Southport is a small town in coastal North Carolina, just south of Wilmington.



Southport is a seaside town on the north-west coast of England, to the north of Liverpool and the south-west of Preston. Historically part of Lancashire, it is today part of the borough of Sefton on Merseyside.

Southport has a population of around 100,000 people with approximately 40% of the population over 55 years old and around 55% defined as social class ABC1.

Southport has many tourist attractions including the second longest pleasure pier in Great Britain. A restoration project worth over £7m has helped bring the pier up to date with improved access, lighting and a pier train.

History

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Southport, in its present form, was founded by William Sutton (The Mad Duke) in 1792. However, there have been settlements in the area for much longer than that: the northern part of the town around St Cuthbert's church (in the part of the parish of North Meols now known as Churchtown), was mentioned in the Domesday Book, and some areas of the town have names of Viking origin.

Southport grew quickly in the 19th century as it gained a reputation for being a more refined seaside resort than its neighbour-up-the-coast Blackpool. Southport is a busy and friendly resort, with a number of activities for children, although its permanent funfair, Pleasureland closed in late 2006 (see below).

Southport's suburbs are built around, and still named after, the old villages of the area. From North to South, the districts are: Crossens, Marshside, Churchtown, Blowick, Birkdale, Ainsdale, and Woodvale; home to RAF Woodvale . The town of Formby is south of Southport, with Hightown and Liverpool further southward, along the A565.

Louis-Napoléon Bonaparte lived in exile on Lord Street, the main thoroughfare of Southport, between 1846 and 1848, before returning to France, where he became President and subsequently Emperor of the French. During his reign, he caused much of the medieval centre of Paris to be replaced with broad tree lined boulevards, covered walkways and arcades, just like Lord Street. On the strength of this coincidence, it has been suggested that the redevelopment may have been inspired by memories of Southport's town centre .

On the night of the 9th December 1886, the worst Lifeboat disaster in the history of the UK occurred off the shores of Southport. A cargo ship called the Mexico was on its way to South America when it found itself in difficulty. Lifeboats from Lytham, St. Anne’s and Southport set off in order to try and rescue those aboard the vessel. The crews battled against storm force winds as they rowed towards the casualty. The entire crew from the St. Anne’s boat was lost and all but two of the Southport crew were too. 28 Lifeboat men lost their lives on that night and left many widows, and father-less children.

In 1925, the RNLI abandoned the station at Southport and left the town with no lifeboat.

However in the late 1980s, after a series of unfortunate tragedies, local families from Southport started to raise...