Blackpool
Blackpool photos (102 available)
Blackpool maps (2 available)
Map of Lancashire
Beautifully hand-drawn and coloured, dating from around 1840
See this old map of Lancashire
Personalised maps
Create an historic map centred directly on any postcode!
Blackpool books (19 available)
- 71 photos on Blackpool appear in 6 Frith books - View photos of Blackpool
- Read extracts and see photos from these books on Blackpool and Lancashire
Blackpool memories
Read and share memories of Blackpool and Lancashire inspired by Frith photos
Visiting Blackpool Illuminations as a child.
Around the year 1950 a coach would take all the children in our road on a trip to see Blackpool Lights. Those days they called the coach a charabanc. Does anybody remember that name? How happy all the children would be going on that trip to Blackpool. I remember very well leaving in the early evening on the coach with our parents so excited. And arriving at Blackpool and riding up the promenade so mesmerized at all the pretty lights and all the differant themes of nursery rhymes. We would have hot baked potatoes on our trip home and always returned with a stick of Blackpool Rock. Happy memories of yesteryear!
Contributed by Brenda Vanderwert
Lancashire memories
Visiting Blackpool Illuminations as a child.
Around the year 1950 a coach would take all the children in our road on a trip to see Blackpool Lights. Those days they called the coach a charabanc. Does anybody remember that name? How happy all the children would be going on that trip to Blackpool. I remember very well leaving in the early evening on the coach with our parents so excited. And arriving at Blackpool and riding up the promenade so mesmerized at all the pretty lights and all the differant themes of nursery rhymes. We would have hot baked potatoes on our trip home and always returned with a stick of Blackpool Rock. Happy memories of yesteryear!
A memory of Blackpool contributed by Brenda Vanderwert
Little Nellie
Hi anyone remember "Little Nellie" (husband Joe) and their daughter Annie and grand daughter Margaret, from Sultan Street in Accrington. We used to travel down on the same bus with them every Friday night. In those days, we got the bus from the bottom of Water Street/Melbourne Street (now Eastgate). They had a caravan on Thornfield for years and years. When you passed the shop and turned onto the site, their caravan was way down the bottom, tucked in a corner. Little Nellie was extremely small and always seemed to wear mens wide legged trousers, with turn ups!
June
A memory of Staining contributed by june huntingdon
1960 onwards
"Oh Happy Days". My first view of Staining was the 9th June 1960. I remember it well. I seem to remember the Staining bus did NOT go into the village, but stopped across from the old Plough pub. My gran had bought a caravan there, just up Chain Lane, on Mrs Smiths caravan site. Mr and Mrs Smith lived in the farmhouse, their 4 daughters lived nearby in the two red brick semis which Nana Smith had had built. (Auntie Fred'a has now been altered beyond all recognition). I got to know them all over the years. "Auntie Irene" Openshaw, with husband Norman and sons Charles, Dennis and Philip - their house was next to the caravan site and known as ...read more here
A memory of Staining contributed by june huntingdon
Extracts From Blackpool & Lancashire books
Sail boats and bathing machines dominate the beach area between the North Pier and the South Jetty. In the distance we get some idea of the development of this end of the town.
An extract from from"Blackpool Pocket Album".
As with many seaside resorts, one of the popular attractions was a trip in a boat. At Blackpool, sailing boats were often loaded and unloaded by means of portable gangways, one of which is in the picture. In the background is the North Pier, with an excursion steamer alongside its landing stage. This picture was taken from the South Jetty.
An extract from from"Blackpool Pocket Album".
If you think something is missing amongst the buildings overlooking North Pier you are right, for Blackpool Tower was not begun until 1891. Yet the resort’s popularity was already well established and bathing machines and horse-drawn traps line the sands. A wheeled jetty facilitates embarkation for a leisurely sail, whilst the more energetic take their exercise in a rowing boat.
An extract from from"Lancashire - A Second Selection Photographic Memories".
As well as portable gangways, boat-carts were also used to get trippers to and from the sailing boats. In this picture, a boat-cart awaits the call to action, while the bathing machine concession has at least one paying customer in the water.
An extract from from"Blackpool Pocket Album".
By the 1870s, many Lancashire cotton workers received three day’s unpaid holiday a year, which was tacked onto a weekend to give a five-day break. Cheap rail fares and discounts at digs for block bookings boosted the holiday trade at both Blackpool and Southport.
An extract from from"Blackpool Pocket Album".