History of the Fylde of LancashirePorter, John (Writer on the Fylde of Lancashire)
History
History of the Fylde of Lancashire
Porter, John (Writer on the Fylde of Lancashire)
Lancashire (England) -- History
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.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account