Page:History of the Fylde of Lancashire (IA historyoffyldeof00portiala).pdf/356

 since 1861, in the spacious room of Read's Market. The Crystal Palace, formerly the Victoria Promenade, was also devoted to similar purposes, having long been diverted from the use for which it was first intended. The Number 3 Hotel, under its old name, but in a more modern building than that described by Mr. Hutton at the close of last century, still flourished, and proved equally attractive, not so much, however, on account of its "fine ale" as the wealth of strawberries and floral beauties adorning its gardens. Carleton Terrace was built in 1863; and on the 10th of March in that year the marriage of the Prince of Wales and the Princess Alexandra of Denmark, was celebrated with many manifestations of loyalty and joy. Flags, banners, and ensigns were suspended from the windows of almost every house, whilst sports of various kinds were held on the sands during the morning, after which the school children, belonging to the different denominations, and a body of Oddfellows, amounting in all to 900 persons, assembled in Talbot Square, and sang the national anthem, previous to forming a procession and parading the streets of the town. Subsequently the children were regaled with tea, buns, etc. The Preston Banking Company established a branch at Blackpool during 1863; and in the month of January a party of gentlemen purchased the whole of the land lying between the site of Carleton terrace and the Gynn, for the purpose of laying it out in building plots and promenades, the main feature to be a large central hotel standing in its own grounds. The contracts were let by the company in October, 1863, for embanking, sewering, and forming the necessary roads and promenades on their estate, and shortly afterwards an agreement was entered into for preparing the foundation of the hotel, the work in both instances being promptly commenced. The magnitude of the scheme far exceeded that of any undertaking which had ever yet been attempted in Blackpool, but undisturbed by the speculative character of their venture the proprietors carried the enterprise through its various phases with a liberal and vigorous hand, succeeding in the course of time in creating an acquisition of incalculable beauty and benefit to the town. The Imperial Hotel has its station on the highest point of the land, now called Claremont Park, and is a palatial edifice, surrounded by elegant lawns and walks, walled off from the park