Skippool was once a bustling port on the River Wyre, close to the Fleetwood estuary, where ships unload their cargoes. Flax was brought in from Ireland and the Baltic; timber came from North America; and tallow arrived from Russia. More locally, limestone and oats were transported from Ulverston and coal from Preston. Its popularity fell out of favour when Fleetwood’s port opened in the 1840s. By the mid 1700’s the volume of shipping activity at Skippool and Wardley’s on the opposite bank is believed to have exceeded the Port of Liverpool. A number of businesses were situated alongside the river to benefit from this trade, including Silcock’s Bone Mill and Tomlinson’s Animal Feeds Warehouse. There was also a small shop that sold tea and sugar to the boatmen. Goods arrived at the docks from all over the world. 

The photos below feature the MFV Good Hope, a once proud trawler which was first launched in 1948 from Wick. It was decommissioned around 1984 before being bought with a view to restore and was then brought to Skippool creek. The trawler is now in an advanced state of decay with the wood rotted throughout and totally unsafe to board. When I was last there in 2009 the cabin was still precariously perched atop the hull, alas this has now succumbed to decay.

Details of the remains of the trawler.