Bispham Parish Church, Blackpool

Bispham Parish Church, also known as All Hallows Church, is a Church of England parish church located in Bispham, Blackpool, known as the Mother Church of Blackpool. It is the third church on the site and was built in 1883. Until 1821 the parish church of Bispham was the only place of worship in Blackpool. The earliest reference to the church dates from the reign of Richard I of England, when Theobold Walter passed on his rights to the churches of Poulton-le-Fylde and Bispham to St Mary’s of Lancaster. The first mention of Blackpool is found in the Register of Bispham Parish Church in 1602 in which is recorded the Christinary on 22 September of that year of a child belonging to a couple who reside on the bank of the Black Pool. The churchyard contains the tombs of many shipwreck victims, including the captain and crew of the brig Favourite, which sank off Blackpool in 1865, and passengers from the Ocean Monarch, which caught fire in the Irish Sea in 1848.