A Church, or rather Chapel of Ease, and several benevolent institutions have risen up in Southport with the increase of numbers and wealth. This chapel is called "CHRIST'S CHURCH," and is a neat, unostentatious structure; it was erected in the year 1820, chiefly through the exertions of the Rev. William Docker, the present incumbent, and the agents of the late Robert Hesketh, Esq. of Rossal-hall, and the late Princess Sapieha, of Bold-hall, the lord and lady of the manor. The patronage was vested in Mr. Hesketh, in consequence of his advancing a certain sum of money towards the endowment, and undertaking further to improve the living. Though this church will accommodate from six to seven hundred persons, it is already in contemplation to enlarge it, by building two new galleries, one exclusively for strangers, and the other for the scholars of the Sunday-schools. The population of the parish of North Meols, in 1801, was 2,096; in 1811 - 2,887; in 1821 - 3,177 and in 1824, when the census was taken by the resident clergyman, 3,920, the increase being principally occasioned by the prosperity of Southport, and about one-half the whole number is comprised in that village. It is estimated that the average number of visitors at Southport during the bathing season is from 1,200 to 1,400. The Sunday-school attached to the church contains from 200 to 300 scholars, and since the erection of the church the Sabbath, which formerly was almost disregarded, has been observed with exemplary solemnity. The erection of an Independent chapel in 1823, and of a Methodist Meeting-house in 1824, each of which is capable of accommodating a congregation of from 400 to 500 persons, has tended to promote this salutary change. In this village there is a seminary for students preparing for either of the Universities or for the Church, under the superintendence of Rev. William Docker, the term of which are 100 guineas per annum.

     The benevolent institutions of Southport are "The Strangers' Charity," for the relief of the sick poor to whose recovery sea air or bathing may be conducive, and the allowance dispensed is seven shillings a week to each of the objects, all of whom are required to be recommended by a subscriber. The revenue amounts to about four hundred pounds a year, and the institution has the honour to rank amongst its patrons a considerable number of persons of distinction. A neat pile of buildings for a Dispensary, Baths, &c. was erected in the year 1823, at a cost of 449l. 5s. 11d. where medicines are dispensed gratuitously to the poor, and where, when their state of health requires it, they have the advantage of warm sea air baths. Similar benefits are afforded to the resident poor by the North Meols Local Dispensary in this place. The Marine Fund provides rewards for such fishermen and others as venture, at the hazard of their own lives, to save the lives of mariners wrecked on this coast.