19th century

By the 1830s, the house and estate was in the ownership of Edmund's descendant Peter Hesketh, High Sheriff of Lancashire and MP for Preston. A man of somewhat liberal views for his time, Hesketh believed that the sheltered harbour and views over Morecambe Bay gave the area the makings of a busy seaport and popular resort for the less-affluent. With no rail link between London and Scotland, he envisaged Fleetwood as the transfer point between the railway and the steamers to Scotland, and set about encouraging a railway link from Preston. With a new career in parliament to prepare for, he engaged Frederick Kemp as his agent. He originally considered naming the new town Wyreton or New Liverpool, but after changing his name to Peter Hesketh-Fleetwood in 1831, he settled on the name Fleetwood. After some delays, he recruited the prominent architect Decimus Burton, whose work in St Leonard's-on-Sea he had admired, to lay out what would be the first planned town of the Victorian era. The plans were complete by 1835, and construction of the first buildings and the railway line began in 1836.

North Euston Hotel (1841) as seen from Jubilee Gardens.

Burton's plan was to use the largest of the sand-dunes on the north-facing shore as the focus of a half-wheel street layout. This was landscaped, and became known as the Mount. It served as the hub of Burton's half-wheel design, the main residential streets acted as the spokes, and the main commerce area of Dock Street was the rim of the wheel. The oldest surviving building in the town, once the custom house, later the town hall and latterly Fleetwood Museum, dates from 1836 and housing from as early as 1838 still exists in the town. The crown jewel was the North Euston Hotel, built in 1841, a fine semi-circular building overlooking the bay and the river's estuary. The hotel was built to serve overnight guests making the railway journey from Euston, and was close to the point of departure for the steamers to Scotland. This journey was made by Queen Victoria in 1847, but by the mid-1850s the completion of the western railway link between London and Scotland over Shap Fell rendered Fleetwood's role as a transport terminus obsolete.

Upper (Pharos) Lighthouse (1840)

Burton designed two lighthouses for the town: The Upper Lighthouse, usually referred to as the Pharos (after the Pharos of Alexandria in Egypt, one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World), can be seen for 13 miles (21 km) and Beach Lighthouse is visible for 9 miles (14 km). Both opened in 1840. A third lighthouse, Wyre Light, built in 1839–40 by blind engineer Alexander Mitchell, offshore on the northeast corner of North Wharf, was the first screw pile lighthouse to be built in Great Britain. Fleetwood is the only town in the United Kingdom to possess three lighthouses and the two within the town itself remain fully operational. Wyre Light has now fallen into a state of disrepair.

Fleetwood Market, still a prominent permanent market, first opened in 1840.

By 1838, Hesketh-Fleetwood had run into serious financial difficulties, with costs for the railway in particular ultimately exceeding £300,000. He had numerous financial arguments with Frederick Kemp, who borrowed against the estate revenues to finance the expansion of the town, and was suspected of taking financial advantage of Sir Peter. Hesketh-Fleetwood became short of cash and was forced to mortgage his properties. Depressed, he gradually withdrew from the project, and by 1844 he had been obliged to sell much of his estate. He leased Rossall Hall itself to the Church of England, which intended to set up a boarding school as a North of England equivalent of Marlborough School. Under the auspices of Rev. St. Vincent Beechey, the vicar of Fleetwood, it was to become Rossall School. Virtually bankrupt, Hesketh-Fleetwood retired to Brighton, giving up his parliamentary obligations in 1847. Meanwhile, Kemp's influence expanded. He had set up the Fleetwood Estates Company to manage the land, and the North Lancashire Steam Navigation Company in 1843 to manage the expanding steamer trade. However, by the late 1850s, the combination of the new western railway route and the rise of neighbouring Blackpool as a prominent seaside resort signalled a decline in the town's fortunes.

From the 1860s Fleetwood expanded its port activities. Steamers began pleasure and commercial services to the Isle of Man, Ardrossan and Belfast. 1⁄2 mile (800 m) of stone quays were built along the river front, and the railway line was extended to the steamer pier opposite Queen's Terrace, where the imposing new railway station was built in 1883. The port was still mainly a cargo terminal at this time, but the fishing industry began to grow as vessels expanded their catchment area from the Irish Sea fishing grounds first fished in the 1840s, to the haddock grounds of the North Atlantic Ocean. At this time, all the fishing vessels out of Fleetwood were sail-powered fishing smacks, few being over 40 tons deadweight. The Fleetwood Docks Act of 1864 enabled the construction of a dock and embankment for both fishing and general cargo. Work on what was to become Wyre Dock began in 1869 but was suspended for financial reasons. A second Act in 1871 gave construction authority to the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway Company, under chief engineers Sir John Hawkshaw and Harrison Hayter. Construction itself, by John Aird & Sons, was completed in 1877. Heavy industry came to the area in the late 1880s with the construction of a salt-processing works on the southeastern edge of the town by the Fleetwood Salt Co. Ltd, using salt mined in Preesall, across the river.

Lower Lighthouse, by Decimus Burton, 1840, is visible for 9 miles (14 km).

By the early 1890s, the construction and expansion of rival cargo ports in the North West and the building of the Manchester Ship Canal heralded the decline of Fleetwood's prominence as a cargo port. However, at the same time this was more than offset by a period of rapid expansion of the fishing industry, signalled by the launch in 1891 of the first steam powered trawler, the Lark. All the other major fishing ports in Britain, Hull, Grimsby and Aberdeen, were on the east coast, so there was a competitive advantage for a west-coast port with good rail links. By the start of the 20th century, Fleetwood's position as one of the three major fishing ports in England was cemented. James Marr brought a fleet of steam trawlers to Fleetwood and actively started to change the port by selectively fishing for hake, which until then had been treated as a much less desirable catch. Many of the houses in the old area of town around the Mount and Lord Street were built in the 1890s. In keeping with the thriving economy, these terraced houses were large for their era. An electric tramway link to Blackpool was constructed in the 1890s and remains operational to this day. The trams were routed along East Street and West Street (now Lord Street and North Albert Street) rather than Dock Street, and commercial trade followed, making those streets the commercial centre of the town. Fleetwood is the only town in Britain with trams running the full length of its main street, sharing road-space with cars. The docks were expanded in 1908 with the construction of the Fish Dock, accessible through Wyre Dock and still used today for the inshore fleet. Plans for a pier were first made in the 1890s but building did not start until 1909 and it was opened in 1910. It was the last new seaside pier to be built in the United Kingdom.^[3]

20th century

By the 1920s, the fishing industry was at its height, employing over 9,000 people. Over the next few years, the sea front along the north shore was developed in resort fashion, to encourage visitors for whom the brashness of Blackpool was too daunting. The Marine Hall entertainment complex (1935), golf course (1931) and Model Yacht Pond (1932) all date from that era. In the 1920s, the salt works, by then owned by the United Alkali Company (after 1926, part of ICI), was considerably expanded, and became an ammonia-processing plant. ICI built an adjacent chemical processing plant, known as ICI Hillhouse. ICI became the town's third-largest employer, after the fishing and tourism industries. The first fully automated telephone exchange in Britain was put into operation to serve the town on 15 July 1922.^[4]

The town was hit by a huge flood in October 1927, which put 90% of the area of the town under water. Only the higher areas around the Mount escaped. Additional housing was built in the 1920s and 1930s in the less-developed central areas of the town, and a further development boom occurred in the 1960s, in the lower lying western portion of the town (Larkholme). Many industries related to fishing grew up along the rail corridor on the eastern side of the town, and a number of unrelated industries also moved to the area to take advantage of the availability of labour.

By the 1960s, however, Fleetwood had begun to decline economically. The last ferry to the Isle of Man sailed in 1961, although the sailings have been revived periodically since. The main railway station was closed in 1966 as a result of the Beeching cuts, and the passenger terminus was moved to Wyre Dock railway station. That, in turn, was closed in 1970, as the branch line from Poulton was taken out of service. Additional light industry developed along the former railway route.

The rise of package holidays abroad led to fewer visitors to British resort towns. As Blackpool expanded its attractions, fewer day visitors came to Fleetwood, and as transport became more efficient, more overnight visitors became day visitors. The Hillhouse plant was heavily cut back and was finally closed in 1999. Most serious, however, was the collapse of the fishing industry, which was largely destroyed in the late 1960s and early 1970s by the Cod Wars, a dispute over fishing rights between Iceland and the UK. As Fleetwood's trawlers mainly fished the North Atlantic in search of cod, the loss of the fishing grounds hit the town hard. The last deep-sea trawler left the town in 1982 and now only inshore fishing boats use the port, although trawlers registered in other places can still be seen taking advantage of the fish market. Fish is still a big industry in the town, though the jobs are mainly in processing rather than fishing. A pair of bronze figures on the promenade by the pier depicts the idea of families welcoming back the fishermen from sea.

Fleetwood Freeport and Marina (1995) is built on the site of the former Wyre Dock

In 1973, the area around the old railway station was developed into a container port facility, with P & O operating a container service to Larne in Northern Ireland. In 1975, this became a Roll-on/roll-off service. This development led indirectly to some renewal of the then largely derelict Dock Street area, and improved road access to the town to support the container traffic. Twice-daily container service continued until 2004 when Stena Line bought the route and increased the service to three times a day.^[5] In December 2010, Stena Line announced that the service would be withdrawn at the end of 2010, with the loss of 140 jobs.^[6]

Since the 1970s, there have been several attempts to enhance Fleetwood's economic profile, In 1995, the now-deserted Wyre Dock was developed into a marina. The derelict dock landing area was developed into Freeport, a retail centre, and housing has been built at the north end of the marina. In July 2007, a new "Masterplan" for revitalising the waterfront and town centre was submitted to the Wyre Borough Council.

In 1996, Fleetwood could be seen in "A High Profile", an episode of Hetty Wainthropp Investigates. Several buildings along The Esplanade were used, one of Fleetwood's churches and others.^[7]

Topography

Fleetwood is in the northwest corner of the Fylde coastal plain, 8 miles (13 km) north of Blackpool, on the western side of the mouth of the River Wyre. The town is on a peninsula, almost 2 miles (3 km) wide, bounded to the west by the Irish Sea, to the north by Morecambe Bay and to the east by the River Wyre estuary. Access to Fleetwood is thus restricted, and for many years there were only two roads into and out of the town (three since 1979). A large sandbank, the North Wharf, extends some 2+1⁄4 miles (3.6 km) north into Morecambe Bay, and is exposed at low tide. The river channel forms the eastern boundary of the bank. Together with the larger Bernard Wharf on the other side of the river, this makes navigation of the river difficult. Conversely, the port is highly sheltered from the prevailing westerly winds.

Like the remainder of the Fylde, the land is extremely flat, the highest point being the Mount, the large sand dune in the northern part of the town, from which the original street plan radiated. Parts of Fleetwood, especially to the north and west, are barely above sea level at high tide, and a large retaining sea wall runs along much of the western edge of the town. Nevertheless, Fleetwood was flooded in 1927 and again in 1977. The latter flood, although much smaller, affected more properties as there had been considerable development in the 1960s in the lower-lying parts of the town. The soil is broadly sandy, but there is considerable marshland to the south and east, by the river. The town itself encompasses an area of just under 4 square miles (10 km²).

Climate

In common with the rest of the coastal areas of the UK, Fleetwood has a maritime climate. Prevailing winds and weather patterns are northwesterly, leading to a slightly higher average precipitation than the country as a whole, although the absence of high ground in the immediate vicinity moderates this. As with most coastal areas, frost and snow are uncommon. Temperatures are close to the national average.^[8]

Tourism and amenities

Mount Pavilion (1902) is the highest point in the town.

Fleetwood Market has been in operation since 1840.

The town's most prominent feature is the Mount, a 7-acre (2.8 ha) park facing the sea-front, laid out by Decimus Burton, and built on a large sand dune originally known as Tup's Hill. It is surmounted by a pavilion built in 1902 incorporating a clock added in 1919. The wall on the inland side of the Mount is built from pebbles, in traditional Fylde style.^[19] The Mount and the entire length of Fleetwood Promenade has an uninterrupted view across Morecambe Bay, a view described by author Bill Bryson in Chapter 23 of his book Notes From a Small Island as "easily one of the most beautiful in the world, with unforgettable views across to the green and blue Lakeland hills: Scafell, Coniston Old Man, the Langdale Pikes." Directly across the Esplanade from the Mount lies the Marine Hall and Marine Gardens, Wyre Borough's largest entertainment venue, opened in 1935.^[20]

The 13 hectares of Fleetwood Memorial Park was developed out of the earlier Warrenhurst Park, itself an early-C20 park designed by Thomas Lumb of Blackpool. In 1917 the park was renamed "Memorial Park" in memory of those who died in the First World War. The memorial statue was added a few years later and memorial trees planted by the children who lost relatives.

In the early 1900s the park was home to a boating lake and the current facilities include three crown green bowling greens, a children's play area and picnic area, cenotaph memorial, duck pond, football pitches (on the site of the old boating lake) and tennis courts.

Fleetwood Pier, also known as 'Victoria Pier', was a feature of the town from its construction in 1910 until it was destroyed by fire in September 2008. Built at the end of the 'golden age' of pier building, it was the last pleasure pier to be built in the United Kingdom, other than a 1957 pier built in Deal, Kent, to replace a structure damaged in the Second World War.^[3] At 164 yards (150 m) in length, it was one of the shortest piers in the country. At various times, it was an amusement complex, bar and dance hall. In 1952 the pier was badly damaged in a fire which started in the cinema, and it did not reopen until 1958. The pier was closed again in 2006, and plans were drawn up to convert the structure into a flats complex.^[21] However, the pier was again heavily damaged by fire in the early hours of 9 September 2008.^[22] On 26 September 2008, Wyre Borough Council announced that the pier would be completely demolished,^[23] and two weeks later confirmed that the pier would not be rebuilt. The pier site remains undeveloped many years later, as plans for flats or apartments have come to nothing. The site remains an eyesore and remains fenced off, many years after the fire.^[24]

Fleetwood has two prominent retail locations. Affinity Lancashire (formally Freeport Fleetwood) opened in 1995. It is a waterfront outlet shopping village, on the site of the former Wyre Dock, with 45 shops in a marina setting. Freeport was re-branded and re-launched in 2006 at a cost of £8.6m.^[25] Fleetwood Market on Victoria Street is one of the largest covered markets in the North West, with over 250 stalls. It was first opened in 1840, although the present stone building dates from 1892.^[26]

Museums

Fleetwood Museum, formerly the town hall and before that the Customs House (1836), the oldest building in the town

Fleetwood Museum stands on Queen's Terrace. The building, designed by Decimus Burton, was completed in 1836 and is the oldest surviving building in Fleetwood. It was originally the Customs House, and from 1889 to 1974 it served as Fleetwood Town Hall, until local government activity was moved to Poulton. It was designated as the town's museum in 1992. The museum tells the story of the fishing industry in the town.^[27][28] In January 2006, the museum was threatened with closure by owners Lancashire County Council (LCC).^[29] However, volunteers helped re-launch the museum in April 2007, setting up the Fleetwood Museum Trust to run the museum in partnership with LCC for twelve months with the intention of the trust eventually running the museum themselves.^[30] The museum also operates the Jacinta, the town's "heritage trawler", stationed in the Wyre Dock Marina and open for public viewing throughout the year.^[31] Built in 1972, it was moved to Hull in 1982, before being handed over to the Jacinta Charitable Trust in 1995 when restoration work began on the trawler.^[32] Unfortunately Jacinta was too badly off for Economical Repair & was Cut up for Scrap in June / July / Aug 2019 .

Churches

St Nicholas' Church (1962), designed by Laurence King

Fleetwood's parish church, St Peter's, designed by Decimus Burton in 1841, stands at the corner of Lord Street and North Albert Street. It formerly had a spire, but this was demolished in 1904.^[33] St Mary's, the town's main Roman Catholic church, stands nearby. Built in 1867, it was designed by E. W. Pugin. A more modern church of interest is the copper-roofed St Nicholas, on Poulton Road, designed by Laurence King and completed in 1962.^[34]

Other buildings

Queen's Terrace (1844), designed by Decimus Burton

Numerous other buildings designed by Decimus Burton remain in the town. Prominent are the Pharos and Lower Lighthouses, opened in 1840 and still in operation. Ships sailing down the Wyre channel line up the two lights, one above the other, to guide them. The Pharos is the only functioning lighthouse in the United Kingdom built in the middle of the street. It now forms a traffic roundabout. The North Euston Hotel, opened in 1841, is still the largest hotel in Fleetwood. Queen's Terrace was completed in 1844 and is regarded as an outstanding example of classical architecture. Now mostly used for offices and private flats, at various times it has been used as a school, hospital, railway offices and wartime consulates for European nations. The town contains a total of forty-four buildings listed in the National Heritage List for England, all at Grade II.

Media

Fleetwood Weekly News^[35] covers the town and the North Fylde Area. The newspaper was founded in 1984 as a successor to the Fleetwood Chronicle, which had ceased publication several weeks earlier.^[36] The Chronicle itself, founded in 1843, was the oldest newspaper in the Fylde. Daily newspaper coverage is provided by the Blackpool Gazette. Both papers are published by Johnston Press, as is the Lancashire Evening Post, a daily newspaper covering the county of Lancashire.

Fleetwood falls within the coverage area of BBC Radio Lancashire. Commercial radio stations serving the area include Radio Wave based in Blackpool, 97.4 Rock FM and Greatest Hits Lancashire based in Preston and Smooth North West and Heart North West broadcasting from Greater Manchester.

Independent television service is provided by ITV Granada, the ITV franchise holder for the North West region. BBC North West is the regional BBC station serving Fleetwood.

Festivals

Fylde Folk Festival^[37] is held each year at the Marine Hall and other venues in the town. It is a festival of traditional and contemporary folk music, song and dance. The festival has been held continuously since 1971.^[38] The opening concert was staged each year onboard Jacinta, the town's heritage trawler, however due to the vessels general poor state of repair, this is no longer the case.^[38][39]

Another annual music festival, originating in 2005, is Fleetwoodstock, named after the famous New York Woodstock Festival and held in the autumn. The usual venue is the Marine Hall.^[40]

The now annual Yuto Fest, which was first held in 2011, also takes place at the Marine Hall. Yuto Fest is a charity festival featuring local bands that was set up by Daz Rice of Kiss of the Gypsy and is a legacy for his three-year-old son Yuto Rice who died in 2012 after battling a heart condition.^[41]

Fleetwood Transport Festival, also known as Tram Sunday, has been held annually on the third Sunday of July since 1985. It is a festival of vintage vehicles highlighted by a number of historical tram-cars, which parade along Lord Street.^[42][43]

Fleetwood Beer & Cider Festival is held in February each year and is organised by the Blackpool, Fylde and Wyre branch of CAMRA. The festival offers a choice of around 100 real ales as well as a selection of ciders and foreign beers.^[44]

Music

The young John Lennon spent his childhood summer holidays in Fleetwood with a cousin who lived in the town, returning to the town on 25 August 1962 when the Beatles played at the Marine Hall.^{[45][46][47][48]} Operatic tenor Alfie Boe grew up in Fleetwood^[49][50] and his first public performance was at the Marine Hall at the age of 14, where he worked as a stage technician.^[51] Operatic mezzo-soprano Jean Rigby was also born in Fleetwood.^[52]

The best-known rock bands to feature musicians from Fleetwood are television talking head John Robb's the Membranes and Goldblade, punk band One Way System^[53] (the first signing on Cherry Red's Anagram Records),^[54] Uncle Fester/UFX,^[55] Earthling Society, who have released six critically acclaimed albums,^[56][57] and Kiss of the Gypsy,^[58] who were signed to Atlantic Records in the US. One Way System drummer Tommy Couch (brother of boxer Jane Couch) played drums with UK Subs for two years.^[59] and has been voted one of the top 30 best punk drummers of all time.^[60]

Musicians from One Way System, UFX and Kiss of the Gypsy combined in 2011 to release a gothic psychobilly album as Boneyard Zombies^[55][61] and in 2014 the debut release by rock and roll garage band The Crawlin' Hex, formed by members of Earthling Society and UFX received a series of positive reviews.^[62][63][64]

Another influential Fleetwood musician is folk singer Alan Bell, the founder and director of the internationally renowned Fylde Folk Festival which ran for 42 years until Bell's retirement in 2014.^[65] Bell's suite The Band in the Park won the prestigious Radio Italia prize for Broadcasting for BBC Radio Lancashire and resulted in a BBC2 Television programme devoted to Bell – Alan Bell: The Man and His Music.^[66][67] The festival is to be superseded in 2015 by the New Folk 'n' Roots Festival.^[68] Stuart Chatwood of Canadian rock band the Tea Party was also born in Fleetwood.^[69]

Sport

Fleetwood has had several football clubs over its history. The current version of the club, dating from 1997, is now known as Fleetwood Town F.C. and is nicknamed the Fishermen, and its followers the Cod Army.^[70] The club has played in the Football League since 2012, having been promoted in that year as champions of the Conference National. This is the first time a club from the town has played in the Football League. In May 2014 Fleetwood were victorious in the League 2 play-off final to win promotion to League 1. In August 2014, Nathan Pond played in his seventh different division for the club, an achievement officially recognised by Guinness as a world record under the title of 'the most football (soccer) divisions played in for one club by an individual.' .^[71] With a population of under 26,000, Fleetwood was the smallest town in England with a League club until the promotion of Forest Green Rovers from Nailsworth in 2017.^[72]

A previous incarnation of Fleetwood Town F.C. enjoyed a brief history from 1977, reaching the final of the FA Vase in 1985, before being wound up because of financial difficulties in 1996.^[70] The same fate also befell the two previous town clubs. Fleetwood F.C. was founded in 1908 and wound up in 1976, having been several times Lancashire Combination cup champions in the 1930s, and founder members of the Northern Premier League in 1968.^[70] Fleetwood Rangers, the town's first club, spent ten seasons in the Lancashire League and Lancashire Combination from 1889 to 1899.^[73] Since 1939, home games have been played at Highbury Stadium. Blackpool Reserves also use the stadium for their home matches.

In January 1938, Jimmy Hampson, who remains Blackpool's record goalscorer, drowned off the Fleetwood coast during a fishing trip. The yacht on which he was sailing collided with a trawler and Hampson, 31, was knocked overboard. He drowned, and his body was never recovered.^[74]

Speedway racing was staged at Highbury Stadium from 1948 to 1952, with Fleetwood Flyers riding in the Second Division of the National Speedway league.^[75][76] The Flyers started the 1948 season as Wigan RLFC but moved to Fleetwood after racing a few away fixtures billed as Wigan. The Flyers raced in the National League Division Two from 1948 to 1951 without enjoying any great success. In 1952 the venue staged a number of open events with the team renamed the Fleetwood Knights.^[77]

Model Yacht Pond, one of Europe's largest, built in 1932

Fleetwood Rugby Union Football Club is an amateur rugby union club, first registered in 1932 as Fleetwood Old Boys, with the Old Boys title being dropped in the 1950s.^[78] Fleetwood Cricket Club, based at Broadwater, are affiliated with the Lancashire Cricket Board and compete in the Northern League.^[79]

From the 1930s to the present, the Model Yacht Pond, one of Europe's largest, has been host to numerous national and international championships, held under the aegis of the Fleetwood Model Yacht and Power Boat Club.^[80]

Fleetwood Reservoir on Copse Road provides coarse fishing facilities. The fishing club is affiliated to the National Federation of Anglers. Matches take place every Sunday and Friday during the summer months.

Fleetwood is a popular location for kitesurfing and other power kite sports. There are several suitable beaches and training is available at the local kite school.^[81]