Fleetwood

53.913888888889 - 3.0391666666667Koordinaten: 53 ° 55 ' N, 3 ° 2' W

Fleetwood is an English city north of Blackpool in Lancashire, England. The place is located at the northern end of the Fylde peninsula at the mouth of the River Wyre in Morecambe Bay. The population in 2001 was nearly 27,000. The present city was founded in 1836 by Peter Hesketh, and mainly designed by Decimus Burton.

Excavations have yielded traces of settlement from the Iron Age in the area of present-day Fleetwood and it is believed that the Roman Portus Sentorium has also been found at this location, although direct evidence stand so far.

Fleetwood is considered the first planned town of the Victorian era. Peter Hesketh, a Parlamentsabgegeordneter for Preston, recognized the tourist potential of the area, from which one can see across Morecambe Bay to the mountains of the Lake District. What was missing was a railway connection, and so he drove the Preston and Wyre Railway progress that should provide access to its local foundation for the people of Manchester and Liverpool. This railway line was opened in July 1840. Fleetwood lost his last railway connection in 1970.

The railway connection made ​​Fleetwood not only as a resort attractive, but also for the port it was important, because so goods could be transported via Fleetwood on land or on ships. The Port of Fleetwood is secured in an unusual way, two lighthouses, the Beach Lighthouse and the Pharos Lighthouse. The construction of the Manchester Ship Canal, the movement of goods across the harbor but lost in importance. With the establishment of a railway line from Preston to the nearby Blackpool whose importance grew as a seaside resort and Fleetwood became a relatively quiet place, but which is also connected via a still operational tram with Blackpool since the 1890s.

The first fully automated telephone exchange in England was taken on July 15, 1922 in Fleetwood in operation.

The best times Fleetwoods in the early 20th century, when it was one of the most important fishing ports of the region. 1910 a pier was built to promote tourism; the pier burned down in 2008. Today Fleetwood is threatened by the decline of domestic tourism and the declining income from fishing. Since 1982 there in the wake of the " Cod War " between Britain and Iceland no longer deep-sea fishing in the region. Fleetwood is the seat of the company Lofthouse of Fleetwood, which is known for the lozenges Fisherman's Friend.