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Southport

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Southport is about 40 minutes southwest of Preston. It was founded in 1792 by the landlord of a nearby pub, William Sutton, who built a bathing house on the site to tap into the fashion for bathing in the sea. A widow from Wigan  started to take in lodgers in her nearby cottage, so Sutton built a hotel, the South Port Hotel - despite there being no port. This gave a name to the town that developed. As a resort Southport had a early advantage over its rival in that it was on a canal - or at least only 4 miles from a canal. The Leeds Liverpool Canal brought people from Liverpool and Wigan and other local cities. It has always marketed itself as rather more genteel than the nearby Blackpool, but like all UK resorts is now looking like faded glory. Churchtown So we will start in Churchtown. This was the small village William Sutton came from. Today it has been subsumed into the sprawl of Southport. It is 2 miles from the centre of Southport, and very different to it. Apart from the car, it
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Glasson Dock

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The village is, I think technically Glasson, but it is generally called Glasson Dock. It claims to have been the largest post in the northwest . I am guessing this weas pre- or very early industrial revolution, before the rise of Liverpool and before Preston eclipsed Lancaster. It still handles over 150,000 tonnes of goods annual, so I guess is Lancashire's biggest port today, give Liverpool and Manchester are no longer in Lancashire, and Preston is not used commercially any more. Quite something for a village with about 600 people! The dock was built to serve Lancaster, as ships were struggling to navigate the Lune into the city itself. It was connected to the Lancaster Canal in 1825, though parliament had passed the plans for it more than 30 years earlier. A railway connecting it to Lancaster was built in 1883, but closed to passengers in 1930, and to goods in 1964. It is a pretty place, and very worth a visit. The course of the old railway offers a nice walk. The Village The vil
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Clitheroe

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Clitheroe is about 15 miles northeast of Preston, and Wiki tells me is considered one of the best places to live in the UK based on surveys in the Sunday Times. The town is dominated by a castle, which is situated at the top of a rocky hill - the name Clitheroe is Anglo-Saxon for rocky hill - overlooking the River Ribble, which passes Clithoe on the northeast. The Castle  The castle can be explored for free. On the highest point is the Norman keep, one of the smallest in England. The keep is a ruin, but not in terrible shape. However, there is not much to see inside. No interior floors are surviving besides the stone floor of the basement. The tower is surrounded for much of its perimeter by a lower wall, which is in good repair, and can be accessed for good view of the area. Looking northwest, more-or-less along the main street. And southeast towards Pendle Hill. The castle was extended to the south and southwest, but most of this has now gone. There are buildings there, but they most
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