WE are looking back just over a century to the golden age of Grange as a tourist resort.

A trade directory for Lancashire which was compiled in 1911 tells us about the history and some of the key traders in Grange at the end of the Edwardian era.

It noted: “Beautiful at all seasons, it is in the summer a veritable paradise.

“It nestles in a quiet nook in the estuary of the Winster.”

By the early 1900s the town have carved itself a reputation with Lakeland visitors and those looking to recover from long-term illnesses with the help of fresh air.

The directory said: “Noted for the salubrity and mildness of its climate, Grange has been popularly termed the Torquay of the north.

“Sheltered as it is from the keen winds of the north and east, by the heights of Hampsfell and Yewbarrow, it dares to stand as a rival to the watering places in the south, and is particularly suitable as a health resort for visitors affected with chest and lung complaints.”

Modern Grange emerged from the 1850s when the railway linked it to Furness and to Lancaster and beyond.

The directory said: “It is to the advent of the railway that the place owes its development; before this, it consisted of a small hamlet, whose only means of communication with the rest of the world was by the over-sands route to Lancaster, or by conveyance to Milnthorpe.

“Before the construction of the railway, the ‘tide washed the garden walls of the village’.”

Protection was provided at the start of the Edwardian era by Grange Promenade, which was almost a mile-and-a-half long and ranged in width from 8ft to 60ft.

The directory noted: “It is provided with shelters, gardens, band-stand and tea house.

“The Promenade was constructed in 1902 to 1904, in conjunction with a main sewerage scheme, at a cost of £15,000.

Among the traders on Main Street, Grange, was Robert Askew, the outfitter and tobacconist; John Asplin, the butcher; Charles E. Court, the watchmaker and jeweller and Samuel Broadbent, the fish, fruit and game dealer.

George Henry Asten was a baker and confectioner based at the Grange Café, while George Campbell was a saddler in Station Road.

Mr Thompson was manager of the Grange and Cartmel Gas Company and William Allen Dickens was manager of the Co-operative store.

Duckworth and Mossop ran the Grange Motor and Cycle Company at Kents Bank Road and Herbert Kingsley Duckworth doubled as a chemist and a wine and spirit merchant in Main Street.