Page:History of the Fylde of Lancashire (IA historyoffyldeof00portiala).pdf/349

 district, and by its means Blackpool became nearer in point of time to Preston, Manchester, and many other large towns already possessing railway accommodation, a great accession of company being the immediate result. Omnibuses, coaches, and other carriages met every train at Poulton station, and the four miles of road were scampered over by splendid teams in less than half an hour. Then it was that the jolting, homely vehicles, and the through coaches, which had for long been the dashing wonders of the country roads, were driven off, and a greatly multiplied number of visitors brought into the town daily by the more expeditious route, at a less cost and with greater personal convenience than had been possible in earlier days. More accommodation was soon called for and as readily supplied by the spirited inhabitants, who erected numerous houses at several points, which served, at no distant period, as the nucleus for new streets and terraces. The census of the township in 1841 had risen to 2,168. In 1844 the erection and opening of a Market House, evinced the growing importance and prosperity of the watering-place; this building has lately, since 1872, been enlarged by lateral extension to quite double its original capacity, whilst the extensive unprotected area opposite, used for similar trading purposes and occupied by stalls, has been covered over with a transparent roof. Talbot Road was opened out and the lower end formed into a spacious square, (furnished with an elegant drinking fountain in 1870) by the removal of a house from its centre. These improvements were effected at the sole cost of John Talbot Clifton, esq., of Lytham, the owner of the soil. The Adelphi and Victoria Hotels, which had sprung into being, were altered and enlarged; the former by raising it a story, and the latter by the addition of a commodious dining room, two sitting rooms, and sundry bedrooms. Several spacious residences were finished on South Beach, and a handsome terrace of habitations stretching south from Dickson's Hotel, was also erected about that time.

In 1845, several houses on a larger scale, including the Talbot Hotel, were built, and great improvements and additions made to many former establishments.

The opening of the branch line from Blackpool to join the main railroad at Poulton, on the 29th of April, 1846, gave another marked impetus to the progress of the town; by its formation direct steam