I 2 A HANDBOOK FOR SOUTHPORT. 



distance from the centre of the town is no objection to their 

 being considered as part of Southport. Two lines of tram- 

 cars go to the gates every ten or fifteen minutes ; they are 

 readily reached also by the West Lancashire Railway. If the 

 Lord-street Winter Gardens show what enterprise, guided by 

 taste, and with no stint of money, can accomplish, how 

 splendid again the proof afforded at Churchtown ! Up to 

 about 1873, the locality was meadow and swamp, threaded 

 by a little water-course. Twenty acres of this were enclosed ; 

 the stream was made the parent of a beautiful lake ; by the 

 constant employment of the curve, in laying out the ground, 

 the paths were made so to diverge and glide into one another, 

 that the twenty acres seem fifty; every portion was plentifully 

 and judiciously planted with shrubs and herbaceous peren- 

 nials, and to crown the whole, a magnificent Conservatory 

 was erected, which in the north of England has scarcely 

 a rival. Taking the three establishments together the 

 Winter Gardens, the Hesketh Park, and the Churchtown 

 Gardens the provision in Southport for the enjoyment of all 

 who take delight in flowers, trees, the song of wild birds, and 

 sweet fresh air, where there can be no fear of molestation, is 

 beyond all dispute, in this part of England, unapproached. 

 It should be added that the Churchtown establishment 

 includes also a very fair Museum, chiefly ornithological. 

 Upon the lake, moreover, there are boats for those who like 

 rowing. 



The Southport Glaciarium, at the northern end of Lord- 

 street, has the distinction of being the only place in Great 

 Britain, if not in the world, where skating on real ice can be 

 enjoyed all the year round. The promoters Mr. Edward 



