1. A picture of a yawl leaving port just outside of Liverpool near the town of Sefton.

2. Sefton, which is a suburb to the town of Liverpool, is represented in North and South as the fictional town of Heston. After Mr. Hale announces that he's leaving the parish in Helstone the Hales pack their belongings and begin their travels to Milton, which is in the north of the UK. On the way, they stop in this seaside town of Heston to get a hotel while Margaret and Mr. Hale look for housing and jobs in Milton a town over. Margaret notices that the town of Heston is more bleek and the people are more busy than in Helstone. While Margaret does feel rested in Heston while travelling, she notices the different lifestyles people lead and the busyness of the town. This is important because it acts as a middle ground from Margaret's home in Helstone to the manufacturing city of Milton, and helps Margaret adjust to what would become her life in a big city.

3. Sefton is a town located near Liverpool and actually became a somewhat major metropolitan area during the 18th century when Liverpool began to experience growth and the port of Bootle, another suburb of Liverpool, extended over into Sefton. Sefton is known for two things: its maritime history and religious history. Originally named after a parish (Sefton) it was a religious center for the Molyneux family, who would later become the Earls of Sefton and had major holdings of land in the region up until the 18th century. Once the fishing and boating industries entered Sefton, many ports were built and most residents worked in these industries. In recent times, however, Sefton has become a major tourist town and considered to be a "resort" area and many people wish to live in Sefton. With this in mind, it's surprising to know that Sefton's population remains under 1,000 as of the 2011 census (Britannica).

4. Its actually really important to learn about the history of Sefton because by knowing the context of the town and how its religious basis was affected by industry and reduced to a fishing town at the time of Gaskell writing North and South, the readers can understand Margaret's feelings toward the town and how its bleakness wasn't always the case. Another topic of conversation when talking about Sefton's history thats crucial to understanding its portrayal in North and South is how the growth of industry can affect any town. Previously, Sefton was a town founded on religion and agriculture and had a tight-knit community but when people moved to the cities for work, towns like Sefton suffered because outsiders found themselves living and working in Sefton and the special connection that the people in Sefton had was lost. Don't get me wrong, I think that it's great that more people can live in an area like Sefton, but I think that it became disconnected during the Industrial Revolution, and Margaret recognizes that. 

5. Citations: 

https://www.britannica.com/place/Sefton

https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.historic-uk.com%2F...