Jack Ryan's History (4)

"The railway first came to Swanage in 1885 and was operated by the London & South Western Railway Company. Between 1847 and 1877 several attempts had been made to get a bill through parliament for a railway from the existing line at Wareham to Swanage. All these attempts were thwarted by the residents of Wareham who objected to the line going through the centre of the town. In 1880 a local businessman and magistrate, George Burt, succeeded in getting a bill before parliament for a Swanage branch avoiding the centre of Wareham. Construction of the line commenced on 5th May 1883 by the London firm of Curry & Reeves and the first public train left Swanage station on 20th May 1885" (Swanage Railway, 2008).

Swanage Railway. (2008). A brief history of the Swanage Railway. Retrieved December 14, 2008, from http://www.swanagerailway.co.uk/history.htm.

"The original Swanage Pier was built between 1859 and 1860 for use primarily by the local stone quarrying industry, and included a tramway which ran the length of the pier and some way along the seafront. The old tracks can be seen to this day, inset into the seafront walkways.

When local businessman George Burt introduced regular steamer services between Swanage and nearby towns Poole and Bournemouth in 1874, a need became apparent for a second pier to be built primarily for use by passenger steamers. Construction on the new pier began in 1895, and by 1896 was first used by a steamer. The pier was officially opened for traffic in 1897. While regular steamer services ran on the new pier, up until 1966, the older original pier declined along with the stone industry it served some years earlier. Today all that remains of the old pier are some of the timber piles." (Wikipedia, 2008).

Wikipedia. (2008). Swanage Pier: History. Retrieved December 14, 2008, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swanage_Pier.

In George III's day there were at least ten inns of which only The Ship and The Fountain now remain in their original positions. The Ship Inn was the largest inn, it is said to have been built during the 17th Century and was re-built a century later, little has changed since then. Weather permitting you can have fresh fish from the menu. The Fountain Inn is considered to be the oldest inn in Mevagissey and is located at the beginning of Cliff Street. (Meva, 2008).

http://www.meva.co.uk/mevagissey.htm

Mevagissey (or Meva as it is known as locally), was originally known as Porthhilly. Towards the end of the 15th Century the hamlets of Porthhilly and Lamoreck merged together to form Mevagissey. The name is derived from two 6th century Irish saints, Meva and Issey, in Cornish this would be 'Meva hag Issey', hence the 'g' in the name. The village church of St Peter was once dedicated to the saints. (Meva, 2008).

http://www.meva.co.uk/mevagissey.htm