Portrait of Sir William Hodgson by John Archibald Alexander Berrie; Lancashire County Council. The Sycamores once stood on Blackpool Old Road in Poulton-le-Fylde, approximately opposite the site of today’s Poulton Library. Although the house has disappeared, its name survives in the modern residential development occupying the site. Its historical importance is closely connected with the Hodgson family and, above all, Sir William Hodgson, whose career in local government eventually took him to the chairmanship of Lancashire County Council. The Hodgsons were established in Poulton by the early nineteenth century and accumulated a considerable portfolio of property in and around the…