The Celtic Coastal Road: Part Two

Right…in last week’s exciting episode we traced our Celtic highway through Blackpool from the Winter Gardens, towards Revoe, past the old gasworks where a stone hammer was discovered in 1881 and alongside a ‘ruin’ at the junction of Kent Road and Princess Street. (This ruin, obviously, is now gone and shouldn’t be taken as a personal reflection on any of the current properties around that area.) So, picking up the thread again, our projected hollow way continues via Manchester Square, through a ginnel and onto Bolton Street, shown in the photograph below, where, many years ago, according to Kathleen Eyre’s ‘Seven Golden Miles’: “…there were three old cobbled cottages turned into shops, entered by going down two steps from road level.”

It ought to be mentioned that, when houses appear to be lower than the road itself, this generally indicates that the original road is of great antiquity, having been rebuilt so many times across the centuries that its surface gains significantly in height.
Unfortunately it’s around this point that we lose track of the Celtic route. Or to be more honest, it’s around the point that we stopped trying to piece the southern section of it together simply because we couldn’t afford the tram fare to travel any further.
So, let’s return to the Winter Gardens and see if we can trace ‘Double Dyke’ to the north. It seems likely that our ancient track originally ran beneath Central Library to Cocker Square where, it once again, turned to follow the high ground up Fumblers Hill.

Fumblers Hill, shown in the photograph above, was certainly one of the earliest known occupied locations in Blackpool, Rev. Thornber recording that: “…in 1769…the houses were few and scattered…from the hovels standing on the site of Bennett’s Hotel to Fumblers Hill, eight cottages might be numbered.”
In case you’re wondering, Fumblers Hill, the origin for the name of which we’ve never been able to determine, runs from Cocker Square and emerges on Dickson Road opposite Pleasant Street, where Ziggies used to stand.
And because, once again, all of this is probably starting to get confusing, we’ve included the map below.

(Incidentally, if you’re feeling that way inclined, you can join last week’s map and this week’s map together. That way you can follow the entire hollow way from the Gynn to Waterloo Road...if you really want to.)
From Dickson Road our prehistoric road curved through the estate surrounding Egerton Road and can be clearly seen recorded on old maps with no particular start or finish to it.
Something of it can still be determined in the allies between Eaves Street and what was once St Paul’s church, running parallel to Dickson Road. Here the ginnels are lower than the roads surrounding them, partly due to the fact that the streets are built on a slope, but also partly due to the original road being sunken.
In fact, if you look at the photograph below, you can even see, albeit filled in considerably nowadays, the remains of the sunken track crossing the car park behind the church. (You might have to look closely, but the dips and banks are definitely there.)



From here our hollow way descends towards the Gynn, having more or less followed the high ground all the way from Waterloo Road.
Returning once again to the Winter Gardens, another branch of Double Dyke apparently once ran east/west creating a ‘T’ junction with the route we’ve just followed, heading off through Stanley Park to Whinney Heys.
But we reckon that’s enough orienteering for one fortnight, so it’s time for a cuppa and beef and mustard sandwich before we return to our rummaging and embark on something completely different for the next article.