The Mount. Fleetwood, Lancashire: 1800's

Showing posts with label 1800's. Show all posts

Sunday, 12 May 2013

1850

Thanks to Chrissy Foxcroft via Fleetwoods past

Sunday, 25 November 2007

The Original Mount Pavilion

The Mount is the largest of a range of sandhills that once ran along the coastline at Fleetwood. In those days the whole area was open land with a few farms and no habitation.

Originally called Tup Hill or Starr Hill, it was a traditional meeting place before Fleetwood was built. The original Chinese pavilion on the Mount, also known as Prophet or Temple View, which adorned the summit was designed by Decimus Burton and replaced by the present structure in 1902.

For those who don’t know, Fleetwood is in Lancashire, North Western UK, part of the Fylde coast, just up the road from Blackpool.

The Mount is a small hill, overlooking the promenade, with a pavilion at the top which also houses a clock, the bells of which regularly chime out the quarter hours.

I grew up in Fleetwood and in 1977, when I was 6, we moved house, from a quiet cul-de-sac to a large old house over looking the Mount. As a child my friends and I spent most of our spare time playing on the Mount, and I was fascinated by the strange structure at its ‘summit’. For the entire of my childhood the Pavilion was closed to the public and I often wondered what was inside.

Many years later the building was finally re-opened to the public and for a few years in summertime you could go inside, view the workings of the clock and walk out onto the balcony.

I recently moved back to the area and so I thought I’d create this page to show some of the pictures I’ve collected from various places and to try and write a history of this building. I’m also hoping to discover if there’s anywhere else like the Mount in the country or even the world, as I’ve never seen anything else that looks like it. If you’re an expert on early 20^th century architecture and you know of another building that looks like this, please let me know.