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Southport,
Merseyside
Southport is a seaside town with a population of around
95,000 inhabitants in the county of Merseyside. It is located on the Irish Sea
coast, 12 miles (19km) south of Blackpool, 17 miles (27km) north of Liverpool,
62 miles (100km) west of Wakefield and 69 miles (111km) south-east of Douglas
on the Isle of Man.
The first real evidence of an early settlement here is in the
Domesday Book, in which the area is called Otergimele. The name is derived
from Oddrgrimir meaning ‘the son of Grimm’ and is linked to the Old Norse word
'melr', meaning ‘sandbank’. The population was scattered thinly across the
region and it was at the north-east end of Otergimele (present-day Crossens),
where blown sand gave way to alluvial deposits from the River Ribble estuary,
that a small concentration of people arose. The alluvium provided fertile
agricultural land and boosted the river’s stocks of fish. It was here, that a
primitive church was built, which gave the emerging village its name of
Churchtown, the parish being North Meols. With a booming fishing industry the
area grew slowly and hamlets such as South Hawes, Haweside, Little London and
Higher Blowick all became part of the parish of North Meols.
During the late 18th century, it had become fashionable for the
well-to-do to relinquish inland spa towns and visit the seaside to bathe in
the salt sea waters. At that time doctors recommended bathing in the sea to
help cure aches and pains. In 1792, William Sutton, the landlord of the Black
Bull Inn in Churchtown (now The Hesketh Arms) and known to locals as ‘The Old
Duke’, realised the importance of the newly-created canal systems across the
UK. He set up a bathing house in the virtually uninhabited dunes at South
Hawes by the seaside, just 3¾ miles (6km) away from the newly-constructed
Leeds and Liverpool Canal and 2 miles (3.2km) south-west of Churchtown.
Southport grew quickly in the 19th century as it gained a reputation for being
a more refined seaside resort than its neighbour-up-the-coast, Blackpool.
Southport Pier is referred to as the first true ‘pleasure pier’, being one of
the earliest pier structures to be erected using iron. A design from Scottish
engineer James Brunlees (1816-1892) was approved at a cost of £8,700 and on
4th August 1859, a large crowd witnessed the driving home of the first support
pile. The 1,100m (3,650ft) long pier was officially opened on 2nd August 1860.
The town went into decline when cheap air travel arrived in the 1960s and
people chose to holiday abroad due to competitive prices and more reliable
weather. However, the town kept afloat with people coming to spend the day by
the seaside on bank holidays and weekends. Whilst Southport has a dependence
on tourism, the town is also home to many businesses both in the private and
public sector. Although manufacturing has diminished in the last few decades,
there are a few sites still in production in the town today. The most famous
‘export’ of Southport was Chewits (a soft, chewy, cuboid sweet), manufactured
in the town between 1965 and 2006, after which the facility closed and
production moved to Slovakia.
Lord Street is the main shopping street of the town and is one of the great
shopping streets of Northern England. It is said to be the inspiration for the
tree-lined boulevards of Paris. Louis-Napoléon Bonaparte (1808-1873), nephew
of his more famous relative, lived in exile on Lord Street between 1846 and
1848, before returning to France to become President and subsequently, Emperor
of the French Second Republic. During his reign, he caused much of the
medieval centre of Paris to be replaced with broad tree-lined boulevards,
covered walkways and arcades, akin to Lord Street.
The local team of Southport F.C., who play at Haig Avenue, entered The
Football League in 1921 and became a founder member of the Third Division
North. In 1978, the club were voted out of the Football League, following
three consecutive 23rd (out of 24) place finishes, and replaced by Wigan
Athletic. The voting could not have been tighter, as the clubs were tied on
the first ballot (when many had expected Rochdale to be voted out), but
Wigan's superior canvassing ensured that they won the second ballot. Southport
F.C. hold the unwanted record of being the last-ever club to leave the
Football League through the re-election process. Automatic relegation from the
Fourth Division was introduced in the 1986-87 season. Following mixed fortunes
during the intermittent years, further relegation followed at the end of the
2018-2019 season, and the club today play their games in the National League
North, the sixth tier of English football.
Notable figures from the world of British entertainment have stemmed from the
town. Actors Robin Askwith, Dora Bryan (1923-2014), Miranda Richardson and
Anthony Quayle (1913-1989), comedian Lee Mack and horse trainer Donald
'Ginger' McCain (1930-2011) were all born in Southport. McCain was the trainer
of Red Rum (1965-1995), who was regularly trained on Southport’s sands and the
only racehorse in history to win the Aintree Grand National on three occasions
(1973, 1974 and 1977) and to have its ashes scattered on the hallowed ground.
But by far the most recognised inhabitant of the town was actor Jean
Alexander (1926-2016) who played Hilda Ogden in Granada TV’s Coronation
Street from 1964 until 1987. After leaving the cobbled streets, she set up
home in the town and remained there until her death, three days after
celebrating her 90th birthday, in 2016.
Southport became the first town to host (and participate in) It’s A Knockout
which was located in one of the counties newly-formed under the Local
Government Act 1972. Having taken effect just 13 days earlier on 1st April
1974, the new county had been created from areas of its original county of
Lancashire along with some from Cheshire. |
