Southport, Lancashire
Historical Description
Southport, a municipal borough in North Meols township and parish, Lancashire. The town stands on the coast at the termini of railways from Liverpool, Preston, and Manchester, 18½ miles N by W of Liverpool; was in the early years of the nineteenth century a poor hamlet, called South Hawes, came into notice about 1830 as an attractive watering-place, grew rapidly from that time into a handsome town with spacious streets and promenades, occupies a quondam sandy waste absorbent of moisture and now well embellished. It enjoys a salubrious climate, includes a chief street 270 feet wide, perfectly straight, and nearly a mile long; publishes three newspapers, and has a head post office, three railway stations, several good hotels, a pier, baths, an extensive bathing beach, a park of over 30 acres, a marine park and lake on the foreshore, a well-constructed market-hall, a fish market, a town-hall erected in 1887 at a cost of £16,000, a public library and art gallery, a pavilion and winter gardens, a fine hall in the Italian style erected in 1873 and available for public meetings, nine churches, numerous dissenting chapels, three Roman Catholic chapels, a cemetery with three handsome chapels, many schools, a convalescent hospital enlarged in 1887, sea-bathing infirmary, a hydropathic hospital, an hospital for infectious diseases, and sanatorium. The new infirmary, erected in 1891-92, surrounded by ornamental gardens, is a building of red brick relieved with stone dressings, the central portion of which is two storeys in height, while the ends and corridors are one storey. The pier was erected in 1860-66 at a cost of £53,000, and is 4395 feet long. The park was formed in 1868 at a cost of £15,000, and in 1882 a sub-tropical garden, about three-quarters of an acre in extent, was added to it. The town-hall was built in 1853 at a cost of about £12,000, is in the Grecian style with a portico, and contains a council chamber, committee rooms, and police court rooms, offices, and cells. The corporation have constructed marine parks and lakes on the foreshore opposite the town at a cost of £41,000. The pavilion and winter gardens, the property of a limited liability company, were erected at a cost of about £140,000, and opened in 1874. They include theatre, concert-hall, marine and fresh-water aquaria, skating-rink, promenades, gardens, &c. There are also Conservative and Liberal clubs, conservatory, botanic gardens, nine banks, and lifeboat and fire-brigade stations. Markets are held on Wednesdays and Saturdays. Southport was constituted a municipal borough by royal charter in 1867, and a separate commission of the peace was granted in 1880. The borough is divided into six wards, and is governed by a mayor, 10 aldermen, and 24 councillors, who act as the urban district council. Acreage of borough, 3665; population, 41,406. Christ Church was built in 1820, and has been much enlarged, is in the Early English style and nearly square, and has a fine tower and spire 180 feet high. Holy Trinity Church was built in 1837, and is in the Pointed style. St Paul's Church was built in 1864 at a cost of about £4500, is in the Decorated English style, and has a tower and spire 132 feet high. All Saints' was built in 1871 in the Early English style, and consists of chancel, nave, transept, and turret. St Luke's Church was built in 1879, is in the Gothic style, and consists of chancel, nave, aisles, and turret. St Andrew's was built in 1872 in the Early English style, and consists of chancel, nave, aisles, transepts, and tower with spire. St Philip's, built in 1885, is in the Geometric style, and consists of chancel, nave, aisles, transepts, and lofty pinnacled tower. The town is divided into the ecclesiastical parishes of St Paul, formed in 1864 (population, 7333); Christ Church and Holy Trinity, in 1865 (4423 and 5831); St Andrew, in 1872 (3110); All Saints, in 1878 (3453), St Luke, in 1883 (5752); and St Philip, in 1888 (2855). The livings are vicarages in the diocese of Liverpool; gross value of Christ Church, £780; St Andrew's, £700; St Luke's, £72; St Philip's, £295; net value of Holy Trinity and St Paul's, £700 and £300. The value of All Saints' is variable. There are also Baptist, Congregational, Wesleyan, Unitarian, Presbyterian, and Independent, United, Free, Primitive, and New Connexion Methodist chapels, and a meeting house for the Society of Friends.
Southport Parliamentary Division of Lancashire, was formed under the Redistribution of Seats Act, 1885, and returns one member to the House of Commons. Population, 76,581. The division includes the following:-Southport- Altcar, Birkdale, Formby, North Meols; Kirkdale (part of) -Crosby (Great), Crosby (Little), Ince Blundell, Thornton; Southport, municipal borough.
Administration
The following is a list of the administrative units in which this place was either wholly or partly included.
Ancient County | Lancashire | |
Civil parish | North Meols | |
Hundred | West Derby | |
Poor Law union | Ormskirk |
Any dates in this table should be used as a guide only.
Church Records
Ancestry.co.uk, in association with Lancashire Archives, have images of the Parish Registers for Lancashire online.
Directories & Gazetteers
We have transcribed the entry for Southport from the following:
- Samuel Lewis' A Topographical Dictionary of England, by Samuel Lewis, seventh edition, published 1858. (Southport)
Land and Property
The Return of Owners of Land in 1873 for Lancashire is available to browse.
Maps
Online maps of Southport are available from a number of sites:
- Bing (Current Ordnance Survey maps).
- Google Streetview.
- National Library of Scotland. (Old maps)
- OpenStreetMap.
- old-maps.co.uk (Old Ordnance Survey maps to buy).
- Streetmap.co.uk (Current Ordnance Survey maps).
- A Vision of Britain through Time. (Old maps)
Newspapers and Periodicals
The British Newspaper Archive have fully searchable digitised copies of the following Lancashire newspapers online: