Bpl North Shore: Anchorsholme

Take a look at Blackpool’s most northerly seafront at Anchorsholme. Perfect for a walk, spotting sunsets and watching the view.

Where’s Anchorsholme?

For the purposes of this article, we’ll say that Anchorsholme goes from the boundary with Cleveleys to the tram stop and toilets at Little Bispham. We’re not quite sure where the official, invisible line is on the map!

Anchorsholme is the area between Cleveleys (which is in Wyre) and the borough of Blackpool. The actual boundary between Wyre and Blackpool is at Kingsway.

There’s a small pumping station building where Kingsway meets the promenade at right angles. On the other side of the rear flood wall you’ll find ‘Cleveleys’ spelled out in big stone letters. It’s at the side of the Shipwreck Memorial that you can see in this photo –

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Explore Anchorsholme Seafront

Princes Way at Anchorsholme has always been a really popular spot with visitors from near and far. It’s somewhere to park right next to the sea and a lovely spot for a walk. It’s quite near to Cleveleys town centre and adjacent to Anchorsholme Park.

The next video is from September 2021, walking from the park to the Cleveleys boundary. Come with us to take a look –

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The new, wide promenade has a split level design. The step is a practical part of the sea defence design. But it’s also a useful feature because it creates an unlimited seat. There are also additional wooden benches.

Public Facilities

With very reasonable pay and display parking along the full length of the highway it’s an ideal place for anyone who wants to set up camp for the day. You could sunbathe, go for a walk, pop to nearby Cleveleys or just sit and enjoy the view.

Find Danfo public toilets at the tram stop at the junction with Queen’s Promenade. Public facilities are nearby in Anchorsholme Park (more about the park further down the page). Plus, it’s only a short walk if you fancy a spot of shopping in Cleveleys.

Beautiful Beaches

Blackpool’s coastline is a changing landscape with different features at each point. The thing that each of these sections does have in common is the beautiful beaches, the fabulous view (even on a grey day!) and the spectacular sunsets.

The beach at Anchorsholme is tidal, so twice a day it’s under deep water. There is usually some shingle and pebbles near to the sea wall, but beyond that are miles of golden sandy beach.

Shipwrecks

Anchorsholme beach is where the Riverdance Ferry famously ran aground in 2008.

The remains of the Riverdance are long gone. But depending on the depth of sand on the beach, you might see the wooden ribs of the Abana shipwreck stuck out of the sand at low tide. It’s another wreck from long ago.

Interested in local maritime history? At the boundary with Cleveleys there’s the shipwreck memorial. On it are the names of the many ships which have wrecked off the Fylde Coast – both the Abana and Riverdance are on there.

Rough Seas

Hard to believe in lovely weather, but the sea can be incredibly rough along the Fylde Coast.

The seafront at Princes Way, Anchorsholme, takes a hard battering on bad days – at any time of the year. It can be very dangerous, so the sea should always to be treated with respect.

Take a look at this rough sea – which is nowhere near as bad as it can get! Filmed at the corner near the tram stop/toilets junction of Princes Way and Queen’s Promenade.

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As the seafront promenade continues southwards to Blackpool, you can see why there are two levels of promenade walkway. The split-levels of promenade are integral to the sea defences, each providing a layer of protection.

• The bottom level is dangerous in stormy conditions.
• Please don’t cross the barriers onto the sea side when the tide is in or coming in.

Head south towards Blackpool from Anchorsholme

You can continue walking along the seafront from Anchorsholme, all the way to Blackpool. And even further beyond that if the mood takes you!

Keep the sea on your right, and you can’t get lost! Head towards The Blackpool Tower which you’ll see ahead.

Pick the lower level against the beach and sea, or the middle level which gives you a better view. The very top walkway along the grassy bank against the tram tracks gives a splendid view of the Fylde Coast.

Have a look at the next video clip. Taken from the pathway near to the tram crossing at Little Bispham, early on a sunny, breezy morning. What a lovely place!

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The New Sea Wall at Anchorsholme

Local authorities here on the Fylde Coast are very good at securing government funding for new sea defences. This coastline has an excellent 100 year, rolling Shoreline Management Plan for their management and maintenance.

In October 2017, the £27.1million Anchorsholme Coast Protection Scheme was officially opened. One of the most recent sections to be fully rebuilt, it’s designed to reduce the risk of flooding to 4,800 properties.

• Take a look at this full article, going through the stages of construction of the new sea wall at Anchorsholme.

You can see the join where Anchorsholme sea wall joins Cleveleys sea wall. The boundary between Blackpool and Wyre is where the style of sea defence changes, from steps at Cleveleys to a smooth revetment and wavebreaker units in Blackpool.

There’s more about the old sea wall at Anchorsholme a little further down this page. Plus other interesting local information.

Anchorsholme Park

On one side of Princes Way is the sea. On the other side of the road is Anchorsholme Park. Anchorsholme Park fills the space between the coast and Queen’s Promenade – where the tramway travels to Cleveleys from Blackpool.

Anchorsholme Park was closed for a number of years, while another major infrastructure project took place.

Water company United Utilities spent an enormous amount of money on improving the infrastructure that deals with our sewage and wastewater.

They built an underground storage tank for stormwater and sewage, and new pumping facilities. The improvements will reduce sewage spills to sea and protect properties from flooding.

• Take a look at this article, going through stages of works at Anchorsholme Park

The Old Sea Wall at Anchorsholme

The old sea wall here was at the end of its useful life. That’s why funding was granted for the Anchorsholme Coast Protection Scheme.

The old wall was broken and failing. During winter storms just before construction work started, a huge chunk of it actually broke off.

The design of the old seafront at Princes Way meant that waves frequently came over the top. As a result, the highway was often closed to traffic. Not just because of flood water, but pebbles and shingle that washed up with it.

Here’s an example of small waves coming over. Bear in mind that it’s not safe to go out and take photos in the worst of the stormy conditions! Waves overtopping like this (and much worse) was a normal sight. We’ve not got any photos of the very worst weather in our archive here at Visit Fylde Coast. Not only is it unsafe it’s also unpleasant to try and take them!

Do you remember when…..?

Dozens of camper vans used to park along the seafront at Princes Way, when parking was free and unrestricted. Unfortunately, a lot of them also took advantage of the situation. That’s one of the reasons why Pay and Display parking was introduced when the new promenade opened.

Remember the underground car park?

You might also remember this slipway – it disappeared underground and stopped at a door. It was opposite the tram shelter at Little Bispham.

This door was the entrance to the space used as an underground boat store. Did you go to the open day which Live Blackpool helped to organise? Over 500 people went underground to take a look! Originally built as an underground car park but prone to flooding, it was filled in and remodelled during sea wall works.

Now, the Fylde Boat Angling Club store their tractors at their club house. It’s on the middle walk, just a little further to the left of this next photo.

And that high brick wall!

Princes Way was much lower originally than it is now. Can you remember the high brick retaining wall which held up Anchorsholme Park? You can just see it on the right of the photo below.

The wall doesn’t look so high in the above photo, but it was! In the summer of 2011 Paul Cartmel pointed the wall, by hand, from end to end. Passing him each week, we felt so sorry for the size of the job he was doing! We stopped one day to talk to him, you can read the article here.

And the diversions during the works…

The next clip (below) was made while the new sea defences at Anchorsholme were being built. It follows the promenade road from the end of Victoria Road West at Cleveleys to turn left at Anchorsholme Lane West. During the construction works, the rest of Princes Way was closed.

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