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Peoples Playtime and Wakes Week

Sunday is the Day of Rest

Sunday was the only rest day permitted to cotton workers and that was for religious rather than recreational reasons.

For shop workers the situation was much worse. They worked on Sunday as well. They worked from 7.00 am until 11.00pm every other day.

Mill owners were aghast when workers campaigned for an early finish on Saturday, convinced it would be the ruin of them. Inevitably the temptation to spend what little leisure time they had in the pub was overwhelming for many.

Recreational Opportunities Expanded

Gradually the situation improved. Government legislation limited hours and introduced Bank Holidays and recreational opportunities expanded.

Cycling and walking became popular. The potential of the countryside for recreation was beginning to be realised.

The phenomenon of 'Wakes Weeks', when mills closed down arrived.

Lancashire Wakes Weeks

Most people in Northern England will have heard of the Lancashire wakes weeks - those occasions when entire towns would close down completely while their populations migrated to the seaside.

It is something of a paradox that the Lancashire cotton district, home of the world's first industrial society, should have continued to observe its main annual holiday on the occasion of the ancient customary festival of the wakes. At a time when the festival was dying out over most of the rest of England, the wakes holidays in Lancashire evolved from village festivals into mass industrial holidays, weathering both the upheavals of the industrial revolution and the attentions of hostile reformers.

The remarkable success of the wakes holidays suggests that we should re-examine the idea that the industrial revolution brought a massive cultural break with the past. In many ways, nineteenth-century Lancashire was a very traditional society.

The Fylde Coast

In the 18th century the Fylde Coast began to attract visitors from the landed gentry and in 1735 the first 'guest house' opened. By 1780 the emerging resort boasted four substantial hotel ale houses registered in Blackpool, with a further two ale houses in Layton.

Blackpool

In 1801 Blackpool's population stood at 573, only a century later it reached 47,348.

A railway was introduced in 1840 which enabled cheap excursion trains to travel from Lancashire and Yorkshire.

With increasing prosperity, towards the end of the Victorian era people could afford to escape the drudgery of the mill or workshop for a week in favour of a holiday by the sea and it was at this time that Blackpool grew in popularity. For it was here that fresh sea air was deemed to be just what was needed to revitalise and improve the health of mill-workers.

Many of Blackpool's famous attractions were built in the latter half of the nineteenth century including North Pier (1863), Central Pier (1868), South Pier (1894) and the world famous Blackpool Tower (1894). Blackpool was also the first place in the world to have electric street lighting in 1879, with the installation of the electric arc street lighting system.