Blackpool is a large seaside resort and main settlement in the Borough of Blackpool in the ceremonial county of Lancashire on the north west coast of England. The town is by the Irish Sea, between the Ribble and Wyre estuaries, 15 miles west of Preston, 27 miles north of Liverpool, 28 miles northwest of Bolton and 40 miles northwest of Manchester. At the 2011 Census, the unitary authority of Blackpool had an estimated population of 139,720, while the wider built-up area, which also includes areas outside the unitary authority, had a population of 239,409. This is the second largest in Lancashire, as well as the fifth most populous urban area in the larger North West England region, after Manchester, Liverpool, Preston and Birkenhead.
Throughout the Medieval and Early Modern period, Blackpool was a coastal hamlet in Lancashire's Hundred of Amounderness, and remained such until the mid-18th century when it became fashionable in England to travel to the coast in the summer to improve well-being. In 1781, visitors attracted to Blackpool's 7-mile sandy beach were able to use a new private road, built by Thomas Clifton and Sir Henry Hoghton.