in a desultory manner for a few years, and then abandoned; whilst the
land sports during the week of high festival were discontinued as the
Whit-week excursion trains found other outlets more attractive than
Fleetwood for their pleasure-seeking thousands; but it was not until the
North Euston Hotel was opened for military purposes, that all hope of
reviving the fading reputation of the town as a summer resort was finally
relinquished. For some little time after the foregoing transfer, the
bathing vans, as if to keep up the fiction of the season, re-appeared
with uninterrupted regularity each year upon the beach, but even that
last connecting link between the deserted town, as far as visitors were
concerned, and its former popularity, was doomed shortly to be broken,
for the ancient machines, never renewed, and seldom repaired, were at
length unequal to the rough journey over the cobble stones, and crumbled
to pieces on the way, expiring miserably in the cause of duty, from old
age and unmerited neglect.
In the early part of 1859, a lifeboat, thirty feet in length, was
stationed here by the National Lifeboat Institution, and in the month of
September in the same year, a neat and substantial house was built for it
on the beach opposite the North Euston Hotel. After doing good service
along the coast, in rescuing several crews whose vessels had stranded
amidst the breakers on the outlying sand-banks, this boat was superseded,
in 1862, by one of larger dimensions. In January, 1863, the erection
on the beach was swept away by the billows during a heavy gale, and in
the course of a few months the present structure in Pharos Street, far
removed from the reach of the destructive element, was raised, and the
lifeboat transferred to its safer keeping.
The census of the residents taken in 1861 showed a total of 4,061
persons, being an increase of 940 over the number in 1851, and of 1,228
over that in 1841. Hence it is seen that during the long period of twenty
years, almost from its commencement to the date now under consideration,
through fluctuating seasons of prosperous and depressed trade, the town
had succeeded in adding no more than 1,228 individuals to the roll of
its inhabitants, many of whom would be the offspring of the original
settlers. Truly the foregoing picture is not a very satisfactory one to
review when we call to mind the bright auspices under which the place
was started,—the early and ample railway accommodation, the short and
well-beaconed channel, and the safe and spacious harbour; but could
we only add the extensive area of docks, the Fleetwood of 1871 would
doubtless have presented a widely different aspect to that we are here
called upon to portray. It is scarcely just, however, to lay all the
burden of this slow rate of progress on the want of suitable berth
provision for heavily-laden vessels coming to the harbour. Fleetwood had
other means of extending its circle besides those derived from its happy
situation for shipping trade. Its merits as a watering-place were allowed
on every hand; eulogistic versions of its special charms were circulated
through the public prints; strangers flocked each summer to its shores,
and were enchanted with their visits; but after a while the refreshing
novelty wore off, and the puny efforts made by those whose interests in
the prosperity of the town were greatest, failed to fill the inevitable
void the waning newness left in its train. In the meantime other season
places, urged on by emulation, enhanced the beauties of nature by works
of art; promenades, walks, drives, and, at no distant period, piers,
were constructed to meet the popular demands, and in that way the tide
of visitors was turned from the non-progressive and now over familiar
attractions of Fleetwood to swell the annually increasing streams which
overflowed the rising towns of Blackpool and Lytham. The year 1861 will
ever be remarkable in the history of Fleetwood as being the date at which
the town was for the first time practically diverted from that line of
progress which its founder, in too sanguine expectancy, had early marked
out for it. Its decadence as a summer resort had been too pronounced to
allow of any hope being entertained that a revulsion was probable, or
even possible, in the feelings and tastes of the multitude, which would
again people its shores, during the warm months, with a heterogeneous
crowd of valetudinarians and pleasure-seekers. The noble hotel which
had been erected by Sir P. H. Fleetwood on the northern margin of the
shore, in a style of architecture and at an expense which bore witness
to the firm confidence of the baronet in the brilliant future awaiting
the infant town, had been sold to Government, as previously stated, in
1859, but it was not until two years afterwards that the first detachment
of officers took up their quarters in the newly-established School of
Musketry, and Fleetwood awoke to the novel sound of martial music and
the reputation of being a military centre. Rumour, also, had for several
months been active in circulating a report that the sward lying between
the Landmark and the cemetery, and a field at the corner of Cemetery
Road, had attracted the eye of Government as a suitable locality whereon
to place barracks and lay out a rifle-practice ground; and in February,
1861, doubt on the subject was no longer admissible, for the contract to
carry out the fresh project was let during that month to the gentleman
who had been engaged in the necessary alterations at the North Euston
Hotel. The scheme involved the creation of residential accommodation in
the field just indicated for a small force of 220 men and 12 officers,
some of the quarters being specially designed for married soldiers,
in addition to which lavatories, a canteen, mess-room, magazine, and
guard-house, were to be erected. The work was entered on without delay,
and at no long interval, about ten months, or rather more, the whole
of the buildings were completed, and soon afterwards occupied. The
practice-ground was marked out for range firing, and butts provided,
where the targets were shortly stationed. A spacious hospital, it should
be mentioned, was constructed almost contemporaneously with the main
portion of the barrack buildings.
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.
On the 1st of January, 1875, a number of gentlemen, denominated the
Fleetwood Estate Company, Limited, and consisting of Sir Jno. Hawkshaw,
knt., of Westminster; Thos. H. Carr, J. M. Jameson, C.E., and Philip
Turner, esqrs., of Fleetwood; Capt. Henry Turner and Sturges Meek,
esq., C.E., of Manchester; Thomas Barnes, esq., of Farnworth; James
Whitehead, esq., of Preston; Joshua Radcliffe, esq., of Rochdale; Samuel
Burgess, esq., of Altringham; William Barber Buddicom, esq., C.E., of
Penbedw, Mold; and Samuel Fielden, esq., of Todmorden; purchased the
lands, buildings, manorial rights and privileges (including wreckage,
market-tolls, and advowson of the church), of the late Sir P. H.
Fleetwood, in and near this town, from the trustees of his property,
for £120,000, subscribed in equal shares. Although negotiations were
satisfactorily concluded in 1874, it was not until the month just stated
that the actual transfer was effected, and the gentlemen enumerated
became lords of the soil. We must not omit to name that a portion of the
Fleetwood estate, amounting to about 600 acres, lying between the old and
present railway embankments, had been acquired in a similar manner, for
£25,000, in 1871, by the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway Company. Under
the new proprietorship leases for building purposes are sold or let, as
formerly, for terms of 999 years.
In closing this account of Fleetwood as a watering-place and town, and
before delineating its career as a seaport, it should be stated that the
census of the inhabitants taken in 1871 yielded a total of 4,428 persons,
of whom 2,310 were males, and 2,118 females; but in the limited period
which has elapsed since that result was obtained the population has grown
considerably, and the increase during a similar interval after any of the
previous official returns cannot be taken as a criterion of the present
numerical strength of the residents.
Fleetwood was started in 1839 as a distinct port with customs established
by an order of the Treasury; subsequently in 1844 it was reduced to a
creek under Preston; then two years later elevated to a sub-port; and
finally in 1849 reinstated in its first position of independence. The
iron wharf was completed in 1841, and is constructed of iron piles,
each of which weighs two and three quarter tons, driven seventeen feet
below low water mark, and faced with plates of the same metal, seven or
eight inches thick, which are rivetted to the flanges of the piles, and
filled in at the back with concrete. The wooden pier, about 400 feet in
length, and abutting on the north extremity of this massive structure,
was finished in 1845, and roofed over shortly afterwards. On the 22nd of
July in the ensuing year, the last stone of the wharf wall, erected by
Mr. Julian A. Tarner, of Fleetwood, and extending fourteen hundred feet
from the south end of the iron wharf in the direction of the railway, was
laid; and at the same time the coal-shoots connected with the new portion
of the quay were approaching completion.
The improvement of the harbour was entrusted to Captain Denham, R.N.,
F.R.S., under whose superintendence the seaward channel of the river was
buoyed and beaconed, being rendered safe for night navigation by the
erection of a marine lighthouse, in 1840, at the foot of Wyre, nearly
two miles from the mouth of the river at Fleetwood. This lighthouse was
the first one erected on Mitchell’s screw-pile principle. The house in
which the lightkeepers lived was hexagonal in form, and measured 22
feet in diameter, from angle to angle, and nine feet in height. It was
furnished with an outside door and three windows; and divided within
into two compartments, one of which was supplied with a fireplace and
other necessaries, whilst the second was used purely as a dormitory. The
lantern was twelve-sided, 10 feet in diameter and 8 feet in height to the
top of the window, the illumination it produced being raised about 31
feet above the level of the highest spring-tide, and 44½ feet above that
of half-tide. A few years since, in 1870, this lighthouse was carried
away by a vessel, and for some time a light-ship occupied the station,
but subsequently another edifice, similar in appearance and construction
to the original one, was raised about two hundred yards south of the same
site.
Captain Denham, having accomplished his survey of the river and harbour,
issued the following report in 1840:—
“The river Wyre assumes a river character near Bleasdale Forest,
in Lancashire, and after crossing the line of road between
Preston and Lancaster, at Garstang, descends as a tortuous
stream for five miles westward; then, in another five mile
reach of one-third of a mile wide, north-westward, sweeping
the light of Skippool, near Poulton-le-Fylde, on its way, and
bursting forth from the narrows at Wardleys, upon a north trend,
into the tidal estuary which embraces an area of three miles
by two, producing a combined reflux of back-water, equal to
fifty million cubical yards, and dipping with such a powerful
_under-scour_ during the first half-ebb, as to preserve a natural
basin just within its coast-line orifice, capable of riding
ships of eighteen or twenty feet draft, at _low water spring
tides_; perfectly sheltered from all winds, and within a cable’s
length of the railway terminus, nineteen miles from Preston,
and in connection with Manchester, Lancaster, Liverpool, and
London. It is on the western margin of this natural dock that the
town, wharfs, and warehouses are rising into notice, under the
privilege of a distinct port, and abreast of which, the shores
aptly narrow the _back-water escape_ into a bottle-neck strait
of but one-sixth the width of the estuary, so impelling it down
a two-mile channel as scarcely to permit diminishment of its
three and four-mile velocity until actually blended with the
_cross-set_ of the Lune and Morecambe Bay ebb waters. Thus, the
original short course of Wyre to the open sea, is freed from the
usual river deposit, its silting matter being kept in suspension
until transferred and hurried forth at right angles by the ocean
stream. It is, therefore, the peculiar feature and fortune of
Wyre that, instead of a _bar_ intervening between its bed or exit
trough and the open sea, a precipitous river shelf, equal to a
fall of forty-seven feet in one-third of a mile, exists.”
The first steam dredger, of 20 horse power, was launched on the 21st
of January, 1840, and the important work of deepening and clearing the
channel at once commenced.
At a meeting of the Tidal Harbour Commissioners held at the port on the
21st October, 1845, it was stated that the harbour dues were—for coasting
vessels, 1d. per ton, and for foreign ships, 3d. per ton; whilst the
light charges were in all cases 3d. per ton. At the same time it was
observed that the whole of the dues amounted in 1835 to £36 2s. 0d., and
in 1845 to £528 9s. 5d. (In 1855 the dues on similar accounts reached
£1,520; and in 1875, £2,427.) The Walney light was reported to be a great
tax on vessels coming to Fleetwood, as they were charged 3d. a ton per
year, commencing on the 1st of January; so that if a vessel arrived at
the port on the 28th of December, a charge was made for the year just
closing, and a further sum demanded from the craft on going out in the
month of January. This was not the case with regard to similar taxes in
other localities, where one payment exempted a ship for twelve months;
and consequently the regulation acted in some degree as a deterrent to
traders, who might under a more liberal arrangement have been induced to
have availed themselves in larger numbers of the facilities offered by
the new haven. The total length of useful wharfage in 1845 extended over
1,000 feet, being well supplied with posts and rings, and possessing no
less than sixteen hand cranes, thirteen of which were for the purpose
of unloading vessels at the quay. There was a depth of five feet at
low-water spring tides from the marine lighthouse, at the foot of Wyre,
to the wharf, and it was proposed to dredge until ten feet had been
obtained.
On examining the state of the shipping trade of the harbour during the
year 1845, it is discovered that the imports and exports of foreign
produce and home manufacture, respectively, far outstripped those of any
of the few preceding years. There had been vessels laden with guano from
Ichaboe, sugar from the West Indies, flax from Russia, and timber from
both the Baltic and Canada, making in all twenty-three ships of large
tonnage, only two of which returned with cargoes, in far from complete
stages of fulness, from the warehouses of Manchester, Preston, or other
adjacent commercial towns. The coasting trade had also given earnest of
its progressive tendencies by a remarkable increase in the number of
discharges and loadings over those of the previous twelve months, and
notwithstanding the four hundred feet of extra wharfage, forming the
wooden pier, just opened, the demands for quay berths could not always be
supplied.
New bonding warehouses were erected towards the close of 1845 at the
corner of Adelaide and Dock Streets, the temporary ones previously in
use being abandoned, and comprised three stories capable of providing
accommodation for 400 hogsheads of sugar at one time, as well as spacious
vaults and other conveniences for duty-bearing articles. The goods
allowed to be warehoused were wine, spirits, tea, tobacco, East India
goods, and goods in general.
In 1846 prosperity continued to reward the efforts put forth by the
authorities of the young haven. Twelve vessels arrived from America with
timber, and nine similarly laden from the Baltic; tobacco, sugar, and
other commodities were imported in two ships from the Indies; but the
event which kindled the brightest anticipations in the breasts of the
inhabitants and others interested in the success of the port was the
arrival of the barque “Diogenes,” chartered by Mr. Evans, of Chipping,
with the first cargo of cotton ever landed at Fleetwood. In it was
welcomed an introduction to the chief trade of the county, and a happy
augury of future activity in an import which would not only of itself
materially assist the financial condition of the harbour, but would also
be the means of spreading its reputation throughout the commercial world,
and extending its field of action to a degree which could scarcely be
foretold. How these pleasant visions have been fulfilled the reader is
perhaps aware, but if not a glance at the tables of coasting and foreign
trade, given a little later, will furnish the necessary information. On
the 12th of February, immediately the novel consignment just referred
to, which “afforded a suitable opportunity,” had come to hand, a public
dinner was given by their fellow-townsmen to Frederick Kemp and John
Laidlay, esqrs., as a mark of respect for their assiduous efforts to
develope the mercantile resources of the place. During the evening Mr.
Laidlay remarked that “within a short period the trading intercourse
of the port had extended to various and distant portions of the world,
the products of Africa, the West Indies, and North America having been
imported; and stretching our arm still further, a cargo from the East
Indies may be stated as almost within our grasp.” Mr. Evans, in alluding
to his transatlantic shipment, affirmed that in bringing it by way of
Fleetwood, he had effected a saving of at least a farthing per pound; and
continued,—“When the order was given, it could not have been imported
into Liverpool without loss.”
In the latter part of the year a testimonial was presented by the
inhabitants of the town to Henry Smith, esq., of Fleetwood, manager
of the North Lancashire Steam Navigation Company, as a tribute to his
untiring and successful attempts to promote steamship traffic and advance
the interests of the place, and in the course of a speech made on the
occasion, Mr. Smith said:—“In 1842 I first visited Fleetwood at the
request of the London board of directors, it then presented a most gloomy
aspect—a splendid modern ruin, no shipping, no steamers, no passengers
for the trains, and yet it required no very keen discernment to learn
that all the facilities for trade and commerce existed here, but life was
wanting; here was one of the finest and safest harbours, certainly the
best lighted and marked port on the west coast, being as easily made by
night as by day, with that wonderful natural phenomenon, the Lune Deep,
making it a safety port to take in fog by sounding—a thing having no
parallel in England.... What changes have we witnessed here since 1842?
I have seen your population without employment, and now there is more
work than there are hands to perform—the wages from one shilling a day
have advanced to two shillings and sixpence and three shillings; then
indeed was your port without a ship, now there is a general demand for
more quay room, although since then upwards of 1,000 feet have been added
to the wharfage; then your railway receipts were £100, this year they
have attained £1,500 per week.” This unfortunate gentleman was killed in
the June following, through a collision on the London and North Western
Railway; and there can be no hesitation in affirming that, had his career
of usefulness and activity not been thus prematurely cut short, the trade
of Fleetwood would have developed, in the long period which has elapsed
since his death, into something more important than it presents to day.
The following authentic returns of the whole business of the port in 1846
forms a favourable comparison with those of 1840, the year in which the
railway was opened, when they amounted to 57,051 tons of imports, the
exports being proportionately small:—
COASTING.
IMPORTS. EXPORTS.
1846. January 59 ships 11,564 tons. 59 ships 11,875 tons.
” February 60 ” 11,251 ” 62 ” 11,208 ”
” March 72 ” 11,252 ” 70 ” 11,289 ”
” April 63 ” 10,971 ” 66 ” 11,098 ”
” May 61 ” 11,539 ” 121 ” 11,790 ”
” June 61 ” 10,637 ” 97 ” 14,715 ”
” July 81 ” 13,413 ” 94 ” 14,274 ”
” August 80 ” 13,194 ” 93 ” 16,042 ”
” September 94 ” 13,515 ” 65 ” 11,609 ”
” October 64 ” 11,472 ” 71 ” 13,158 ”
” November 63 ” 11,094 ” 51 ” 8,619 ”
” December 41 ” 7,785 ” not obtained.
----------------------- -----------------------
799 ships 137,687 tons. 849 ships 135,677 tons.
Foreign 24 ” 6,935 ” 13 ” 2,703 ”
----------------------- -----------------------
Total 823 ships 144,622 tons. 862 ships 138,380 tons.
The animated appearance of the harbour was described in 1846 by a
gentleman connected with the town, as here quoted:—“With two Indiamen
at their berths, the splendid steamers alongside, schooners, small
craft innumerable dotting the river, wharfmen, porters, etc., removing
merchandise from vessel to wagon, and _vice versa_, the cranes in
constant operation, goods-trains arriving and preparing for departure,
give the pier-head and harbour an air of bustle and activity, and are
themselves a pleasing indication of what our commerce may become; of the
trade which vigilance, patience, and effort, may secure to the harbour
and railway.”
The twelve months of 1847 proved anything but a re-assuring time. The
foreign imports suddenly fell off to six cargoes, four of which were
timber from America, the two remaining being guano and timber from
Hamburg. One left for Mexico and Hong Kong, laden with British goods,
silk, wine, and spirits from the bonding warehouses. The coasting returns
also showed a diminution of almost fifty discharges at the quay, as
compared with the previous year, and a corresponding decrease in the
exports; but in spite of the sudden dispiriting experience, we find
from the annexed extract out of the annual official report concerning
the harbour, that the future was regarded hopefully:—“There is every
probability of the business increasing at this Port, as an extensive
trade with the Baltic is expected, and most of the goods now in warehouse
under bond will no doubt be taken out for home consumption during the
present year.” 1848 was marked by an increase of nine in the number of
foreign importations; and of the fifteen large vessels which arrived,
one was from France with wines and spirits for re-exportation to Mexico,
two were from the Baltic and Hamburg with timber, eleven from Canada
with timber, and one from Russia with flax. The importers of timber
carried on, and used sedulous efforts to extend, a healthy retail trade
in the adjoining districts and in the west of Yorkshire. The export
trade was still inconsiderable, although gradually increasing, but
it was expected, from the convenient situation of the harbour to the
manufacturing towns, and the local dues upon vessels and goods being much
lower than at other ports, that both it and the imports would, before
many years had passed over, become very extensive, more especially as
the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway Company had recently acquired a
right to the line between Fleetwood and Preston, and were offering every
facility and inducement to shippers and manufacturers, with the view of
making this haven the inlet and outlet for goods to and from the towns
and villages on their several lines. During the twelve months eighteen
small importations of paper from the Isle of Man took place, and it was
necessary for the officers connected with the customs to keep a strict
guard upon the wharf to prevent the smuggling of that and other dutiable
articles by the numerous passenger and coasting vessels from the above
island, as well as from Scotland and Ireland.
In 1849 the foreign imports were more than doubled, the excess being
chiefly due to the increase of timber-laden vessels. Six of the total
number sailed outwards with cargoes of warehoused goods, and nine with
coal and salt. The coasting trade underwent a most remarkable rise
of about four hundred cargoes inwards, and two hundred outwards, the
principal of the former being iron ore, pig iron, and, more occasionally,
grain; and of the latter, coal. The barque “Isabella” discharged 609
bales of cotton at Fleetwood from America in July, 1850, being the
second cargo landed here, and later in the year another consignment of
400 bales was brought by the same vessel. In 1851 the only novel feature
was the arrival of a large shipload of currants; the value of British
goods exported amounted to £90,000, besides which there were considerable
quantities of merchandise sent outwards from bond. The main foreign
business in 1852 was in timber and dried fruits, but such importations
were seriously diminished during the ensuing year by the high price
of the latter and by a temporary misunderstanding between the railway
company and one of the chief timber merchants, through which several
consignments intended for the Wyre were diverted elsewhere; in addition
five large cargoes were lost at sea and not replaced. The coasting trade
continued to expand until 1856, when its zenith was reached, since when
it has been characterised by a gradual decline, and the last report,
that of 1875, is as little encouraging as any, with one exception, of
its degenerate predecessors. The fourth freight of cotton, consisting of
1,327 bales, made its appearance in the ship “Cleopatra,” in the spring
of 1857, and was consigned to Messrs. Benjamin Whitworth and Brothers, of
Manchester, etc. Shortly afterwards, barely two weeks, the “Favourite”
arrived with a further consignment for the same firm, and gave the signal
for the real commencement of a prosperous trade in that commodity with
America, which rapidly developed until the outbreak of civil war in the
transatlantic continent brought it somewhat abruptly to a close in 1862.
In a comparative statement of charges between Liverpool and Fleetwood,
issued during that flourishing time, it was demonstrated that on a vessel
of 500 tons, cotton in and coals out, the following saving in favour of
this port could be effected:—
£ s. d.
Charges on Ship 66 0 0
” on Cargo inwards 96 8 4
” on Cargo outwards 8 6 8
---------
Total saving £170 15 0
Supposing the cargo to have been consigned to parties in Preston, a
further advantage, amounted to £230 0s. 0d. in carriage would be gained,
raising the entire saving to £400 15s. 0d.
During late years, the business firm just alluded to, whose interests in,
and efforts for, the welfare of the port have so long been unflagging,
has made a vigorous attempt to revive the American cotton importations.
For the last few seasons several of their shipments, about ten, have
annually arrived, and there is every prospect that when the dock is
completed many more vessels will be chartered. A large shed for the
reception of cotton was erected in 1875, in Adelaide Street, by Messrs.
B. Whitworth and Bros., who have also established a permanent office in
the town.
In 1859 the trade between Fleetwood and Belfast had developed to such
an extent that a larger covered area for the temporary warehousing,
loading, and discharging of goods was urgently called for, and towards
the close of that year a space of about 190 feet in length, by 30 feet
wide, was walled in and roofed over on the quay, adjoining the building
then in use for the same purposes. Four years later, in 1863, two
steam cranes were placed on the wharf by the North Lancashire Steam
Navigation Company. Subsequently other cranes, working on a similar
principle, have been added to those experimental ones, and gradually the
old system of hand-labour at the quay-side has been superseded by the
adoption of this more expeditious and economical plan. Shortly before
the last-named facilities had augmented the conveniences of the wharf,
a fresh description of mooring appliance was laid down in the harbour,
and consisted of two longitudinal ground chains of 1,000 feet each,
attached at intervals of 50 feet to two sets of Mitchell’s screws, which
were worked into the clay in the bed of the stream. The bridle chains,
shackled above to the mooring buoys, were secured below to the ground
links between the attachments of the screws, the buoys being so arranged
that each vessel was held stem and stern, instead of swinging round with
the tide, or stranding with one end on the large central sandbank, as
heretofore.
From 1862 to the present date, the story of the haven, with the
exceptions of the trawling fleet and the Belfast line, which will be
treated of directly, is not one which will awaken envy in the breasts
of those whose interests are bound up in rival ports, nor indeed can it
be a source of congratulation to those whose interests might ordinarily
be supposed to be best promoted by its prosperity. It is true that the
foreign trade for seven years after 1862 was in a state of fluctuation
rather than actual decline, but the three succeeding years were
stationary at the low figure of 21 imports each, after which there was
a slight improvement, raising the annual numbers to 24, 32, and, in
1875, 33, due more to the staunch allegiance of Messrs. B. Whitworth and
Bros., whose cotton again appeared on the wharf, than to any inducements
offered to them or others by increased facilities or more appropriate
accommodation. The coasting trade has already been referred to, so that
there is no necessity to recapitulate facts but just laid before our
readers. It is proper, however, to mention a few statistics respecting
the trade in exports of coal, the chief business, and below are given
the numbers of tons shipped, mostly to Ireland, in each of the specified
years:—
1855 31,490
1860 23,652
1865 16,225
1866 12,315
1867 10,912
1868 6,809
1869 24,741
1870 43,653
1871 51,473
1872 54,794
1873 55,447
1874 56,939
1875 71,353
The large and sudden increase from 1869 is mainly owing to several screw
steamships having been extensively engaged in the traffic, and there is
every probability, from the addition within the last few months of a new
and handsome coal-screw, and other indications, that this branch of
commerce will continue to develope with equal, if not greater, rapidity.
Again, it should be remembered, when considering the falling off in the
numerical strength of the coasting vessels trading here, that those
now plying are of much greater carrying capacity than formerly, and
consequently the actual exports and imports have not suffered diminution
in anything like the same proportion as the ships themselves. A series
of tabular statements of all the most important and interesting matters
connected with the harbour from the earliest obtainable dates has been
prepared from the official returns made to the custom-house during
each twelve months, and subjoined will be found a list of the vessels
retained on the register as belonging to the port at the end of the years
indicated, with their tonnages and the number of hands forming the crews:—
Steam Sailing
Year. Vessels. Tonnage. Hands. Vessels. Tonnage. Hands.
1850 3 739 49 15 560 54
1851 3 739 49 21 856 77
1852 3 739 49 24 1495 104
1853 4 806 54 31 4002 196
1854 2 560 32 41 5337 261
1855 3 586 35 49 4933 267
1856 4 978 52 51 5458 280
1857 3 952 49 71 7839 391
1858 4 968 54 79 8168 427
1859 4 968 54 76 6930 392
1860 4 968 54 84 12075 570
1861 5 1508 74 93 14760 640
1862 4 1249 62 89 13957 602
1863 4 1249 62 85 12147 567
1864 5 1355 71 81 10338 513
1865 6 1372 74 83 9757 479
1866 6 1372 74 80 8831 454
1867 6 1779 90 77 9265 451
1868 6 1779 90 85 11226 515
1869 5 1239 70 99 12601 587
1870 7 1797 93 104 12546 609
1871 7 1571 81 115 13642 690
1872 7 1571 81 133 15161 789
1873 7 1994 92 150 19379 947
1874 7 1994 122 162 22598 1045
1875 9 2671 160 165 22655 1061
The foregoing tables, taken by themselves, would seem to imply that
from the year 1868, the business of the place had been characterised by
a rapid and most satisfactory increase, but unfortunately for such a
deduction, the ships registered as belonging to any port afford no clue
to the number actually engaged in traffic there, hence it happens that
many vessels hailing from Fleetwood, as their maternal port, are seldom
to be observed in its waters.
The following are the annual records of the foreign and coasting trade of
the harbour, in which the Belfast and all other steamships are included
under the latter heading:—
VESSELS WITH CARGOES.
FOREIGN TRADE. COASTING TRADE.
Year. Inwards. Outwards. Inwards. Outwards.
1844 8 1 436 327
1845 23 2 580 473
1846 24 13 799 927
1847 6 1 752 913
1848 15 5 873 857
1849 36 15 1247 1059
1850 38 14 986 1014
1851 35 13 943 932
1852 32 12 951 823
1853 22 7 1093 919
1854 23 6 1119 983
1855 21 4 1101 971
1856 10 4 1181 1120
1857 18 7 1130 1150
1858 26 13 1020 986
1859 38 20 1023 865
1860 71 30 1123 813
1861 68 28 953 713
1862 41 7 884 560
1863 27 10 795 615
1864 35 6 783 610
1865 29 2 868 623
1866 39 2 762 612
1867 37 4 737 573
1868 26 3 689 512
1869 28 3 730 512
1870 21 4 694 573
1871 20 6 545 526
1872 21 3 697 621
1873 24 3 696 670
1874 32 6 703 587
1875 33 2 659 589
The particulars given below, concerning the vessels belonging to
Fleetwood, will form an interesting and useful accompaniment to the
foregoing:—
New Vessels[86] Broken-up Transferred to
Registered. Lost at Sea. (condemned). other Ports.
Year. No. Tons. No. Tons. No. Tons. No. Tons.
1850 — — — — — — — —
1851 — — 1 83 — — 1 27
1852 — — — — — — — —
1853 3 199 2 62 — — 1 44
1854 1 128 — — — — 8 1003
1855 2 104 1 595 — — 5 562
1856 3 484 1 23 — — 4 294
1857 8 364 1 26 — — — —
1858 5 239 4 1050 — — 1 54
1859 3 97 5 739 — — 3 726
1860 3 865 — — 1 29 2 74
1861 8 1012 — — — — 7 518
1862 5 534 1 416 — — 12 1844
1863 2 226 4 1308 — — 4 318
1864 2 201 9 3363 — — 3 666
1865 2 273 1 538 — — 2 517
1866 4 520 5 1449 1 16 2 64
1867 3 439 6 605 — — 2 214
1868 5 588 — — — — — —
1869 6 512 1 518 — — — —
1870 8 1610 2 683 2 65 1 424
1871 10 991 — — — — 2 339
1872 15 1588 3 427 — — 1 42
1873 19 2921 6 1966 — — 2 120
1874 15 2928 5 2304 1 32 — —
1875 9 2410 4 2021 1 16 4 300
Now that the dock is no longer a mere word and promise, but has at
length a definite signification and a material existence, there is every
appearance that those into whose hands the fortunes of the port may be
said to have been entrusted have no intention of any dilatory action in
furthering the interests of their charge. Already, in 1875, a powerful
steam dredger has been purchased at a cost of £12,000 and set to its
labours in the channel and harbour. This dredger, which has superseded
the older and much smaller one, launched in 1840 and used until
recently, was built by Simonds and Company, of Renfrew, on the Clyde,
and is of 100-horse power, being capable of raising 250 tons of sand,
shingle, etc., in an hour. In addition it is able to work in twenty-six
feet of water, whereas the original one was obliged to wait until the
tide had ebbed to fourteen feet before operations could be commenced, so
that really the work which can be accomplished by the new machine is out
of all proportion to that which its predecessor could effect. Several
iron pontoons, or lighters, furnished with false bottoms to expedite
the business of discharging them, formerly performed by hand and spade,
have also been obtained; and the bed of the river seaward from Fleetwood
is rapidly being relieved of its superabundance of tidal deposits and
scourings, which is carried by the lighters beyond the marine lighthouse
at the foot of the Wyre and deposited in the Lune.
Steamboat traffic was, and is, the most important branch of shipping
connected with the port, but notwithstanding the support and
encouragement which has been so freely extended to the Belfast line,
sundry attempts by the same company to establish sea-communications
between Fleetwood and other places have invariably ended in complete
failures. In the context we have endeavoured to trace a brief outline
of the steamship trade of the harbour from its earliest days up to our
time. The North Lancashire Steam Navigation Company was established in
1843, and commenced operations by running the “Prince of Wales” and the
“Princess Alice,” two large and fast iron steamships for that date,
between this port and Belfast on each Wednesday and Saturday evening, the
return trips being made on the Monday and Friday. In that year, however,
the number of trips was increased to three per week, the fares for the
single journey being, saloon, 15s.; and deck, 3s. Another steamship the
“Robert Napier,” of 220 horse-power, sailed also from Fleetwood in 1843,
every Friday morning, at 10 a.m. for Londonderry, calling at Portrush,
and returned on Tuesday, the fares being, cabin, 20s.; and deck, 5s. In
1844 we find that communications, through the exertion and enterprise of
the above company, were open between Fleetwood and Belfast, Londonderry,
Ardrossan, and Dublin, respectively. The Ardrossan line consisted of two
new iron steamboats, “Her Majesty,” and the “Royal Consort,” each of
which was 300 tons register, and 350 horse-power, the fares being, cabin,
17s.; and deck, 4s. The Dublin trip was performed once, and afterwards
twice, a week each way, by the iron steamship “Hibernia,” which called
off Douglas, Isle of Man, to land passengers, but after a year’s trial
this communication was closed. In the summer of 1845, an Isle of Man line
was opened by the steamship “Orion,” which ran daily, except Sundays;
and at the same season the Belfast boats commenced to make the double
journey four days a week, whilst the Londonderry route was abandoned.
As early as 1840, on the completion of the Preston and Wyre Railway, a
daily steam communication had been established to Bardsea, as the nearest
point to Ulverston and the Lakes; and in the month of September, 1846,
on the completion of Piel Pier, it was transferred to that harbour, and
continued by the steamship “Ayrshire Lassie,” of 100 horse-power, the
fares being, saloon, 2s.; and deck, 1s. In the following year this boat
was superseded by a new steamer, the “Helvellyn,” of 50 tons register and
75 horse-power, which continued to ply for many years, in fact, almost
until this summer line was closed, at a comparatively recent date, about
eight or ten years ago. The Fleetwood and Ardrossan steamers discontinued
running in 1847, and at the same time an extra boat, the “Fenella,” was
placed on the Isle of Man route, whilst the Belfast trips were reduced
to three double journeys per week. After a few years experience the Isle
of Man line, a season one only, was given up; but the Belfast trade,
continually growing, soon obliged the company to increase the number of
trips, and step by step to enlarge and improve the boat accommodation. We
need not trace through its different stages the gradual and satisfactory
progress of this line, but our object will be sufficiently attained
by stating that the two steamships were shortly increased to three.
Afterwards larger and finer boats, having greater power, took the places
of the original ones, and at the present day the fleet consists of four
fine steamers of fully double the capacity of the original ones, which
cross the channel from each port every evening except Sunday.
In the year 1874 the whole of the interests of Frederick Kemp, esq.,
J.P., of Bispham Lodge, in the Fleetwood and Belfast steam line were
acquired by the Lancashire and Yorkshire and London and North Western
Railway Companies, at that time owners of the larger share, and now
practically sole proprietors. Up to the date of this transaction the
vendor had been intimately and personally associated with the traffic as
managing-owner from its first institution, in addition to which he was
the chief promoter of the Ardrossan and Isle of Man routes.
With the solitary exception of the service whose progress has just been
briefly traced out, there is perhaps no single branch of industry which
has assisted so ably in maintaining and stimulating such prosperity as
the town of Fleetwood has enjoyed, throughout its chequered career,
as the fishing traffic. In the earliest years of the seaport, shortly
before the Belfast steamer communication was established, a second pilot
boat, named the “Pursuit,” arrived in the river from Cowes, but finding
little occupation the crew provided themselves with a trawl-net and
turned their long periods of vigil to profitable account by its use.
This sensible plan of launching out into another field of labour when
opportunities of prosecuting their more legitimate avocation failed them
was not of long duration, probably no more than a few months, for on the
Irish line of steamships commencing to ply the pilots secured berths as
second officers, and their boat was laid up. The “Pursuit” soon became
a tender to a government ship engaged in surveying; and about ten or
twelve months later was purchased by some gentlemen, denominated the
Fleetwood Fishing Company, and, together with four more boats, hired
from North Meols, Southport, sent out on fishing excursions. At the end
of one year the hired sloops were discharged, and five similar craft
bought by the company, thus making a fleet of six smacks belonging to
the place, connected with the trawling trade. In the course of three
or four years the whole of the boats were sold, as the traffic had not
proved so remunerative a venture as at first anticipated; and one only
remained in the harbour, being purchased by Mr. Robert Roskell, of this
place. Shortly afterwards a Scotch smack arrived from Kirkcudbright,
and in about twelve months the two boats were joined by three or four
from North Meols, owned for the most part by a family named Leadbetter,
which settled here. Almost simultaneously another batch of fishing
craft made its appearance from the east coast and took up a permanent
station at Fleetwood. The success which attended the expeditions of the
deep-sea trawlers was not long in being rumoured abroad and attracting
others, who were anxious to participate in an undertaking capable of
producing such satisfactory results. Year by year the dimensions of the
originally small fleet were developed as new-comers appeared upon the
scene, and added their boats to those already actively prosecuting the
trade. To trace minutely each gradation in the prosperous progress of
this line of commerce would be wearisome to the reader, and is in no
way necessary to the object we have in view. It will be sufficient for
the purpose to state that in 1860 the number of fishing smacks on the
Fleetwood station amounted to thirty-two, varying in tonnage from 25 to
50 tons each and built at an average cost of £500 each, the lowest being
£400 and the highest £1,000. The following will illustrate the plan by
which men in the humble sphere of fishermen were enabled to become the
proprietors of their own craft: A shipmaster supplied the vessel on the
understanding that £100 was deposited at once, and the remainder paid
by quarterly instalments, no insurance being asked for or proffered
regarding risk. The arrangement entered into by the smack-owners for
the conveyance of fish to shore, when they were engaged out at sea in
their calling was most simple and business-like. The boats kept company
during fishing, and on a certain signal being given one of the number,
according to a previous agreement, received the whole of the fish so far
caught by her fellow craft and returned home, for which service her men
were paid 2s. each by the other crews, who continued their occupation
and arrived in harbour generally on Friday. For the next week another
smack was selected, and thus all in turn performed the mid-week journey.
At present there are no less than eighty-four sloops belonging to this
port, pursuing the business of fishing, and the arrangements both for
their purchase and the landing of the captured fish have undergone a
revolution. All boats are now paid for when they leave the shipbuilder’s
yard, and the former custom of a mid-week relief, has been relinquished,
each sloop returning and discharging as occasion requires. A fishing
boat’s crew usually consists of four men and a boy. In conclusion it
should be noticed that a special warehouse, about 90 feet long, was
erected in 1859, solely for the use of the fishermen and agents, or
dealers, connected with the trade.
[Illustration]