76 SCIENTIFIC SURVEY OF BLACKPOOL AND DISTRICT 



became an inn, known as the Fox Hall, catering especially for the annual 

 horse races on Layton Hawes. 



The early eighteenth century saw the rapid development of many seaside 

 resorts when the ' seaside recess ' became fashionable. Visitors soon began to 

 arrive on this coast, and in 1735, Ethart a Whiteside adapted his cottage to 

 lodge some of them. This cottage, a small dwelling covered in straw thatch, 

 was situated in the fields now occupied by General Street. Richard Pocoke 

 (1704-1765), who became Bishop of Meath in 1765, visited Lancashire between 

 1 753 and 1 754, and has recorded that ' At Blackpool, near the sea, are accom- 

 modations for people who come to bathe.' In 1 769, the whole hamlet contained 

 only 28 houses, four of which had slate roofs, but three inns had been built. 

 Of these Bonny's (originally known as Old Marjory's) charged lOd. a day, 

 and the Old Gynn Inn 8d. a day. The third, a small inn on the site of the 

 present Clifton Hotel, was the first in Blackpool. A cottage at the Lane Ends 

 also catered for visitors. The Gynn Inn was built at the side of the creek 

 marked in the 1738 chart of Morecambe Bay as Warbreck Gin. 



Thornber, in his History of Blackpool published in 1837, states ' The houses 

 (in 1 769) were few and scattered ; from the Church (St. John's Parish Church) 

 to the sea a small white cottage stood, a solitary dwelling (on the site of the 

 Albion Hotel). From the hovel standing on the site of Bennett's Hotel to 

 Fumbler's Hill (the vicinity of the Cocker Street Baths) eight cottages might 

 be numbered, all of these, with the exception of Forshaw's Hotel, merely huts ; 

 and at the lower end of Blackpool were eighteen battered dwellings many of 

 which are now washed down and the others dilapidated. These composed the 

 village.' He adds that by 1 790 many improvements had been made. ' Several 

 commodious licensed resorts (we dare not as yet dignify them with the title of 

 hotels) had risen up and the hamlet before scattered was assuming a more 

 compact appearance ...... Small as the village was and notwithstanding 



its humble conveniences, during the summer months an overflowing company 

 constantly flocked to it ; barns and stables afforded a nightly shelter to the 

 poorer class of individuals. Indeed, the visitor of rank and property deemed 

 himself fortunate in securing a clean bed in a thatched cottage and was content 

 with an humble pallet under a roof of straw in an apartment occupied by the 

 family. Old people love to recall how the late Sir Robert Peel and his son, 

 the now distinguished statesman, took up their abode in the cottage now 

 occupied by John Parr.' 



Before the end of the century Blackpool was being advertised in the Press. 

 In 1 783, the ' Manchester Mercury ' announced that the Manchester to 

 Blackpool coach would begin to run on Monday, June 9th, and every morning 

 except Sunday at 6-0 o'clock throughout the bathing season. The inside fare 

 was 14s. A Halifax to Blackpool coach service on three days a week was 

 established in 1 782, and was announced as for the Blackpool season. The Post 

 Diligence left Halifax at 5-0 a.m., and the single fare was 18s. 6d. By the early 

 years of the nineteenth century a regular coach service from all parts of Lan- 

 cashire had been organised. In the ' Manchester Mercury ' also, Lawrence 

 Bailey announced that he had ' completely furnished and fitted up a 

 commodious genteel house in an eligible situation. A bathing machine will be 

 kept for the use of friends.' In 1 787, John Bonny also advertised that he had 



