Chapter XI · BLACKPOOL. (continued 2)

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

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

The mansion and estate were purchased by William Hornby, esq., of Kirkham, shortly before his death in 1824, and by him bequeathed to his brother John Hornby, esq., of Blackburn, who married Alice Kendall, a widow, and the daughter of Daniel Backhouse, esq., of Liverpool. Daniel Hornby, esq., the eldest son of that union, inherited the property on the decease of his father in 1841, and took up his abode at the Hall until the early part of 1860, when he left the neighbourhood. Raikes Hall then became the seat of a Roman Catholic Convent School, which continued in possession for several years, until the new and handsome edifice standing on a rising ground in Little Layton was erected and ready for its reception. Shortly after the removal of the school the land and residence were purchased by the company above named, and their aspects began to undergo the changes already indicated. The census returns of the township collected in 1871, furnished a total of 7,902 persons, all of whom, with the exception of an insignificant proportion, were resident in Blackpool.

In consequence of a letter from the Secretary of State, giving notice that the burial ground in connection with St. John’s Church must be closed after the 31st of December, 1871, the responsibility of providing a suitable place for interments was thrown upon the authorities, and the members of the Local Board of Health formed themselves into a Burial Board, their first meeting being held on the 20th of June in the year just specified. A committee was appointed, and in the ensuing August purchased for £1,759 an eligible site of 8½ acres, lying by the side of the New Road, into which the entrance gates of the cemetery now open. The plans for the requisite erections were prepared by Messrs. Garlick, Park, and Sykes, architects, of Preston, and the work of preparing the ground commenced in October, the contract for the chapels and lodge being let in December. As such a brief interval had to elapse before the order for closing the churchyard would be put in force, the Board applied, successfully, for permission to keep it open six months longer. The cemetery, however, progressed so tardily that it was necessary to renew the application on two future occasions, and the churchyard continued in use until the 31st of May, 1873. Five acres of the land were laid out from plans supplied by Mr. Gorst, surveyor to the board, and were divided into nine sections, four of which were apportioned to the Church of England, three to the Nonconformists, and two to the Roman Catholics. The cemetery was enclosed from the highway by stone palisadings and boundary walls, having massive iron railings. The approach to the grounds is through a spacious entrance, with a double iron gate in the centre, and a single gate on either side, hung to stone pillars. Inside the gate is the lodge, built of stone and comprising a residence for the keeper, offices, etc. The mortuary chapels, which are all of stone, have an elegant appearance, that of the Church of England being stationed in the middle, with the Nonconformists’ and Roman Catholics’ edifices lying respectively west and east of it. The style of the buildings is Gothic of the first pointed period. The roofs are open-timbered, high-pitched, and covered with Welsh slates in bands of different colours, being also crested with tiles. Entrance to the chapels is gained by a porch, and there is a vestry attached to each. The floors are laid with plain tiles of various tints. Evergreens, shrubs, and forest trees have been planted on the borders of the grounds, whilst the walks are wide and well cared for. The Nonconformists were the first to take possession of their portion, which was dedicated to its solemn uses by a service held on the 7th of February, 1873, exactly one week after which an interment took place, being the earliest not only in their land but in the whole ground. On the 2nd of August in the same year the Right Rev. Dr. Fraser, bishop of Manchester, consecrated the division set apart for the Church of England, which had been licensed for burials in the previous May. The Roman Catholics deferred their ceremonial until the month of June, 1874, acting under license during the interval.

On the 26th of August, 1872, the Blackpool Sea Water Company was registered under the limited liability act, with a capital of £10,000, in shares of £10 each, for the purpose of supplying water from the deep, together with the requisite appliances for conducting it to the houses and elsewhere, to the inhabitants of Blackpool; and rather more than two years later a main of pipes had been laid along the front from the Merchants’ College in South Shore as far as their steam pumping works in Upper Braithwaite Street.

In 1874 the watering-place had developed so rapidly during past years that the members of the Local Board of Health felt that the powers appertaining to a body of that description were no longer adequate to the proper government of the town, and a public meeting to ascertain the opinion of the ratepayers on the subject of incorporation was called on Tuesday, the 6th of November, 1874. After considerable discussion, it was proposed by the Rev. N. S. Jeffreys: “That a petition be drawn up and signed by the chairman on behalf of the meeting, praying that a Charter of Incorporation be granted for the town of Blackpool, and that the same be forwarded to the proper authorities; and that the necessary steps be taken to obtain such Charter.” The proposition was adopted without a dissentient; and at the ensuing assembly of the Local Board of Health on Tuesday, the 10th of November, a similar motion was brought forward by W. H. Cocker, esq., J.P., with an equally successful result. The prayers were forwarded to the appropriate official quarters in London, and on the 26th of May, 1875, Major Donnelly, R.E., the commissioner appointed by Her Majesty’s Privy Council, attended at the Board-room to hold an inquiry as to whether the importance and necessities of the place warranted a favourable answer to the request. In the course of the examination, it was stated, amongst other things, that the rateable value of the proposed borough was in 1863, £17,489; 1866, £35,175; 1869, £45,755; 1872, £55,653; 1874, £63,848; and in 1875, £73,035. Also that the town contained three churches, seven chapels, three rooms used for religious services, two markets under the Local Board, other markets owned by private individuals, four public sea-water baths, three banks, an aquarium, public gardens, etc. On the 16th of the following July information was officially conveyed to W. M. Charnley, esq., the law-clerk of the board, that the lords of the Privy Council had determined to accede to the prayer of the town, and that the borough should consist of six wards, with one alderman and three councillors for each. A draft of the scheme of incorporation was prepared by the law-clerk, and forwarded to London. On the 22nd January, 1876, the charter, having passed through the necessary forms, obtained the royal assent, being received by W. M. Charnley, esq., two days later. The document, after quoting several acts of parliament, proceeds to “grant and declare that the inhabitants of the town of Blackpool and their successors, shall be for ever hereafter one body politic and corporate in deed, fact, and name, and that the said body corporate shall be called the Mayor, Aldermen, and Burgesses of the Borough of Blackpool, who shall have and exercise all the acts, powers, authorities, immunities, and privileges which are now held and exercised by the bodies corporate of the several boroughs” similarly created. Further, the deed “grants and declares that the said Mayor, Aldermen, and Burgesses and their successors shall and may for ever hereafter use a common seal to serve them in transacting their business, and also have armorial bearings and devices, which shall be duly entered and enrolled in the Herald’s College;” also shall they have power “to purchase, take, and acquire such lands, tenements, and heriditaments, whatsoever, situate, lying, and being within the borough, as shall be necessary for the site of the buildings and premises required for the official purposes of the corporation.” The Council was ordained to consist of “a Mayor, six Aldermen, and eighteen Councillors, to be respectively elected at such times and places, and in such manner” as those of other boroughs existing under the same acts, in common with which they “shall have, exercise, and enjoy all the powers, immunities, and privileges, and be subject to the same duties, penalties, liabilities, and disqualifications” appertaining to such positions. The first election of councillors was directed to be held on the eleventh day of April, 1876, followed by another on the 1st of November, at which latter date one-third part of the councillors should go out of office each year, and the vacant seats be refilled as specified; the councillors to retire in the November, 1876, being those who had obtained the smallest number of votes, and in November, 1877, those with the next smallest number of votes. The first aldermen of the borough “shall be elected and assigned to their respective wards on the 19th day of April, 1876, and the councillors immediately afterwards shall appoint who shall be the aldermen to go out of office upon the 9th day of November ensuing,” and in subsequent years those so retiring to be aldermen who have retained their seats for the longest period without re-election. The first mayor of the borough “shall be elected from and out of the aldermen and councillors of the said borough, on the 19th day of April, 1876,” the earliest appointment of auditors and assessors being made on the 19th day of the following month. The subjoined extent and names of the wards are also taken from the charter:—

CLAREMONT WARD.

“Commencing at the Sea beyond the Gynn, at the junction of the old existing township boundary, thence running inland along the same boundary across the fields, across Knowle-road, behind Warbrick and Mill Inn, across Poulton-road to the centre of the Dyke at Little Layton, thence along the Dyke to the centre of Little Layton Bridge, thence westward along and including the north side of Little Layton-road, north side of New-road, north side of Talbot-road, to Station-road, thence along and including the east side of Station-road to Queen-street, thence along and including the north side of Queen-street, Queen’s-square, across the Promenade to the sea.

TALBOT WARD.

“Commencing at the Sea opposite the centre of Queen’s-square, thence along and including the south side of Queen’s-square, south side of Queen-street to Station-road, thence running along and including the west side of Station-road to Talbot-road, thence along and including the south side of the upper portion of Talbot-road, south side of New-road, the south side of Little Layton-road to the centre of Little Layton Bridge, thence along the Dyke to the old township boundary, thence south-east by the township boundary to the centre of Dykes-lane, thence westward along and including the north side of Dykes-lane, the north side of Layton-road, the north side of Raikes-road, the north side of Raikes Hill, the north side of Church-street to Abingdon-street, thence along and including the east side of Abingdon-street to Birley-street, thence along and including the north side of Birley-street, the north side of West-street, across the Promenade to the Sea.

BANK HEY WARD.

“Commencing at the Sea opposite the centre of West-street, thence along and including the south side of West-street, the south side of Birley-street to Abingdon-street, thence along and including the west side of Abingdon-street to Church-street, thence along and including the south side of Church-street to Lower King-street, thence along and including the west side of Lower King-street to Adelaide-street, thence along and including the north side of Adelaide-street, the north side of Adelaide-place, across the Promenade to the Sea.

BRUNSWICK WARD.

“Commencing at the Sea opposite the centre of Adelaide-place, thence along and including the south side of Adelaide-place, the south side of Adelaide-street to Lower King-street, thence along and including the east side of Lower King-street to Church-street, thence along and including the south side of Church-street, the south side of Raikes Hill, the south side of Raikes-road, the south side of Layton-road, the south side of Dykes-lane to the existing township boundary, thence along the same boundary beyond the Whinney Heys, around the Belle Vue Gardens, southward of Raikes Hall Gardens to the centre of Revoe-road, thence along and including the north side of Revoe-road, the north side of Chapel-street, across the Promenade to the Sea.

FOXHALL WARD.

“Commencing at the Sea opposite to the end of Chapel-street, thence along and including the south side of Chapel-street, the south side of Revoe-road to the existing township boundary, thence south-westerly, and thence south-easterly along the same boundary to the centre of Cow Gap-lane, thence west along and including the north side of Cow Gap-lane to Lytham-road, thence along and including the east side of Lytham-road to Alexandra-road, thence along and including the north side of Alexandra-road, across the Promenade to the Sea.

WATERLOO WARD.

“Commencing at the Sea opposite the centre of Alexandra-road, thence along and including the south side of Alexandra-road to Lytham-road, thence along and including the west side of Lytham-road to Cow Gap-lane, thence eastward, along and including the south side of Cow Gap-lane to the existing township boundary, thence south-easterly, along the same boundary on the easterly side of Hawes Side-road, the north side of Layton-lane, across the Blackpool and Lytham Railway to the Sea at Star Hills.”

The election of councillors took place at the date specified in the charter, under the superintendence of Mr. William Porter, of Fleetwood and Blackpool, who had been nominated by the authorities of the town as returning officer. On the 19th of April the gentlemen elected assembled in the old board-room and appointed aldermen and a mayor from amongst themselves, the vacancies thus created being supplied by another appeal to the burgesses of those wards whose representatives had been elevated to the aldermanic bench. The first completed town council of Blackpool consisted of—

Alderman William Henry Cocker (the mayor) Bank Hey Ward.

” Thomas McNaughtan, M.D. Claremont ”

” Thomas Lambert Masheter Talbot ”

” John Hardman Foxhall ”

” Francis Parnell Waterloo ”

” J. E. B. Cocker Brunswick ”

Councillor John Braithwaite ⎫ Claremont ”

” William Bailey ⎬

” Leslie Jones, M.D. ⎭

” T. Challinor ⎫ Talbot ”

” R. Marshall ⎬

” John Fisher ⎭

” John Coulson ⎫ Bank Hey ”

” George Ormrod ⎬

” Henry Fisher ⎭

” George Bonny ⎫ Brunswick ”

” Robert Mather ⎬

” John William Mycock ⎭

” James Blundell Fisher ⎫ Foxhall ”

” Alfred Anderson ⎬

” Robert Bickerstaffe, jun. ⎭

” Francis Parnell ⎫ Waterloo ”

” Richard Gorst ⎬

” Lawrence Hall ⎭

William Mawdsley Charnley, esq., solicitor, town-clerk.

From the time when the subject of incorporation was first beginning to dawn upon the inhabitants as something to which the rapid extension and growing importance of their town was tending with no tardy pace, up to the present year of 1876, buildings have increased at a rate unparalleled in any former period of Blackpool’s history. No longer solitary erections, or even small groups, but whole streets have been added to the expanding area of the place, consisting of handsome and spacious edifices, of, indeed, notwithstanding their being situated to the rear, exteriors which would, not many years ago, have been deemed highly ornamental to the beach itself. In 1874 the south section of the noble market-hall, on Hygiene Terrace, was being arranged and fitted up with roomy tanks to form an aquarium on a fairly large scale by W. H. Cocker, Esq., J.P., who had recently acquired the proprietorship of the entire pile. The open space in front of the building was fenced in, and furnished with three tanks for seals, and other novel features to render it attractive and pleasing. The walls of the interior were adorned with landscapes in the spacious saloon, where the main tank, divided into numerous compartments, each being supplied with a variety of fish differing from its neighbours, occupies a central position. Subsidiary tanks, filled with curious specimens of animated nature from the “vasty deep,” stand in the entrance hall and recesses. The aquarium was opened to the public on the 17th of May, in the ensuing year.

On the 22nd of May, 1875, the foundation stone of a Primitive Methodist chapel was laid in Chapel Street by Mr. J. Fairhurst, of Wigan. Heretofore the members of that sect had met for religious purposes in a mission room located in Foxhall Road. The earliest service in the new chapel was conducted by the resident minister, the Rev. E. Newsome, on Sunday, the 29th of the following August. The Unitarians have a chapel in Bank Street, which was formally opened by the Rev. J. R. Smith, of Hyde, also in August, 1875. During the same month a number of influential gentlemen purchased the estate of Bank Hey from W. H. Cocker, esq., J.P., for £23,000, with the intention of converting it into Winter Gardens. Possession was gained, according to agreement, on the 1st of October. The design of the company is to place on the land a concert room, promenades, conservatories, and other accessories calculated to convert the estate into a pleasant lounge, especially desirous during inclement days.

Although South Shore is now intimately connected and associated with Blackpool as one town, there was a period, and not a very remote one, when it flourished as a separate and distinct hamlet, widely divided from its more imposing neighbour. The first house of South Shore was erected in 1819 by Mr. Thomas Moore, who speedily added about ten more to the solitary edifice. The growth of the village in earlier years was not characterised by any great rapidity, and in 1830 the whole of the buildings comprised no more than a thin row of respectable cottages overlooking the sea, with a lawn or promenade in front. In 1836 a church was built, partly by subscription and partly from Queen Anne’s Bounty, and dedicated to the Holy Trinity. Twenty-two years afterwards, owing to the development of South Shore through the number of regular visitants who preferred the quietude of its beach to the greater animation which prevailed at Blackpool, the building was enlarged by the erection of transepts and a new chancel, alterations which supplied further sitting room for about 380 worshippers. The church is of brick, and contains a handsome stained-glass east window, representing the baptism of Christ by St. John the Baptist, another ornamental window being inserted in the south wall. The mural tablets are in memory of William Wilkinson, “who for twenty-five years was an indefatigable teacher in the Sunday Schools of Marton and South Shore,—he served his country in the battles of Talavera, Busaco, Albuera, Vittoria, Pyrenees, Nive, Nivelle, and Toulouse,” died 11th September, 1853, aged 66 years; and of James Metcalf, “curate of South Shore, who departed this life July 24th, 1875, aged 42 years, and was interred at the Parish Church of Bolton-le-Sands.” The font is of grey stone, massive and carved. The first organ obtained by the congregation was purchased in 1847. In 1872 a tasteful lectern was forwarded to the church by the Rev. J. B. Wakefield, to whom it had been presented by his parishioners, as a token of esteem, about the close of his ministry amongst them in 1870. The burial ground encircling the church of Holy Trinity contains no monuments of special interest, if we except a stone pedestal, surmounted by a broken column, erected by public subscription to the memories of three fishermen, drowned off Cross-slack, whilst following their avocation on the 11th of October, 1860.

PERPETUAL CURATES AND VICARS OF HOLY TRINITY.

Date of Institution. Name. On whose Presentation. Cause of Vacancy.

1837 G. F. Greene, M.A. J. Talbot Clifton, esq.

1841 John Edwards Ditto Resignation of G. F. Greene

1845 C. K. Dean Ditto Resignation of J. Edwards

1848 T. B. Banner, M.A. Ditto Resignation of C. K. Dean

1853 J. B. Wakefield Ditto Resignation of T. B. Banner

1870 J. Ford Simmons, M.A. Ditto Resignation of J. B. Wakefield

There is now an ecclesiastical parochial district attached to the church, of which the incumbent is the vicar.

On Thursday, the 24th of March, 1869, the corner stone of a Wesleyan chapel in Rawcliffe Street, built at the sole expense of Francis Parnell, esq., of South Shore, who subsequently added the schools, was laid by Mrs. Parnell, wife of the donor. For four or five years the members of this denomination had met on the Sabbath in a small room in Bolton Street, originally designed for a coach-house, and the necessity for more suitable and extended accommodation through growing numbers had of late pressed urgently upon the limited and not over wealthy assembly, so that the generous offer of their townsman was gratefully appreciated. The structure is in the Gothic style of architecture, about fifty feet in length and forty feet in width, with brick walls and stone facings, and will contain upwards of three hundred persons. Service was first held in the new place of worship, styled the Ebenezer Wesleyan Chapel, on Thursday, the 2nd of September, 1869, the officiating minister being the Rev. W. H. Taylor, of Manchester. The room in Bolton Street was subsequently converted into a Temperance Hall, and remained in that capacity until the 30th of March, 1873, when it was appropriated as a meeting-house by the Baptist sect. The progress of South Shore has not until the last two or three years been marked by that wonderful rapidity which has already been noticed whilst delineating the prosperous career of Blackpool. Nevertheless a steadily-increasing patronage was always extended to the milder climate of the village under consideration, from its earliest existence. Terraces of pretty and commodious residences arose at intervals along the marine frontage, whilst elegant villas have been erected both opposite the sea and nearer to the Lytham Road. Building is at present (1876) being pushed forward with great activity, houses springing up in endless succession along the sides of thoroughfares but recently mapped out.