INTRODUCTORY. 



little village of Formby was as " out of the world " as any far 

 away Welsh village. From the mouth of the river Alt close to 

 Hightown to the well-known mosses round Martin Mere stretched 

 a flat, dismal, tract of swampy land, covered very often by the 

 tide, whenever a heavy spate was banked up by the incoming 

 sea water. Ducks, geese and other wild fowl thronged the district. 

 Fishermen lived on the fowl they killed in the winter time. 

 Now all has changed. " Flood gates " by the Alt mouth prevent 

 the sea water coming through, drainage has cleared the mosslands 

 to a certain extent of the water which covered them for several 

 months in the year, and the careful hand of the keeper has cut 

 " rides " in the gorse and heather of the wild New moss. Yet 

 another Liverpool and Southport railway cuts right across what 

 was once a dismal or dreary waste of flat moss, and a high road 

 runs at right angles to the railway, carefully looked after by a 

 considerate County Council. Hundreds of small red brick houses 

 stand glaring at one in regulation rows, where, ten years ago, 

 was a sandy lane with neat, thatched and whitewashed cottages, 

 as picturesque as some of the modern houses are ugly. To a 

 person who has been born and bred in the place the change is 

 rather a sad one, as one notices a familiar green field which has 

 been in its accustomed place as long as we can remember, suddenly 

 become dotted with " heaps " of red bricks ; and then, before we 

 have had time to notice it, the green pasture is gone and half- 

 a-dozen trim houses are all ready " To let." So it is bound to 

 go on, until green fields and moss and heather are beyond the 

 boundaries of Formby, birds will be looked upon as chance visitors, 



