Bispham is a village on the Fylde coast in the Borough of Blackpool in Lancashire, England.
Geography and administration The village is part of the borough of Blackpool, and to the south of Bispham is Warbreck, North Shore and Layton, to the east is Carleton and to the north is Norbreck and Thornton Cleveleys and to the west, the Irish Sea. The area is mostly urban. Bispham is in the Blackpool North and Fleetwood parliamentary constituency, whose Member of Parliament is Labour's Lorraine Beavers.
Bispham has three Blackpool Council electoral wards: Bispham, Greenlands and Ingthorpe.
Demographics The population at the 2001 United Kingdom census was 19,165, 13.41% of the population of Blackpool (142,900), with 3,873 residents aged between 0 and 17 years old (20.21%), 4,329 aged 65 and over (22.58%) and 10,963 between the ages of 18 and 64 (57.21%). At the census 2011 the overall population using the same three wards increased to 20,001.
Population by ward – Ward PopulationBispham 6,375Greenlands 6,865Ingthorpe 6,761
History A 12,000-year-old animal skeleton (the Carleton Elk) found with barbed arrowheads near Blackpool Sixth Form College in 1970 provided the first evidence of humans living on The Fylde as far back as the Palaeolithic era. The Fylde was also home to a British tribe, the Setantii (the "dwellers in the water") a sub-tribe of the Brigantes, who from about AD80 were controlled by Romans from their fort at Dowbridge, Kirkham. During the Roman occupation, the area was covered by oak forests and bog land.
Bispham was originally a village in its own right, pre-dating the town of Blackpool by several hundred years. In 1066 Bispham was part of Tostig Godwinson, the Earl of Northumbria's, Lordship of Amounderness. It is featured in the Domesday Book of 1086 as Biscopham. (meaning Bishop's estate or Bishop's house) Many of the settlements and villages on The Fylde were Anglo-Saxon settlements. Some though were 9th and 10th century Viking place names. The Vikings and Anglo-Saxons seem to have co-existed peacefully with some Anglo-Saxon and Viking place names later being joined—such as Bispham-with-Norbreck. Bispham having the Anglo-Saxon place name ham and Norbreck having the Viking place name, breck. Bispham-with-Norbreck comprised three hamlets – Great (or Greater) Bispham, Little Bispham and Norbreck, with Anchorsholme (then Angersholme) part of Norbreck. Although the three hamlets were originally part of the Lordship of Amounderness, they were later divided with the moiety of Little Bispham and Norbreck being given to Shrewsbury Abbey and Great Bispham to the Lord of Warrington.
Great Bispham was a part of the Lordship of Layton. In 1539, it was bought by John Browne, who sold it to Thomas Fleetwood in 1550.
The moiety of Little Bispham and Norbreck was given to the monks of Shrewsbury Abbey by Roger of Poitou. In the early 12th century Henry I ordered Stephen Count of Mortain to hold the moiety "free and quit of all customs, pleas and suits of the hundred court. A few years after, David I of Scotland confirmed the moiety "to be held as freely as in the time of his predecessors." In about 1270 the abbot and convent of Shrewsbury granted Little Bispham and Norbreck to the Abbot and convent of Dieulacres Abbey, who held the adjoining Rossall estate. Following the dissolution of the monasteries, it was granted as part of Rossall estate, in 1553 to Thomas Fleetwood. Thus by then all three hamlets were owned by Thomas Fleetwood.
In 1326 the spelling of the village was Byspham. Bispham and Poulton-le-Fylde were the two main populated centres in The Fylde in 1500, though the area was sparsely populated.
It was in Bispham that the first mention of "Blackpool" appeared, found in the Register of Bispham Parish Church in 1602 with the christening record of a child born on 22 September to a couple who lived "on the bank of the Black Pool". In the 17th century The Fylde coast was divided into three parishes—Bispham, Poulton-le-Fylde and Lytham. The ancient parish of Bispham included two townships called Bispham with Norbreck and Layton with Warbreck. In 1851 the southern township of Layton with Warbreck, which included the nascent town of Blackpool within its boundaries, was made a Local Board of Health District, which was renamed Blackpool in 1868 and became a municipal borough in 1876. In 1866 the old parish of Bispham was split when the two townships of Bispham with Norbreck and Layton with Warbreck were made separate civil parishes.
In 1877 a detached part of Little Carleton (then known as Horsemans Hill) was placed in Bispham with Norbreck. In 1879 the area known as Bispham Hawes, which was at the south end of Blackpool, was absorbed into the borough. The parish boundary was adjusted to match the new borough boundary in 1883. The population of Bispham with Norbreck in 1901 was 985. In 1903 the parish of Bispham with Norbreck was made an urban district. The urban district was abolished in 1918 and the area was absorbed into Blackpool.
Although the village centre used to be thatched with a number of pre-19th-century houses, it was redesigned in the 1960s; only two of the old houses remain. Much of the housing today is of the design style consistent with that of the 1930s to the 1950s.
Modern Bispham The area is mostly residential with two main shopping areas. The main road at the hub of the village, Red Bank Road, houses a number of high street stores such as Sainsbury's supermarket. The main shopping area in Bispham is split into two distinct parts. Firstly, from the top of Red Bank Road at the junction with Queens Promenade, running halfway down Red Bank Road toward Bispham fire station. This area contains a mixture of local and tourist businesses including a relatively large number of restaurants, as well as a number of takeaways and designer wear shops. The other shopping area is based around what is known locally as "the village" which is the area beyond Devonshire Road roundabout behind Bispham Police Station, where the shops are sited around a large outdoor car park. The village area also contains the handful of original cottages remaining in Bispham. There are also small shopping areas on Ashfield Road, Moor Park Avenue and Bispham Road.
Religion
There are two Church of England Parish churches—Bispham Parish Church, All Hallows Road, and Greenlands St. Anne church, Salmesbury Avenue and one Catholic Parish Church, St. Bernadette's church, on Devonshire Road. Other churches include The Gate Community Church, Bispham United Reformed Church, Springfield Greenlands Methodist Church, and Cavendish Road Congregational Church. An additional Methodist Church on Beaufort Avenue closed in 2017.
Bispham Parish Church has an original Norman doorway and is the Mother church of Blackpool. Greenlands, St Anne has an active healing ministry. Keajra Kadampa Buddhist Centre, a residential Buddhist centre and a member of the New Kadampa Tradition is located on Holmfield Road.
Education The village has several schools, including
Primary schools Bispham Endowed Church of England Primary School, located on Bispham Road. The original school was housed in what is now the home of the local Sea Cadets near to Devonshire Road roundabout. The school is connected to Bispham Parish Church, and the first school was founded in 1659. Kincraig Primary School, located on Kincraig Road close to Kincraig Lake Ecological Reserve. After an Ofsted report in 2001 in which inspectors described the school as having "serious weaknesses", the school rapidly improved and in 2004 it was named as one of the 200 most improved schools in England, as well as being the most improved school in Blackpool. In 2007 the school was listed in the top 100 most improved schools in England. Langdale Independent Preparatory School Moor Park Primary School, located on Moor Park Avenue in the Moor Park area of Bispham. Saint Bernadette's Catholic Primary School Westcliff Primary School Secondary schools Bispham High School Arts College (formally closed in 2014, demolished in January 2017) Montgomery Academy Colleges Blackpool and The Fylde College the large main campus of the college is located on Ashfield Road, Bispham.
Local attractions and amenities The village has a few attractions, with the tram station and the highest cliffs on both The Fylde Coast and the North West Coast. There are a number of hotels and guest houses mostly around the seaward end of Red Bank Road and on Queens Promenade. The Red Lion pub also houses a Premier Inn.
Bispham has five of the fourteen Lancashire County Council designated Biological Heritage Sites (BHS) located in Blackpool, including Kincraig Lake Ecological Reserve which is located on Kincraig Road, with Kincraig lake and a wild fowl population, from which Kincraig Primary School takes its school crest.
Bispham Rock Gardens is at the top of Knowle Hill on Devonshire Road and runs downhill toward the back of Bispham High School Arts College (formerly Greenlands High School for Girls), with views from the top toward Pendle Hill, Beacon Fell and the Bowland fells.
North Blackpool Pond Trail beginning at Holyoake Avenue and continuing as far as Moor Park Avenue covers a group of 23 ponds, a reed bed, a community orchard (on Salmesbury Avenue located at the former 'Higher Moor Farm') and a series of dykes /ditches, most of which are Biological Heritage Sites (important at a county level). A campaign by local residents and environmental groups led to the creation of a series of walks and interpretation boards along with a programme of events and volunteering opportunities though most of these 'walks' existed prior to their involvement and were produced by 'job creation' schemes. There are now significant opportunities for people to access and engage with the natural environment.
Moor Park runs adjoining Moor Park Avenue and Bispham Road. The park contains a children's playground, parkland, a (disused) bowling green and Moor Park Swimming Pool which is located in the northwest corner of the park. It has a 25-metre pool and a teaching pool. The Friends of Moor Park group was set up in January 2007 with the aim of restoring the park to its former glory including work on the footpaths through the park and the possibility of re-opening the disused bowling green as well as work on the children's playground. Other parks in Bispham include Cavendish Road Recreation Ground which has tennis courts, football and basketball areas and a bowling green, which has a Friends group—Friends of Cavendish Road Recreation Ground. In November 2007 with both funding and planning obtained, work started at Cavendish Road Recreation Ground on a new Kiddies playground, aimed at children under seven years old; the new park opened in 2008. Red Bank Bowling Green is located next to Sainsbury's and is owned by the adjoining Bispham Conservative Club. The green was originally a garden belonging to the house which is now the Conservative Club.
Bispham library was opened on 5 May 1938. Bispham Hospital is a purpose built 40-bed rehabilitation unit, located on Ryscar Way for elderly patients from The Fylde coast as part of Blackpool Victoria Hospital. Trinity – the hospice in the Fylde is a specialist palliative care service for adults and children located on Low Moor Road.
Public houses in Bispham include The Highlands, The Albion, the Red Lion, the Bispham Hotel and the Squirrel Hotel. There are also two wine bars, Xanders in the village and Maddisons on Red Bank Road.