The Boswells made South Shore their home – their descendants becoming sandgrown’uns in the truest sense
The South Shore Romany Gypsies were central to the development of Blackpool as a tourist town, but as the town grew they were forced off the land they had occupied for generations. Is enough being done to recognise their contribution?
“The fact that they were removed from an iconic place in British culture tells you everything you need to know about the 500-year-long painful history between the British state and the Gypsy population,” says Romany journalist, campaigner and blacksmith Jake Bowers. “They saw the potential for earning a living in Blackpool. It was at a time before the streets were built, the land wasn’t fit for building on, so they were separate and I think they were seen as an asset to the town.”
“Before they even saw the Tower or the Winter Gardens, tourists would head to South Shore to see the Gypsies,” says Heppell. “They were just as important an attraction in the town. As well as telling fortunes they were selling crafts they made, so in those days Blackpool was quite keen to preserve them because they were such a draw.”
“Then new sanitation by-laws began impacting on the Gypsies too,” says Heppell. “There were things that they couldn’t meet in terms of water supply and waste disposal.” “They were very friendly with William Bean. I know they thought he was a very nice man,” adds Petulengro who says the Pleasure Beach, now operated by Amanda Thompson, the great-granddaughter of William Bean, has continued to be supportive of her practice there today.
A new “method of attack” was then employed, according to the report, and the council passed a resolution requesting no South Shore land owners to allow new encampments and to give present tenants notice. By March 1909 many had left but some held fast – namely the Boswell descendants who sought an exemption because they were born on the sands. In the November, one South Shore fortune-teller, Eva Franklin, sought help from King Edward VII, writing to him about their plight.
But by February 1910 they were defeated when Blackpool magistrates granted an ejectment order to the last of the South Shore Romany, 54-year-old Alma Boswell, who had lived on the same plot of land his whole life. Councillor Jo Farrell, Cabinet Member for Levelling Up People at Blackpool Council, acknowledges the Romany Gypsies’ “long history in Blackpool”
“The very least Blackpool should be doing is recognising the historical human geography of the sands in terms of putting Gypsy history on the map in a permanent and recognisable way, so that people can recognise that’s where some of us used to stop,” says Bowers. “At best they should, where possible, create accommodation for living Gypsies and Travellers next to the place where our ancestors used to live.” He recognises that might not be possible near the Pleasure Beach but says, just as removing them was, “it’s all a matter of political will”.
“In the summer my father in law does find it hard to find space for people and he does turn a lot of people away,” says Petulengro. “It's harder now to pull on land. I don’t agree that they should pull on public land and I can understand them being moved off, but there are places they should be able to go where they’re not interfering with people. As long as they tidy up after themselves then it shouldn’t be a problem.
Last month, Bowers listened to lawyers argue before a High Court judge that the anti-nomadic Police Act breached the European Convention on Human Rights. If they win the case, brought on behalf of Romany woman Wendy Smith, then the government will have to change law.
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