William Sutton

Who was William Sutton?

William Sutton was a local forward thinking man from North Meols who, in 1792, took advantage of the fashionable new trend of sea bathing by building a bathing house at South Hawes and, realizing the importance of the newly created canal systems, gambled with the idea of a hotel by the seaside just 4 miles [6 km] away from the newly constructed Leeds and Liverpool Canal to and from which he arranged transport for potential guests.

Born in 1752, he was originally the landlord of the Black Bull Inn in Churchtown and known as a good natured, jovial gentleman who entertained his regulars by playing the fiddle.

He constructed his "Original Hotel" at the southern end of what is now the mile-long and much-admired Lord Street, but was nothing of the sort at the time. Rather, the project became a source of disbelief and amusement to the folk of Churchtown and Meols, who referred to William Sutton as "The Mad Duke" and the hotel as "Duke's Folly". The hotel was described as being 'in the southern hawes of nowhere' at that time, "hawes" being the local word for sand dunes.