Avro Air Crash 1935, Blackpool Saturday the 7th September, 1935 was set to be an exciting day for Blackpool townsfolk and tourists alike, as Sir Alan Cobham’s Flying Circus were in town. Although based at Squires Gate airfield the avian stunts and aerobatics could be seen all across the borough as planes looped the loopContinue reading “The Sisters who fell from the Skies”
Tag Archives: Blackpool
Sesquicentennial Anniversary – Layton Cemetery, Talbot Road
We are 150 years old! This month marks the first interment at Layton Cemetery, Talbot Rd, Blackpool. On the 14th February 1873 John Slater, a gardener at Bailey’s Hotel on the promenade (later to become the Metropole Hotel) was laid to rest in the grounds surrounding Blackpool’s first sanatorium, as the graveyard situated at BlackpoolContinue reading “Sesquicentennial Anniversary – Layton Cemetery, Talbot Road”
Layton’s Links to the Bloodiest Battle
The Battle of the Somme, where more than a million soldiers were killed in four months of machine gun warfare. Numerous British battalions were entering battle for the first time, and General Sir Henry Rawlinson issued an order that infantry troops were to advance at a walking pace in evenly spaced lines. Although many experiencedContinue reading “Layton’s Links to the Bloodiest Battle”
Easter Saturday Tour @Layton Cemetery, Talbot Rd Blackpool
An Ominous Oracle
Join me for a trip down memory lane, to the bygone days of early summer, 1984. . . York Minster’s south roof was set ablaze by lightning, the miners were on strike and the largest onshore earthquake recorded in the UK hit the Llŷn Peninsula in Wales. But for those of us about to sitContinue reading “An Ominous Oracle”
Seaside Suicide
As dawn broke on the bitterly cold morning of Tuesday 16th December, 1930, two drowned bodies were discovered washed up on the beach, at South Shore, Blackpool, Lancashire. The couple were later to be identified as James Smith (aged 68) and Lily Lavinia Francis Ferris (52 years old.) James Smith was known locally as aContinue reading “Seaside Suicide”
Death of a Demimondaine
On the Eve of All Hallows’, 1951 a young Blackpool woman became the victim of a treacherously cruel act. Blackpool has had its fair share of notorious women and by the early 50s sisters ‘Madge & Mary’ were well known to the local constabulary. They were working girls, demimondaines paid for their services. Of MaryContinue reading “Death of a Demimondaine”
Cemetery Tour
Click the above link to reveal a cemetery slideshow from today’s tour 🖤🪦 Today’s Gruesome & Grisly tour was a pleasure to host, heartfelt thanks to all who attended 🖤
From Misunderstanding to Murder
In the summer of 1950, twenty year old Fred Hardisty, of Devonshire Road Blackpool, was enjoying a break from his studies at Manchester University. The son of a coal merchant and former attendee at a most prestigious private school was enjoying a rather charmed life; having enough funds to to enjoy foreign holidays and toContinue reading “From Misunderstanding to Murder”
The Senseless Slaying of a Superintendent
It may (or may not) surprise you to learn that the seaside town of Blackpool is not all ‘fresh air and fun’ for beneath its gaudy exterior lies a much darker underbelly. It isn’t the drunken girls nights out I refer to nor the bawdy stag parties, but it’s links with organised crime. This plannedContinue reading “The Senseless Slaying of a Superintendent”