South Shore Blackpool History and landmarks:

By the 1890s Northern and Central Blackpool were prospering and thriving. South Shore was still sparsely populated though and the promenade area there was dominated by miles of rolling, barren sandhills.

South Shore residents were demanding, however, that a music and social centre was built for them - no common dancing though - their social centre had to rival that of North, not Central Pier! South Pier, built from iron and steel, was completed in March 1893 with a budget of £50,000 using faster, newer technology - the Worthington Screwpile System.

It was only 429 feet long but wide enough to accommodate a bandstand (black and white minstrels gave a daily show here - weather permitting), several shops, an ice-cream vendor and a photograph stall. The pier was very up-market but didn't, in those early days, provide much in the way of entertainment although in 1894 a full orchestra and a select choir gave a superb performance of Handel's 'Messiah' during the summer season.

The Grand Pavillion was built a short time later. This held an audience of 3,000 people. Holidaymakers really started exploring Blackpool's South Shore area when the first seeds of Blackpool Pleasure Beach were sewn amongst the sandhills in around 1896 when John Outhwaite erected his famous American Merry-go-round here. He was later partnered by George Bean who leased an adjacent 42 acre site for his amusement park.

Spread across 42 thrill-packed acres in South Shore you'll find Blackpool Pleasure Beach.

It's the largest free-entry amusement park in the country attracting visitors in their millions each year from every corner of the world - visitors who like their rides just that little bit more exciting. The history of the Pleasure Beach goes back to the late nineteenth century and runs parallel to the developement of Blackpool's South Shore. The north and central areas were already attracting multitudes of holidaymakers by then but the south was still a sandy, barren wasteland.

In 1894 the promenade was extended to reach South Pier but for those who ventured here there was (apart from a troupe of minstrels who sang on fine days, an ice-cream stall, some hobby horses and a skittle alley) very little in the way of entertainment. Gypsy encampments were the only signs of life on the vast, rolling sandhills which were to become home to Blackpool Pleasure Beach.The seeds of the Pleasure Beach were sown around 1896 when John Outhwaite built his American Merry-go round on the almost-empty beach amongst the dunes. He was joined later by William George Bean who leased a 32 acre site beside the gypsy encampments there.

Bean was inspired by a vision of the new style amusement parks in America and he encouraged small companies to operate American 'devises' in his new fairground. Amongst them was Sir Hiram S. Maxim's Flying Machine which was opened on the site in August 1904. This was a huge success and is still flying today with most of its original machinery in use. The amusement park was named 'The Pleasure Beach' in 1905. Visitors, always in their best clothes, had to walk across an expanse of sandy beach on railway sleepers to get there!