Editing Blackpool (section)

==History==
===Early history===
[[File:Blackpool.1784.jpg|thumb|View of Blackpool, 1784|200x200px]]   
In 1970, a 13,500-year-old [[Alces alces|elk]] skeleton was found with man-made barbed bone points. Now displayed in the [[Harris Museum]] this provided the first evidence of [[human]]s living on [[the Fylde]].<ref name="amounderness">{{Cite web |title=Who were the Setantii? |url=http://www.amounderness.com/site/setantii.htm |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080330043117/http://www.amounderness.com/site/setantii.htm |archive-date=30 March 2008 |access-date=26 January 2008 |publisher=amounderness.com}}</ref> The Fylde was also home to a British tribe, the [[Setantii]] (the "dwellers in the water") a sub-tribe of the [[Brigantes]]. Some of the earliest villages on the Fylde, which were later to become part of Blackpool town, were named in the [[Domesday Book]] in 1086.{{citation needed|date=December 2023}}

In [[medieval]] times Blackpool emerged as a few farmsteads on the coast within Layton-with-Warbreck, the name coming from "le pull", a stream that drained [[Marton Mere]] and Marton Moss into the sea.  The stream ran through peatlands that discoloured the water, so the name for the area became "Black Poole". In the 15th century the area was just called ''Pul'', and a 1532 map calls the area "the pole howsys alias the north howsys".{{citation needed|date=December 2023}}

In 1602, entries in [[Bispham Parish Church]] baptismal register include both ''Poole'' and for the first time ''blackpoole''. The first house of any substance, Foxhall, was built by the Tyldesley family of [[Myerscough, Lancashire|Myerscough]] Lodge and existed in the latter part of the 17th century. By the end of that century it was occupied by squire and diarist [[Tyldesley Diary|Thomas Tyldesley]], grandson of the [[Cavalier|Royalist]] [[Thomas Tyldesley|Sir Thomas Tyldesley]]. An [[Act of Parliament]] in 1767 enclosed a [[Commons|common]], mostly sand hills on the coast, that stretched from Spen Dyke southwards (see [[Main Dyke]]).{{citation needed|date=December 2023}}

====Sea bathing and the growth of seaside resorts====
In the 18th century, [[sea bathing]] gained popularity for health benefits, drawing visitors to Blackpool as a [[Resort|tourist resort]]. By 1788, there were about 50 houses on the sea bank. Of these around six accommodated wealthy visitors while a number of other private dwellings lodged the "inferior class whose sole motive for visiting this airy region was health".<ref>{{Cite book |last=Hutton |first=William |title=A Description of Blackpool in Lancashire Frequented for Sea Bathing |publisher=Peneverdant Publishing |year=1996 |isbn=0952491508 |edition=Fifth |pages=5}}</ref> In 1781, The town's amenities, including hotels, archery stall, and bowling greens, slowly expanded. By 1801, the population reached 473. Henry Banks, instrumental in Blackpool's growth, purchased Lane Ends estate in 1819, building the first holiday cottages in 1837.<ref>{{Cite web |title=The seaside resort: a British cultural export, an article by John K. Walton |url=https://archives.history.ac.uk/history-in-focus/Sea/articles/walton.html#:~:text=Seaside%20resorts%20began%20to%20appear,and%20parts%20of%20Scandinavia;%20and |access-date=2024-08-29 |website=archives.history.ac.uk}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=History of Blackpool |url=https://blackpoolcivictrust.org.uk/history.html |access-date=2024-08-29 |website=blackpoolcivictrust.org.uk}}</ref>

===19th century===
{{More citations needed|date=December 2023}}[[File:On the sands at Blackpool 1895.jpg|thumb|right|Blackpool sands in 1895]]
By the early 19th century, small purpose-built facilities began catering for a [[Middle class|middle-class]] market, although substantial numbers of working people from manufacturing towns were "being drawn to Blackpool's charms".<ref name=":0">{{Cite news |date=2014 |title=Blackpool's Seaside Heritage |url=https://historicengland.org.uk/images-books/publications/blackpools-seaside-heritage/blackpools-seaside-heritage/ |work=English Heritage}}</ref> In 1846, a pivotal event marked the early growth of the town: the completion of a railway branch line to Blackpool from Poulton. This spurred development as visitors flocked in by rail, boosting the town's economy. Blackpool prospered with the construction of accommodations and attractions, fostering rapid growth in the 1850s and 1860s. A Board of Health was established in 1851, gas lighting in 1852, and piped water in 1864. The town's population exceeded 2,500 by 1851.

North Pier opened in 1863, designed by [[Eugenius Birch]] for Blackpool's "better classes", and always retained its unique qualities of being a quieter, more reflective place compared with Blackpool's other two piers.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Gregson |first=Juliette |date=2023-05-21 |title=Memories of 160 years of North Pier |url=https://www.blackpoolsocial.club/38213-memories-of-160-years-of-north-pier/ |access-date=2023-09-22 |website=Blackpool Social Club |language=en-US}}</ref> The following half century included the construction of two further piers – South Pier (now [[Central Pier, Blackpool|Central Pier]]) in 1868 and [[South Pier, Blackpool|Victoria (now South Pier)]] in 1893 – the [[Winter Gardens, Blackpool|Winter Gardens]] (1878), [[Blackpool Tower]] (1894) and the earliest surviving rides at [[Blackpool Pleasure Beach]] (founded in 1896).

Blackpool's Royal Palace Gardens at Raikes Hall was a world-famous destination for variety and [[music hall]] stars from the mid-18th century. It boasted a Grand Opera House, Indian Room for theatrical and variety performances, a Niagara café with [[cyclorama]], a skating rink and fern house, an elaborate [[Conservatory (greenhouse)|conservatory]], monkey house, [[aviary]] and outside dancing platform for several thousand people. The gardens also had carriage drives and walkways with Grecian and Roman statues for promenaders to enjoy. There was also a [[boating lake]] and a racing track with [[grandstand]] for several thousand. More than 40,000 visitors passed through its gates during the opening week in 1872.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Slattery-Christy |first=David |title=Royal Palace Gardens: Blackpool's Lost Victorian Pleasure Gardens |publisher=CreateSpace |year=2016 |isbn=978-1530154913}}</ref>

[[Working class|Working-class]] tourists dominated the heart of the resort, which was the go-to destination for workers from the industrial north and their families. Entire towns would close down their industries during [[Wakes week]]s between June and September, with a different town on holiday each week. Communities would travel to Blackpool together, first by [[charabanc]] and later by train.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2013-07-17 |title=Wakes Weeks highlight of year |url=https://www.lancashiretelegraph.co.uk/bygones/10554380.wakes-weeks-highlight-year/ |access-date=2023-09-22 |website=Lancashire Telegraph |language=en}}</ref> But Blackpool still catered for a "significant middle-class market during the spring and autumn" favouring the residential area of North Shore.<ref name=":0" />

[[File:The promenade, Blackpool, Lancashire, England, ca. 1898.jpg|thumb|[[Photochrom]] of the Promenade {{Circa|1898}}]]
Blackpool's growth since the 1870s was shaped by its pioneering use of electrical power. Electric lighting came to Blackpool in 1879, as it became the world's first municipality with electric street lighting along the promenade, setting the stage for the [[Blackpool Illuminations]]. 100,000 people congregated to see the promenade illuminated on the evening of 19 September 1879.

Work started in Blackpool on the UK's first electric public tramway on 24 February 1884 and the [[Blackpool Tramway]] officially opened on 29 September 1885.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2021-05-10 |title=History of our Tramway – Blackpool Heritage Tram Tours |url=https://blackpoolheritage.com/tours/history-of-our-tramway/,%20https://blackpoolheritage.com/tours/history-of-our-tramway/ |access-date=2023-09-22 |language=en-GB}}</ref> It established one of the world's earliest electric tramways, initially operated by the [[Blackpool Electric Tramway Company]]. By 1899, the tramway expanded, and the conduit system was replaced by overhead wires. The system still remains in service. Blackpool became one of the first towns to mark important civic events with illuminated tram-cars when five Corporation trams were decorated with coloured lights to mark the Diamond Jubilee of [[Queen Victoria]] in 1897.<ref name=":2">{{Cite web |last=Toulmin |first=Vanessa |author-link=Vanessa Toulmin|title=Lighting Festivity |url=https://www.showtownblackpool.co.uk/news/lighting-festivity |access-date=2023-09-22 |website=Showtown |language=en-GB}}</ref>
[[File:Eric and Mabel Moorhouse.jpg|thumb|Holiday makers from Yorkshire, c. 1930]]
By the 1890s, Blackpool had a population of 35,000 and could host 250,000 holidaymakers. Notable structures, like the Grand Theatre (1894) and Blackpool Tower, emerged. The Grand Theatre was among Britain's first all-electric theatres. The Victorian and Edwardian period saw a significant construction of hotels and other accommodation,  including the [[Grand Metropole Hotel]] (1873 but incorporating an earlier hotel that had opened in 1785), the [[Imperial Hotel, Blackpool|Imperial Hotel]] (1867) and the [[Norbreck Castle Hotel]] (1912).<ref name="t255">{{cite book | last=Rigby | first=Janet | title=Celebrating Blackpool | publisher=Amberley Publishing Limited | date=2023-02-15 | isbn=978-1-3981-0415-0 | page=}}</ref> These hotels remain extant.<ref name="t255"/>

In 1897, [[Borough of Blackpool|Blackpool Corporation]] prohibited "[[Phrenology|phrenologists]], "[[Quackery|quack]]" doctors, [[Palmistry|palmists]], mock auctions and cheap jacks" hawking on Blackpool sands. The outliers moved onto Central Promenade where they erected stalls in front gardens. The stretch became known as the [[Golden Mile (Blackpool)|Golden Mile]] and [[sideshow]]s became one of its key features until the 1960s.<ref name=":3">{{Cite book |last=Turner |first=Brian |title=The Blackpool Story |last2=Palmer |first2=Steve |year=1976 |isbn=0950011320 |edition=1st}}</ref>

===1900 to 1960s===
In 1911, the town's Central Station was the busiest in the world, and in July 1936, 650 trains came and went in a single day.<ref name=":1">{{Cite news |last=Haslam |first=Chris |date=2023-09-22 |title=Blackpool's unlikely bounce back — and why you'll want to go this summer |url=https://www.thetimes.com/travel/the-surprising-seaside-star-in-the-best-value-holiday-stakes-w2wmzxz3p |access-date=2023-09-22 |work=[[The Times]] |language=en |issn=0140-0460}}</ref> In May 1912 [[Princess Louise, Duchess of Argyll|Princess Louise]] officially opened a new section of North Promenade – Princess Parade – and lights were erected to mark the occasion.<ref name=":2" /> The [[First World War]] called a temporary halt to the display in 1914 but by 1925 the lights were back with giant animated tableaux being added and extending the [[Blackpool Illuminations]] to almost six miles from Squires Gate to Red Bank Road.<ref name="y993">{{cite book | last=Sharpley | first=Richard | title=Tourism Development and the Environment | publisher=Earthscan | publication-place=London | date=2009 | isbn=978-1-84407-732-8 | page=189}}</ref>
[[File:Blackpool_Golden_Mile_postcard_1972.jpg|thumb|The Golden Mile in 1972]]
[[File:The_North_Pier_Blackpool_England.jpg|thumb|Blackpool's North Pier]]
[[File:Blackpool promenade steps at high tide.jpg|thumb|Promenade steps at high tide in 2017]]
The inter-war period saw Blackpool develop and mature as a holiday destination.<ref name="g060">{{cite book | last=Alaluf | first=Yaara Benger | title=The Emotional Economy of Holidaymaking | publisher=Oxford University Press | date=2021-03-04 | isbn=978-0-19-263577-8}}</ref> By 1920 Blackpool had around eight million visitors per year, still drawn largely from the mill towns of East [[Lancashire]] and the [[West Riding of Yorkshire]].{{citation needed|date=December 2023}} Blackpool's population boom was complete by 1951, by which time some 147,000 people were living in the town – compared with 47,000 in 1901 and 14,000 in 1881.<ref>{{Cite web |title=A History of Blackpool |url=http://www.localhistories.org/blackpool.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120623015207/http://www.localhistories.org/blackpool.html |archive-date=23 June 2012 |access-date=17 August 2012 |publisher=Localhistories.org}}</ref> In the 1920s and 1930s, Blackpool was Britain's most popular resort, which [[JB Priestley]] referred to as "the great, roaring, spangled beast".<ref name=":0" /> It provided visitors with entertainment and accommodation on an industrial scale. At its height it hosted more than 10 million visitors a year and its entertainment venues could seat more than 60,000 people.{{citation needed|date=December 2023}} During the Second World War, the illuminations were again suspended from 1939, not resuming until 1948.<ref name="y993"/>

Blackpool remained a popular resort through much of the 20th century and, in contrast to most resorts, increased in size during [[World War II]] – remaining open while others closed and with many civil servants and military personnel sent to live and work there.<ref name=":0" /> The town continued to attract more visitors in the decade after the war, reaching a peak of 17 million per year.{{citation needed|date=December 2023}}

===1960s to present===
By the 1960s the UK tourism industry was undergoing radical changes. The increasing popularity of [[package holiday]]s took many of Blackpool's traditional visitors abroad. The construction of the [[M55 motorway]] in 1975 made Blackpool more feasible as a day trip rather than an overnight stay. The modern economy, however, remains relatively undiversified and firmly rooted in the tourism sector.{{citation needed|date=December 2023}}

Many seaside resorts fell from grace during the latter half of the 20th century as mobility, wealth, visitor aspirations and competition were in a state of flux, but Blackpool managed to retain its popular/working-class appeal as the "Las Vegas of the North".<ref>{{Cite thesis |last=Jarratt |first=David |date=July 2013 |title=A socio-cultural analysis of the traditional seaside resort and its contemporary meaning to tourists with specific reference to Morecambe, U.K. |url=https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/19576163.pdf |publisher=University of Central Lancashire}}</ref>

Despite economic restructuring, increased competition and other challenges, Blackpool continues as a seaside visitor destination.<ref>{{Cite web |title=The Seaside Resort, David Jarratt and Jenny Steele, 2019 |url=https://www.jennysteele.co.uk/writing/the-seaside-resort-david-jarratt-and-jenny-steele-2019 |access-date=2023-09-22 |website=JS |language=en-US}}</ref> Tourism in the town supports 25,000 full-time equivalent jobs – one in five of the workforce. In 2023 the town was named the nation's best-value holiday destination. In 2021 18.8&nbsp;million visitors contributed £1.5&nbsp;billion to the local economy, making Blackpool the nation's biggest seaside resort.<ref name=":1" /><ref>{{Cite web |date=June 2019 |title=Supplying skills for the local visitor economy |url=https://www.local.gov.uk/sites/default/files/documents/12.19%20Work%20Local%20-%20skills%20in%20the%20tourism%20sector_V04.pdf |website=Local.gov}}</ref> In 2022 the resort attracted a further 1.5 million visitors – a total figure of 20.33 million, contributing £1.7bn to the local economy and supporting more than 22,000 jobs.<ref>Visit Lancashire, STEAM report, 2022</ref>