Page:History of the Fylde of Lancashire (IA historyoffyldeof00portiala).pdf/371

 tending with no tardy pace, up to the present year of 1876, buildings have increased at a rate unparalleled in any former period of Blackpool's history. No longer solitary erections, or even small groups, but whole streets have been added to the expanding area of the place, consisting of handsome and spacious edifices, of, indeed, notwithstanding their being situated to the rear, exteriors which would, not many years ago, have been deemed highly ornamental to the beach itself. In 1874 the south section of the noble market-hall, on Hygiene Terrace, was being arranged and fitted up with roomy tanks to form an aquarium on a fairly large scale by W. H. Cocker, Esq., J.P., who had recently acquired the proprietorship of the entire pile. The open space in front of the building was fenced in, and furnished with three tanks for seals, and other novel features to render it attractive and pleasing. The walls of the interior were adorned with landscapes in the spacious saloon, where the main tank, divided into numerous compartments, each being supplied with a variety of fish differing from its neighbours, occupies a central position. Subsidiary tanks, filled with curious specimens of animated nature from the "vasty deep," stand in the entrance hall and recesses. The aquarium was opened to the public on the 17th of May, in the ensuing year.

On the 22nd of May, 1875, the foundation stone of a Primitive Methodist chapel was laid in Chapel Street by Mr. J. Fairhurst, of Wigan. Heretofore the members of that sect had met for religious purposes in a mission room located in Foxhall Road. The earliest service in the new chapel was conducted by the resident minister, the Rev. E. Newsome, on Sunday, the 29th of the following August. The Unitarians have a chapel in Bank Street, which was formally opened by the Rev. J. R. Smith, of Hyde, also in August, 1875. During the same month a number of influential gentlemen purchased the estate of Bank Hey from W. H. Cocker, esq., J.P., for £23,000, with the intention of converting it into Winter Gardens. Possession was gained, according to agreement, on the 1st of October. The design of the company is to place on the land a concert room, promenades, conservatories, and other accessories calculated to convert the estate into a pleasant lounge, especially desirous during inclement days.