Margaret Daniels, Chair of the Fleetwood Civic Society.
The Mount is where it began.
Celts, Vikings, and Romans used the local landmarks to navigate.
On a clear day you can see the Isle of Man, if you know where to look.
From the top of this large sand dune the town's creator, Peter Hesketh Fleetwood, and his 'starchitect', Decimus Burton, planed the town. It was served by the railway from Preston and offered a new port for Lancashire to get goods to Manchester, and for anyone travelling on up to Scotland.
They chose this landmark, then called Star Hill or Tup Hill, to be the centerpiece of the new town.
It is the central point from which all the streets were marked out. The original Chinese Pavilion, designed by Burton, was replaced in 1902, and the four-faced clock was added in 1919, as a memorial to the men of the town who had given their lives in service during the First World War.
The view from the top of the hill out across the water is a clue to another important role that The Mount had played in Fleetwood.
Ships, passenger ferries, and fishing boats used the Port of Fleetwood. The Pavilion housed a meteorological station, and everyday recordings of wind speed, rainfall, wind direction, and so on were taken and relayed to ships by telegraph using morse code.
