Guide turistiche

Blackpool is a seaside town in Lancashire, England. Lying along the coast of the Irish Sea, it has a population of 142,900.

Blackpool rose to prominence as a major centre of tourism during the 19th century, particularly for the inhabitants of northern mill towns.

The town boundaries of Blackpool are drawn very tightly, and exclude the nearby settlements of Fleetwood, Cleveleys, Thornton, Poulton-le-Fylde and Lytham St Anne's. Blackpool Borough, unlike its neighbours, is almost completely urbanised.

Between 1894 and 1974, Blackpool was its own independent county borough unit within the administrative county of Lancashire. With the passage of the Local Government Act 1972, Blackpool's independent status was abolished and it was made part of the shire county of Lancashire. On April 1, 1998, however, Blackpool was made an independent unitary authority and reformed as an autonomous local government unit. It remains part of Lancashire for ceremonial purposes however.


Etymology


Blackpool is believed to get its name from a long gone drainage channel which ran over a peat bog.[6] The water which ran into the sea at Blackpool was black from the peat and formed a "black pool" in waters of the Irish Sea. Locally people originating from Blackpool are called "Sand Grown" or "Sandgrown'uns".


Early history


A skeleton found with barbed arrowheads near Blackpool Sixth Form College in 1970 provided the first evidence of humans living on The Fylde, some 11,000 years ago. The Fylde was also home to a British tribe, the Brigantes, who from about 80AD were controlled by Romans from their fort at Dowbridge, Kirkham.

Some of the earliest villages on The Fylde, which were later to become part of Blackpool, were named in the Domesday Book in 1086. Many of them were Anglo-Saxon settlements. Some though were 9th and 10th century Viking place names. The Vikings and Anglo Saxons seem to have co-existed peacefully with some Anglo Saxon and Viking place names later being joined together - such as Layton-with-Warbreck and Bispham-with-Norbreck. Layton was controlled by the Butlers, Barons of Warrington from the 12th century.

In medieval times Black Poole emerged as a few farmsteads on the coast within Layton-with-Warbreck. The name coming from "le pull" which was a stream that drained Marton Mere and Marton Moss into the sea close to what is now Manchester Square. The stream ran through peat lands which discoloured the water, and so the name for the area became Black Poole. In the 15th century the area was just called Pul. And a 1532 map calls the area "the pole howsys alias the north howsys”.

In 1602, entries in Bispham Parish Church baptismal register include both Poole and for the first time blackpoole. The first house of any substance, Foxhall, was built toward the end of the 17th century by Edward Tyldesley, the Squire of Myerscough, and son of the Royalist, Sir Thomas Tyldesley. An Act of Parliament in 1767 enclosed a common, mostly Sand Hills on the coast, that stretched from Spen Dyke southward. And plots of the land were allocated to landowners in Bispham, Layton, Great Marton and Little Marton. The same Act also provided for the layout of a number of long straight roads that would be built such as Lytham Road, St.Annes Road and Highfield Road.[1]


Taking the Cure


By the middle of the 18th Century, the practice of sea bathing to cure diseases was beginning to become fashionable among the wealthier classes, and visitors began making the arduous trek to Blackpool for that purpose. in 1781 Thomas Clifton and Sir Henry Hoghton built a private road to Blackpool, and regular stagecoach service from Manchester and Halifax was established. A few amenities, including four hotels, an archery stall and bowling greens, were developed, and the town grew slowly.

The [[|Census Act 1800|1801 census]] records the town's population at 473. The growth was accelerated by the actions of Henry Banks, often considered to be the “Father of Blackpool”. In 1819 he purchased the Lane Ends estate, including the Lane Ends Hotel and built the first holiday cottages. In 1837, his son-in-law Dr. John Cocker, built Blackpool’s first assembly rooms which still stand ont the corner of Victoria Street and Bank Hey Street.


The Coming of the Railway


The most significant event in the early growth of the town occurred in 1846, with the completion of a branch line to Blackpool from the main Preston and Wyre Joint Railway line from Preston to Fleetwood. Fleetwood declined as a resort, as its founder and principal financial backer, Peter Hesketh-Fleetwood went bankrupt. In contrast, Blackpool boomed. A sudden influx of visitors provided the motivation for entrepreneurs to build accommodations and create new attractions, leading to more visitors and a rapid cycle of growth throughout the 1850s and 1860s. In 1851 a Board of Health was formed. Gas lighting was introduced in 1852, and piped water in 1864. By 1851, the twon's population was over 2500.

The growth was intensified by the practice among the Lancashire cotton mill owners to close the factories for a week every year to service and repair machinery. These became known as Wakes Weeks. Each town would close for a different week, allowing Blackpool to manage a steady and reliable stream of visitors over a prolonged period in the summer.

In 1863, the North Pier was completed, rapidly becoming a centre of attraction for elite visitors. Central Pier was completed in 1868, with a theatre and a large open-air dance floor. The town expanded southward beyond what is today known as the Golden Mile, towards South Shore, and South Pier was completed in 1893, making Blackpool the only town in the United Kingdom with three piers. In 1878, the Winter Gardens complex opened, incorporating ten years later the Opera House theatre, said to be the largest in Britain outside of London

The town was granted a Charter of Incorporation as a Municipal borough in 1876. W.H. Cocker, son of Dr John Cocker, and therefore grandson of Henry Banks, was its first mayor. The town would become a County Borough in 1904.


Electricity


Much of Blackpool's growth and character from the 1870s on was predicated on the town's pioneering use of electrical power. In 1879, it became the first municipality in the world to have electric street lighting, as large parts of the promenade were wired. The lighting and its accompanying pageants cemented Blackpool's status as the North's most prominent holiday resort, and its specifically working class character. It was the forerunner of the present-day Blackpool Illuminations. In 1885 one of the world's first electric tramways was laid down as a conduit line running from Cocker Street to Dean Street on the Promenade. The line was operated by the Blackpool Electric Tramway Company until 1892 when their lease expired and Blackpool Corporation took over running the line. A further line was added in 1895 from Manchester Square along Lytham Road to South, and the line was extended north, first to Gynn Square in 1899, and then to Fleetwood. The tramway has remained in continuous service to this day.

By the 1890s, the town has a population of 35,000, and could accommodate 250,000 holidaymakers. 1894 saw the opening of two of the town's most prominent buildings; the Grand Theatre on Church Street, and Blackpool Tower on the Promenade.

The first decade of the new century saw the development of the Promenade as we know it today, and further development to thesouth beyond South Shore towards Harrowside and Squires Gate. The Pleasure Beach was first established about this time. Seasonal static illuminations were first set up in 1912, although due to World War I and its aftermath, they only enjoyed two seasons until they were re-introduced in 1925. Stanley Park was laid out in 1920 and opened in 1926. The area round the park has become renowned for some of the most desirable residences in the area.