4 A HANDBOOK FOR SOUTHPORT. 



Arms." The original building was constructed entirely of 

 wood. Before long, it was enlarged with more substantial 

 materials, and in time became the " Royal Hotel " of the 

 period. The little cabin has long since disappeared. The 

 fact remains, nevertheless, that in this simple manner, 

 Southport had its birth. The enterprise was considered so 

 visionary that the " King's Arms " received, like many other 

 buildings of the kind, the facetious appellation of " Duke's 

 Folly," the " Duke " being the jocular title by which Mr. 

 Sutton was distinguished. Poor man, he was doomed to 

 experience the usual fate of those who live and work in 

 advance of their times. His subsequent history was infelici- 

 tous, if not unfortunate. Although living to see Southport 

 a thriving village, he died, without partaking of the prosperity 

 around him, in 1841. The man who bestowed upon South- 

 port its name, given, perhaps, because of its geographical 

 position with regard to Churchtown, was a Mr. Barton, a 

 retired Ormskirk surgeon, one of the most devoted of the 

 early believers in the salubrity of the place, and who chose, 

 as the fitting time of the bestowal, an entertainment given by 

 Mr. Sutton, when his inn was first opened to the public. 

 Notwithstanding the doubts that were entertained as to the. 

 prudence, not to say the sanity, of Mr. Sutton, it soon became 

 obvious that he had taken the first step in providing for a 

 genuine want, and that he had met it himself to only a 

 limited degree. Cottages soon began to multiply in the 

 neighbourhood of the " King's Arms " ; and although these 

 were intended at first for the accommodation purely of 

 visitors, they soon became tempting residences with people 

 who, coming as invalids, found Southport their best perma- 



