Formby Point

History

Formby is a town in Merseyside. Erosion of sand on the beach at Formby is revealing layers of mud and sediment, laid down and covered in the late Neolithic/early Bronze Age, approximately 4000-3500 years ago. These sediments often contain the footprints of humans, animals (most commonly Aurochs) from that period.

Formby beach is the location of an early lifeboat station. Established perhaps as early as 1776 by William Hutchinson, Dock Master for the Liverpool Common Council. It was the first lifeboat station in the United Kingdom, and possibly the world. The foundations of the last of the lifeboat station buildings remain on the beach. The last launch took place in 1916. Remarkably a film survives of this event. A footnote to ‘A Chart of the Harbour of Liverpool’ by P. P. Burdett, 1776, provides the first documentary evidence of a ‘boat and station for saving lives’ in existence at Formby Point by 1776: On the strand about a mile below Formby Lower Land Mark there is a boathouse, and a boat kept ready to save lives from vessels forced on shore on that coast, and a guinea, or more, reward is paid by the Corporation for every human life that is saved by means of this boat, etc.’


Remains of the life boat station



The chimney



Red Flag, Danger





Parts of the walls half buried

An interesting piece of history there

Just up the sand dunes from there is the Formby Point ROC post. It's in a bit of a poor state though. Further south, the other side of the River Alt estuary are the remains of the Crosby Battery blockhouses.

That's fabulous. I loved seeing those remains in the sand. Thanks for the history and info, neosea. Very interesting.
I remember seeing a programme about the neolithic footprints backalong. I recall that they had to work fast to document them, as once exposed they were quite quickly washed away again. Good stuff!

A very unusual and interesting post.You just never know what is out there waiting for us to find

nice work

This place surprised me too, I wish I knew about the ROC post. After fishing the Mersey at Crosby I had a look around.

Excellent work neosea, enjoyed reading the history of the site. And seeing pics of the walls and the chimney left on and in the beach.

Cheers to to Snappel, for the whereabouts of the other ROC post, and the Battery remains as well.

Excellent work,

Cheers,

Sal