Around Preston

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

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