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Formby Beach Blog

Welcome to Formby Beach

Formby Beach is a Glorious beach with dramatic sand dunes, surrounded by sweeping coastal pinewoods.

Formby Beach is an ideal location for families with miles of coastal walks just waiting to be discovered and breathtaking views across the Mersey Estuary and out towards the Irish Sea. 

Formby Beach and its pine woods have been voted the top European picnic location 2014. You can simply laze about on the dunes enjoying pork pies, cucumber sandwiches, or the award winning locally grown asparagus.

 

Formbys amazing coastal history and ever changing landscape is fascinating. Erosion of the sand has revealed pre-historic footprints from animals and humans dating back to the late Neolithic, early Bronze age, about 3,500 to 7,000 years ago. Today’s visitors can watch the endangered red squirrels from footpaths through Scotch and Corsican pine trees planted a hundred years ago before climbing the dunes for outstanding views over the Irish Sea as far as the Welsh mountains and the Lake District.

 

Whether you want to walk, run or ride there's something for everyone at Formby Beach, the perfect place to get outdoors and active.

Formby Beach......Fantastic day out for all the family.

The Formby Pinewoods are also a huge tourist attraction, look at our pictures here....

 

Formbys original Lifeboat House was the FIRST LIFEBOAT HOUSE IN THE WORLD.

It was operational by 1776 but was destroyed by winds in 1802 and later rebuilt. All that is left now is the ruins of the original foundations which can be seen on the beach near the sand dunes. 

Wreck of the Pegu

The wreck lies about a mile out from Formby point , its right on the low spring tide point and its under water most of the year...

The Pegu was an 8,000 tonne ship which was a total loss at the edge of the shipping channel at mad wharf Formby point in 1939. It lost its way due the buoy lights being switched off due to wartime restrictions, the mast of this wreck was knocked down by a tug in a gale in 1987. The tug was inbound but had its bridge window smashed by a massive wave, it lost engine power in the Formby Channel, started dragging its anchor and then went straight over the top of the Pegu, dismasting the wreck. The tug then grounded but was released by other tugs sent to its rescue by the Coastguard at Crosby.

The wreck of The Star of Hope

A typical sailing ship being 120ft long and 25ft wide. She used to bring goods across the Atlantic to the thriving port of Liverpool. The Star of Hope was wrecked in January 1883. A telegram from 27th January 1883 reads....The German Barque the Star of Hope was known to be off the Mersey, where distress flares were seen. Nothing has been heard of her since. A further report says the crew of the Star of Hope are aboard the Crosby light ship. The vessel must therefore be wrecked. The crew of 9 were taken on board the Crosby lightship and therefore survived.

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