Users of
London Euston station might be surprised to hear that there is a North Euston
too – 250 miles away.
North Euston
is in Fleetwood, Lancashire. A friendly place with an interesting story,
Fleetwood was the first Victorian planned town. It was designed by Decimus
Burton (so named because he was the 10th child) for Peter Hesketh,
an MP and estate owner with big ideas.
Hesketh saw
that Fleetwood could make a successful port and a holiday resort for working
families, and set about making his vision a reality. At the time, there was no
rail link between London and Scotland, so he put his energies into creating a
rail link to Fleetwood from Preston, enabling passengers to make the final leg
of the journey by sea from Fleetwood. Fleetwood’s first buildings were started
in 1836, along with its railway, and the North Euston Hotel, facing the
waterfront, was built in 1841.
Queen
Victoria used the rail link in 1847. To welcome her, the council lit all the
gas lamps, but they ran out of gas before the Queen arrived. Hesketh’s dreams
of commercial success were ruined a few years later when the rail link from
London to Scotland was built over Shap Fell (an engineering feat that had been
considered impossible), making Fleetwood’s role of transport terminus redundant.
The oldest
building in town is the Fleetwood Museum, which has also been a custom house,
town hall and hotel. With lovely staff, great cake and a secret in a shed (I’m
not spoiling it for you – you need to go and discover it for yourself), the
museum is worth a visit; follow it up with a gusty walk on Fleetwood’s seafront
and remember the pioneering Victorian with the big idea.
