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By JOHN SIDDLE
TAKE a look at Southport 163 years ago - a small, refined village that was about to surrender to the commercial, tourist town it is today.
A newly-released hand-drawn map, based on Ordnance Survey documents of 1845, snapshots our beloved town as a slowly-blossoming resort of just 8,000 people - just one year after the Southport Visiter was first published!

The historic map, on sale at the Tourist Information Centre, documents the town just three years before the first rail lines would signal a mass influx from across the North West.
The dunes lining the famous Southport Sands had been tamed and the town was beginning to expand beyond the elegant Lord Street.
Hamlets such as 'Little London' and 'The Trap' were prospering whilst the town's reputation as 'spa town' was spreading.
But just 15 years later, Southport was expanding at such a rate that its small provinces would be lost to the annals of history.
From a small village of 7,774 in 1841, Southport had 18,076 people in 1871, 32,191 in 1881 and 48,046 at the turn of the 20th century.
Visiter reporter John Siddle and local historian Matthew Tinker look back at a town on the verge of a transformation, pinpointing what little remains of 1845 and what now stands in its place.
The maps are available from local bookshops and the TIC from £9.50.

1: WELLINGTON TERRACE
Built in 1817 and still lived in today, these are the oldest buildings on Lord Street. The cottage-like fronts are understood to be deceptively roomy inside.
In 1820, the terrace was mentioned in a description of Southport in Longman's Guide To All The Watering & Sea-Bathing Places, which read: "Southport... dates its origin within the last 40 years; at present it forms a considerable village, comprising numerous neat cottages... those elevated on an embankment called Wellington Terrace are very handsome."

2: LITTLE LONDON & THE ANCHOR INN
Although not mentioned in parish registers until the 18th century, 'Londehay' appears as early as 1489 and is now the Rose Hill area of Southport, by Forest Road bridge. Here, merchants from London came to collect the fleeces of wool from North Meols.
At the heart of the hamlet stands The Anchor Inn, now The Blue Anchor pub, where legend has it that pallbearers once stopped to rest when transporting the dead along Little London Lane - from what is now High Park to Duke Street cemetery, then called The Trap. A 6ft slab, three metres off the ground, which once stood outside the pub, is said to have been used by the pallbearers to lay the dead upon while they refreshed themselves.

3, 4, 5: SETTLEMENTS AROUND SOUTHPORT
The names of the old settlements changed in the mid 1860s to 1870s, as the town of Southport spread its environs and swallowed it up.
Railway Terrace became Railway Street, Snuttering Lane became St Luke's Road, Gorsey Lane and Trap Lane were replaced by Windsor Road, Boundary Road, Cemetery Road and others.
By 1880, Little London was not being referred to as this name and began to be known as St Luke's.

6: BELMONT CASTLE
This imposing, extravagant building on the Birkdale border was built in the 1820s by Robert Holt, a "man of spirit and enterprise", just years before his death. Described as a "elegant castellated edifice", Belmost Castle stood until 1890 when it was pulled down.

7: THE NILE RIVER
Contrary to popular belief, the river was never anything more than a series of tribulets and streams, and was little more than a brook.
When the so-called river vanished beneath the surface, notions of its grandeur became vastly inflated. In 1928, one correspondent in Manchester City News wrote: "The river was navigable... an elderly friend informed me... that her father used to sail up the River Nile to an inn.. and have glorious shrimp teas there."
In fact, Francis Bailey says in A History Of Southport: "The Nile was never navigable and was simply a stream one was able to jump across."
The 'river' was perhaps named the Nile in 1798 following Nelson's victory in Egypt that year.

8, 9: RICHMOND HILL & ROSE HILL COTTAGES:
In 1845, the town centre site now occupied by civic buildings, such as the library, arts centre and town hall, were two banks of terraced houses known as Richmond Hill and Rose Hill Cottages.
The Rose Hill buildings were eventually demolished to make way for Cambridge Hall in 1872, now effectively the Arts Centre, and in 1881 saw the building of the Atkinson Art Gallery on the spot of Richmond Hill.

10: VICTORIA BATHS
The historic Turkish baths which now stand opposite the soon-to-open Ramada Plaza Hotel was actually preceded by an even earlier version which overlooked the sea in 1839 until around 1860.

1980s chart star Rick Astley will compete with American pop princess Britney Spears and Irish rock legends U2 for the title of 'Best Act Ever' at the MTV Europe Music Awards in Liverpool on November 6.
Southport Visiter reporter Gemma Jaleel has had the pleasure of meeting the Newton-le-Willows man himself - have you? Did you buy the Never Gonna Give You Up smash-hit single back in 1987, or did you prefer another act in the famous Stock, Aitken & Waterman stable?
Share you memories with the Southport Visiter.
Do you have an Astley story of your own? Let us know below.

BLUE PETER is celebrating its 50th anniversary this week with presenters past and present enjoying tea at Buckingham Palace with Her Majesty The Queen.
Did you watch the popular BBC TV show? Were you ever a winner of a coveted Blue Peter Badge?
Share your memories with the Southport Visiter by posting below.

HOPES have been raised of commemorating a Southport nightclub's place in rock 'n' roll history.

On February 5, 1962, The Beatles appeared at the Kingsway on the Promenade - for their first night performing together on stage as John, Paul, George and Ringo.

Now, the venue stands empty and its owner, Bennett Property, recently undertook urgent remedial work after it became affected by cracking and parapets coming loose.

The firm is also poised to lodge a planning application to pull down the Kingsway and build a multi-storey, mixed-use development in its place.

Sir Ron Watson believes that if the bulldozers move in on the nightclub, the building that takes its place should bear a plaque commemorating the seminal performance of the great Fab Four line-up.

Then aged 17, Sir Ron was among the audience at the Kingsway on the night that illness led to Ringo Starr to take the place of The Beatles' then-drummer, Pete Best.

Sir Ron told LookBack: "It did not mean much at the time but it is actually very historically important when you come to think about it."

Today a long-standing councillor for Dukes Ward, Sir Ron saw The Beatles perform at the Kingsway on five occasions in February and March 1962 alone - and remembers helping Best haul his drumkit up the stairs at the venue.

Other venues where he saw the band perform that year included the Floral Hall and Cambridge Hall (now Southport Arts Centre).

Sir Ron said of The Beatles' performances at these gigs: "In a sense they were at their peak. They were phenomenal - there was absolutely no question about it."

In 1961, Sir Ron had taken a job with Canadian Pacific at the Royal Liver Buildings in Liverpool, and he witnessed at least 50 of The Beatles' famous lunchtime sessions in the Cavern Club.

He commented how the rigours of the band's stints playing at clubs in Germany hugely sharpened up their act.

In February 1962, Starr was the sticksman for fellow Merseybeat group Rory Storm & The Hurricanes and he did not permanently replace Best until six months later.

Starr was also a regular performer in Southport, pounding the skins with The Hurricanes during Sunday afternoon appearances at the Great Wall, a Lord Street Chinese restaurant, during late 1961 and early 1962.

Sir Ron last saw The Beatles on stage in Southport in mid- 1963, at the Odeon Cinema on Lord Street (which was later demolished to make way for the town's Sainsbury's store).

By then 'Beatlemania' was in full swing.

"When people started yelling and screaming, it was a different thing," said Sir Ron.

"Twenty-five minutes in and you couldn't hear a thing - I thought, what's the point?"

When contacted by LookBack, Alan Hegarty, development director of Bennett Property, responded positively to Sir Ron's suggestion to commemorate the Kingsway's musical heritage.

"I can meet up with Sir Ron and we can sort something out. We are all fans of The Beatles," said Mr Hegarty.

DO you have any memories or photos of The Beatles? E- mail us at visiternews@southportvisiter.co.uk or telephone LookBack reporter Laura Jones on 01704-398255.

By Laura Jones

HOLLYWOOD superstar Clark Gable caused quite a stir in Southport one sunny day in 1946.
The celebrated actor arrived unannounced at the Southport Sea Bathing Lake sporting his United States Army Air Force uniform, drawing a crowd of hundreds.
Bob Couzens, now 94 years of age, was there to see the relaxed Gone With The Wind star posing for pictures and soaking up the sunshine.
Speaking to LookBack, Bob recalled: "He must have been passing through RAF Woodvale on duty.
"There were crowds and crowds - maybe about 300 people. They must have recognised him straight away."
At the time, Gable was an iconic actor nicknamed "The King of Hollywood" whose most famous role was Rhett Butler in the 1939 American Civil War epic Gone With The Wind, in which he starred opposite Vivien Leigh. His performance earned him his third nomination for the Academy Award for best actor; he had won the award for It Happened One Night (1934) and was also nominated for Mutiny On The Bounty (1935).
Later memorable performances were in Run Silent, Run Deep (1958), a classic World War II-set picture about life in an American submarine in the Pacific, and his final film The Misfits (1961), which paired Gable with Marilyn Monroe in one of her last screen roles.

Bob added: "They were all delighted to see him - they were all shouting and screaming, so he didn't really have a chance to speak.
"At that time there were a lot of servicemen in Southport that stayed in the Palace Hotel."
And they'd have no doubt been impressed by the town's 'Bathing Beauties' - a beauty contest that summer crowned lovely ladies Veronica Johnson, Margo Proudlove and Margaret Rimmer the best looking bathers in Southport.
The post-war years were the start of a star-studded era for Southport, with the likes of Judy Garland and Peter Sellers passing through the grand Palace Hotel, which stood on Weld Road, in Birkdale.
The grand building has now been demolished, apart from the Fishermen's Rest pub, which still stands.
DO you have any stories or photos you would like to share with readers for LookBack? E- mail us at: visiternews@southportvisiter.co.uk or call in and see Laura Jones at the Visiter office on Tulketh Street (off Chapel Street), or call her on 01704-536655.
Any photos you bring in can be scanned in while you wait.

By Jo Kelly

THIS 1952 newspaper cutting shows Southport under two feet of water following similar floods in August.
The Daily Mail caption from Saturday, August 9 read: "Lord Street, Southport, yesterday afternoon flooded in parts to a depth of two feet.
"Nearly one inch of rain fell in half an hour."
Similar amounts hit the resort in August this year causing a number of homes to be damaged.
Caught up in the traffic in the photo is a steam ploughing engine, the likes of which can be seen at the Banks Agricultural Show this Saturday and Sunday.

By Alex Braham

THIS photograph of the Holy Trinity 'B' Cricket XI, which dates from 1945, was sent in by former Southport resident Valerie Robb.
Mrs Robb, who now lives in Edinburgh, played tennis and hockey at The Rookery, on Roe Lane, which was the home ground of the Holy Trinity team.
Featured on this line-up shot is her late husband Barry Morris, while The Rookery remains the home of Southport Trinity Cricket Club to this day.
Mrs Robb remembers Barry telling her that the 'B' team was "such a happy team none of the players wanted to be promoted to the first team".
Peter Marrow, who is on the photo, still lives in Southport and he recounted how cricket enthusiasts would play the game for the sheer love of it.
He said: "There were not sufficient players in Southport to have a competitive league.
"In those days it was impossible to play for your county and the next step up was to play for Southport & Birkdale in the Liverpool Competition.
"The spirit of the team was fantastic and it was played within the laws of the game.
"It was a healthy way to spend a Saturday afternoon."

By Robert Alcock

A PHOTOGRAPHIC display adorning the waiting areas of Birkdale railway station provides a fitting tribute to the importance of train travel for the district's development.
Installed in the run-up to The Open at Royal Birkdale, the collection of images has been "very well received" by station users, according to Birkdale Civic Society chairman, Ralph Gregson.

Featured among the shots are a Birkdale station staff line-up from the early 20th century and a series of pictures of the village centre, which developed around the station in the late 19th century.
Birkdale Civic Society helped rail officials source the photographs that are on display, a number of which were previously reproduced in historian Harry Foster's book, published in 1995, entitled New Birkdale: The Growth Of A Lancashire Seaside Suburb, 1850-1912.

The importance of the burgeoning rail network for the far-reaching changes that took place within Birkdale in this period - which ended with the district's amalgamation with Southport - is explored in depth in Dr Foster's book.
He told LookBack: "The commuter line from Liverpool to Southport was responsible for the growth of the affluent suburbs and the golf courses between Crosby and Southport."
Work on the first Liverpool- Southport railway began at Waterloo early in 1848 and the line opened that July.
Seven years earlier, the National Census had shown the agricultural township of Birkdale to have a population of just 556.
Change was signalled by an advertisement in the Southport Visiter in September 1848, which announced how Birkdale's new landlord, Thomas Weld-Blundell, sought to grant "long leases for building purposes on very liberal terms".
It continued: "There is no doubt that this healthy locality will ultimately be covered with elegant and beautiful residences, suitable for the habitation of the most respectable parties."
Weld-Blundell's plan for a new estate on the 'shoreside' of Birkdale, called 'Birkdale Park', saw development on roads such as Lancaster Road, Waterloo Road and Trafalgar Road.

He also donated land for railway use, to ensure the residential development would succeed.
By 1888, the Liverpool Porcupine was reporting how the growth of the commuter line had led to a number of "Liverpool merchant princes" living in Birkdale.
Later, the same newspaper wrote how the district was a residential hot-spot for members of the legal profession in the city.
Birkdale Station became so well used that a bookstore was opened there, while in 1904 the link to Liverpool was electrified at a cost of £400,000.
Not all of the development within 'New Birkdale' catered for the upper and middle classes.
The Ecclsefield district of Southport sprung up on the inland side of the railway, running alongside what existed then as a boundary between Southport and Birkdale.

Dr Foster describes this as a "densely crowded working- class enclave".
In July 1871, the Southport Visiter was moved to report how it was "no secret that Birkdale, practically, may be divided into two sections" - with the railway line as the point of division.
We wrote: "On one side of the line are wealthy ratepayers and on the other ratepayers not wealthy."
Much has developed in Birkdale since then, of course, both in residential and transport terms.
The Liverpool, Crosby & Southport Railway became part of the Lancashire & Yorkshire Railway in 1904, and was eventually grouped into the London, Midland and Scottish Railway in 1923.
British Rail took over in 1948 and in 1978 the Birkdale station became part of the Merseyrail Network's Northern Line, where it remains a popular commuter stop to this day.

DO you have a story, memories or old photos you would like to share with LookBack readers? E-mail them to: visiternews@southportvisiter.co.uk or write to: LookBack, Southport Visiter, 26-32 Tulketh Street, Southport, Merseyside PR8 1BT, or why not call into our office.

By LAURA JONES

AS MARSHSIDE Brass Band prepares to open Hesketh Park's 140-year anniversary celebrations tomorrow, we look back at the history of Southport's oldest surviving brass band.
Marshside Brass Band's exact age is the subject of much debate, but one of the earliest references can be found in an 1892 edition of the Visiter.
The article reports that the band led a procession of local traders to the opening of Southport's northern Marine Lake.
But other theories suggest the band may have formed almost 30 years earlier when its home, Temperance Hall, was first opened in 1864.
For many years the band was closely tied to the movement, playing Rechabite processions and picnics, and this connection with temperance is further evident in the band's various names which date from around that time, including, "Teetotal", "Total Abstinence", and "Temperance".
One thing that is for certain is the band's strong link to the Marshside fishing community.
The close-knit community of the Marshside fishing folk during the 19th century gave birth to the band, with most of its members hailing from the village.

The band marched into controversy when in 1913 they stood side by side the shrimpers who went on strike to protest at the sale of imported Dutch shrimps which were being sold as "Southport Superior Potted Shrimps".
The strike was led into Southport town centre by Marshside Brass Band.
In more recent years the band has continued to maintain its old traditions and regularly plays on at marches, concerts, church services, fetes and parades, in Southport - despite the decline of the shrimping industry.
True to its roots, Marshside Brass Band still holds practice sessions at Temperance Hall, which is where they will be putting the finishing touches to tomorrow's performance.
Leading the celebrations tomorrow the band will be returning to Hesketh Park for the second time this year, after playing an open air concert in the park this summer.
Nowadays the Marshside Brass Band plays fundraising events for Queenscourt Hospice and in recent years has led Southport FC onto the pitch for third round FA Cup matches at Haig Avenue.

By Robert Alcock

LOOKBACK'S special reports marking the 60th anniversary of the NHS have continued to generate responses from local people who worked for the service.
Mrs H M Bleackley of Threlfalls Lane wrote in to tell us about her 39 years' nursing experience - a great tally, although she commented she "could not top" the 48-and-a- half years spent in the NHS by fellow Churchtown resident Geoff White, who we profiled at the time of the anniversary.
Mrs Bleackley wrote: "I started my training at Clatterbridge Hospital [in Wirral] in 1945, when I was 16- and-a-half years old.
"I left there in 1948 (when the NHS was born) to start nursing at the Promenade Hospital and left there in 1951, when as Nurse Mary Yates I was married to RAF Sgt Harry Bleackley.
"I then worked at several hospitals in Southport - ie New Hall, Hawkshead Street Children's Hospital, as well as spending three years at Weston-super-Mare Hospital before returning to Southport and nursing at the Southport Infirmary.
"After serving three years as a district nurse, which I enjoyed very much, I continued to nurse at the Southport Infirmary until I had my first heart attack in 1984, after I had spent 39 years in nursing.
"I really loved my chosen career and was disappointed when I had to retire."