"Blackpool" a Blackpool Travel Page by Balam

The Fylde Coast exists in records which date back to Roman times when it consisted of nothing but bogland, forests and desolate scrub land.
The Romans are thought to have built a road from a port off Rossall Point, which was near fleetwood to the Preston area.
Blackpool was first recorded in 1416 when it was known as Le Poole (the Pool). it got it's name from a stream of dark water draining from the moss area around Marton Mere which ran though the bogs into a pool. The bogs turning the water black, giving it the name Blackpool.
Fishermen and farmers started to build cottages in the area around Bispham expanding along the shore line to Blackpool from the early 1600s.

As the town grew people began to visit Blackpool and in 1735 the first guest house was created by Ethart Whiteside. Blackpool soon began to grow and by the end of the 19th Century the population had risen from 450 to 47,000

The railway arrived in Blackpool in 1846 and so did the holiday makers, Travelling from the mill towns of Lancashire and Yorkshire to spend their Wakes Weeks by the sea.
In 1863 the North Pier was built followed by Central Pier in 1868, South Pier and the Tower in 1894.

In 1879 Blackpool became the first town to introduce electric street lights and people came in droves to view this new spectacle, However the Illuminations did not start until 1912.