TRANSPORT IN THE FYLDE BY ROAD, RAIL, SEA AND AIR 65 



associates, connects Blackpool by express road services with 61 cities and 

 towns as far apart as Glasgow and Edinburgh, Great Yarmouth, London and 

 Torquay. The " Scout " Motors also provide convenient services in and 

 around the Fylde. 



Transport by Sea, and Ports of the Fylde. 



The Fylde was in Roman times inhabited by the Segantii (' Dwellers of the 

 Sea '), and there is historical support for the belief that they had a harbour 

 or port at the mouth of the River Wyre. Since those days, however, the 

 face of the coast has been altered by erosion, and the mouth of the river would 

 at that time be about three miles further west than it is to-day. 



For more than 200 years before Fleetwood was even imagined the River 

 Wyre had achieved some status in the commercial world, with harbours at 

 Wardleys and Skippool, and a Customs House at Poulton. The Lancashire 

 historian, Baines, described Wardleys in 1825 as ' a small seaport on the River 

 Wyre, where vessels of 300 tons register may discharge their burdens.' 



Fleetwood owes its existence to a Lord of the Manor, Sir P. H. Fleetwood, 

 who, residing at Rossall, first conceived the idea of converting a desolate 

 warren at the northern extremity of the Fylde into a thriving seaport. He 

 visualised a prosperous new port nearer the sea than Wardleys and Skippool, 

 provided it could be linked by railway via Preston with the industrial towns of 

 Lancashire and Yorkshire. 



As previously mentioned, the Preston and Wyre Railway was opened for 

 traffic on the 15th July, 1840, Fleetwood having started as a distinct port in 

 1839, with Customs established by order of the Treasury. Following the 

 deepening of the channel by dredging, the North Lancashire Steam Navigation 

 Company commenced operating in 1 843 a steamboat service to Belfast for both 

 passengers and cargo. Fleetwood soon became one of the principal ports of 

 embarkation for Northern Ireland, and the excellent service to Belfast, which 

 was subsequently run by the Railway Company's own steamers, proved highly 

 popular, and reached very large dimensions up to the time when it was 

 amalgamated with the Heysham service by the L.M.S. Company on the 30th 

 April, 1928. 



The originally projected regular steamer service between Fleetwood and 

 Scotland does not appear long to have survived, even if it actually started, but 

 it is interesting to record that on Monday, the 20th September, 1847, Her 

 Majesty, Queen Victoria, accompanied by the Prince of Wales and the Princess 

 Royal, landed at Fleetwood off the royal yacht, ' Victoria and Albert ' from 

 Ardrossan, and completed the journey to London by rail. 



Fleetwood is to-day widely recognised as an embarkation point for the 

 two-and-a-half hours' sea journey to the Isle of Man by the royal mail steamers 

 of the Isle of Man Steam Packet Company, which are amongst the most 

 luxurious and fastest channel turbine steamers afloat. 



The present vast industry of fishing at Fleetwood had its beginning in 1844, 

 when the ' Fleetwood Fishing Company ' purchased one of the two pilot 

 boats (the ' Pursuit ') stationed at Fleetwood, together with four more boats 

 hired from North Meols. 



