Just over a week ago a morning full of blue sky and sunshine prompted me to ditch the housework and drive the 20-miles to Preston marina and old dock. It’s a place I hadn’t visited for several years and there was a part of the area which I was keen to explore.
The history of Preston Dock dates back to 1884 and though I’ve written about it previously I think it’s interesting enough to repeat it for anyone who wasn’t following my blog back then. Although Preston itself is 16 miles from the coast boats were travelling along the River Ribble to and from the city for hundreds of years. In 1825 the New Quays, later named Victoria Quays, were constructed but with the river being tidal boats could only get in and out at certain times and as ships gradually got larger the waterway became a problem.
The solution lay in the building of a large dock basin with a set of locks to control the water level and construction began in 1884. The river was moved away from its original line and four million cubic yards of soil were dug out of a 40-acre site, creating a dock basin 40ft deep, 3,000ft long and 600ft wide – it took a month to fill it before it could be used for the first time and it was the largest single dock in Europe. Such a large project required a large investment however and the initial £500,000 budget was soon exceeded, with the council needing a further equivalent amount resulting in a mortgage which would take over sixty years to pay off.
The dock was officially opened in 1892 by Queen Victoria’s son Prince Albert Edward (the future King Edward Vll) and was named after him, and the SS Lady Louise, chartered by E H Booth & Company (now better known as Booth’s supermarkets) was the first ship to unload its freight there. Only four ships used the dock in its first year but by the turn of the century that number had risen to 170 and was still increasing; the main imports were timber, china clay, coal, oil, petrol, bananas, wheat and Irish cattle. In 1936 new Art Deco style dock offices opened nearby and two years later a dock railway was added to the site.
During WW2 the dock was taken over by the military and used as a marshalling post, then in 1948 the first ever roll on/roll off ferry service was introduced, sailing to and from Larne in Northern Ireland using the SS Cedric, a former tank landing ship. Trade increased throughout the 1950s and the port was so successful that the original mortgage repayments were no longer charged on Preston residents’ rate bills. By the 1960s the port was at its peak and holding the record for handling the largest amount of container and ferry traffic, but by the early 1970s it was starting to flounder as nearly half of the income generated was being spent on dredging the river to allow access for increasingly bigger ships. Larger ships meant that fewer could use the port and trade began to fall away; the city lost many of its imports and the Larne ferry stopped running as it was unable to compete with ports such as Liverpool which could offer a faster turn-around time. Preston’s port became uneconomical and in 1979 the decision was made to redevelop the site; the dock finally closed in 1981 with a great number of job losses and a major redevelopment of the area started in 1982.
After dealing with the polluted water and land a new road infrastructure was put in place and over the next several years a huge amount of work was done. The lock gates were repositioned to stop flooding from storms, a boatyard with chandlery facilities was constructed and the original railway line which ran on the north side of the dock was removed, with a new line being laid on the south side between the river and the dock basin. A swing bridge was installed over the dock entrance for the passage of vehicles, trains, pedestrians and boats, and a new Dock Control Centre was built close to it, although industrial railway traffic eventually ceased in 1995 with the line subsequently being operated for leisure by the Ribble Steam Railway Company.
Many modern homes have been built on the strip of land between the river and the south side of the dock with the old Shed No.3 being converted into Victoria Mansions apartments, while the north side of the basin features many retail and leisure developments with Homebase, Morrison’s, Halford’s and Pets At Home now being just a few of the stores along that side. A pleasant promenade runs round three sides of the dock with the swing bridge making the fourth side, and the west end of the basin itself is home to a 350-berth marina which opened in 1987.
My walk started from the free car park overlooking the water on the north side of the dock basin and just across the road was the lighthouse situated outside the Morrison’s store. There seems to be very little information about this, with some sources saying it was built many years ago to guide ships into the dock and others saying it was only built in 1986 during the dock regeneration and the building of the supermarket, but regardless of which version is true it’s an attractive structure and worth a photo or two. Passing Halford’s, Pets At Home and the Ribble Pilot, a modern pub/restaurant established in 1992, the promenade took me round the end of the dock basin and onto the residential south side.
Looking across the old dock basin – at 3,000ft long, 600ft wide and 40ft deep it’s huge
A distance along I came to the sign pointing between two apartment blocks to the Riverside Walk and through a small estate of modern houses with open plan gardens I crossed the access road and a level crossing over the railway line, which brought me down a grass bank and onto a wide tarmac path running between there and the river. The path forms part of the 21-mile circular Preston Guild Wheel walking/cycling route, eventually turning away from the river and crossing the west end of the dock basin via the swing bridge; I’d been that way a few years previously but this time I headed into the unknown along a rough tree lined track which continued to follow the line of the river.
It wasn’t long before I left the trees behind and the path took me onto a pleasant area of open land with a couple of benches to sit and take in the views over the river; this was the Bullnose, part of the entrance to the outer dock basin and now a popular place for fishing. Behind the huge lock gates a narrow pedestrian bridge took me across to the far side of the basin and another section of the Guild Wheel running past the back fences of a few modern houses, and set back on a corner was a huge black painted ‘thing’ which had no information but was presumably something left over from the docks and put there as a feature.
Looking west from the BullnoseLooking east
The outer basin at low tide
Passing the Ribble Steam Railway Museum and a large warehouse, both of which I could see through the trees, the path took a right turn onto a road but there was a gap in the nearby railings and a rabbit track led me down to the riverside. It didn’t go very far though and as I didn’t want to risk falling into the water I just took a couple of shots looking back towards the Bullnose then retraced my steps. On the corner where the path joined the road was a large and very odd looking red brick building – there was nothing anywhere to tell me what it was but with its close proximity to the railway museum it could possibly be an old engine shed.
Back over on the Bullnose a minor road led from there past the outer basin and a long row of modern houses then across on the far side and not far from the swing bridge was the boatyard. Across the main road a pleasant green and the Dock Control Centre overlooked the entrance to the main basin and on the corner was the huge 100 ton crane built in 1958 to remove the lock gates from the water for refurbishment on dry land. Made of Greenheart timber and Iroko planking the gates weigh 98 tons each – large flotation devices were fixed to each side, enabling them to be floated out of their fittings and brought to the crane for lifting. The crane is still used today but only for lifting and lowering larger boats.
Across the swing bridge and at the start of the promenade on the north side of the basin was the Beach Hut coffee bar and tucked in a nearby corner was something I didn’t expect to see – a row of five brightly painted but very small beach huts. They hadn’t been there on my previous visit to the area and with no indication as to their purpose I assumed they were connected to the nearby Dragon Boat Racing Club. Continuing along the promenade I passed several modern two-storey blocks of office suites and the marina then finally I was back at the car park where I left the van.
It was unfortunate that after the lovely sunny start, where at one point during the walk I was able to shed my jacket for the first time this year, the sky clouded over and the afternoon had turned quite dull. It had been a very enjoyable walk though and it had been good to discover somewhere new – and with Preston being not too far from home maybe it won’t be too long before I do it all again.
Having recently discovered that Lytham and St. Annes now have live webcams overlooking Lowther Gardens and the sea front at St. Annes pier I was idly checking them over breakfast earlier in the week and saw that both places were bathed in sunshine and blue sky. On a dull grey day here at home it looked perfect for a visit to Lytham Hall, however things weren’t as straightforward as I would have liked them to be.
For months now it seems that whenever I travel north from here, regardless of where I’m going, I get hit by some sort of delay en route and this time it was roadworks on the A584 near BAE Systems at Warton Aerodrome. The roadworks themselves weren’t extensive, maybe only a hundred yards or so, but they were on a 4-way junction with the road reduced to a single lane controlled by temporary lights and there was a long queue of backed-up traffic; it took me a good twenty minutes to get through and by that time I was almost losing the will to live.
Then there was the weather. Just as the webcams had shown, it was lovely and sunny when I finally arrived at Lytham Hall but in less than half an hour the sky had clouded over, the sunshine had completely disappeared and I was left with the same grey cloudy day as it was back home. As for the snowdrops, I don’t know if their coastal location means their season ends earlier than those growing inland but compared to the ones I saw at Weeping Ash Garden just a week earlier these were past their best, but they were still worth a few photos.
As I wandered round the lawned areas it was nice to see that since my visit last year a few different features have been added to the South Prospect garden, including newly-dug flower beds and an archway over the path, although with nothing to say who the newest statue is supposed to be it was hard to tell if it was a masculine-looking woman or a guy with a man bun.
Round in a corner of the courtyard an old wooden trailer contained chunks of tree trunk, foliage, and three cute ornamental deer, the sales area was full of pretty flowering plants in pots and tubs, and in the animal hub Macbeth the pig was snoring contentedly on his bed of straw and the guinea pigs were enjoying the warmth of their heat lamp.
The cafe, as is often the case, was extremely busy and people were queueing right out through the door so I abandoned my idea of having a coffee there and drove up to my usual cafe at St. Annes instead. Then I had to face the drive home. Without going miles out of my way to find an alternative route I had no choice other than go back through the roadworks at Warton; this time the traffic queue seemed to be worse than before and what would normally be a journey home of just less than an hour actually took me an hour and a half.
Several weeks of cloudy and mostly wet weather have meant days out with the dogs have been non-existent so leaving aside the traffic queues and unwanted grey sky it had been good to get out for a few hours, and hopefully the next time I drive to Lytham those roadworks will have ended.
A short break in the currently interminably wet weather brought widespread clear blue skies and sunshine last Saturday; it was too good to miss so I decided to take the 37-mile hop northwards to Glasson Dock on the Lune estuary. Unfortunately the journey was far from straightforward as what would normally be a drive of just less than an hour was disrupted by no less than five sets of roadworks with single file traffic which added another forty minutes to the time and completely screwed up my plans.
By the time I finally got to Glasson I knew I wouldn’t have time to do my intended walk before I lost the best of the sunshine so I stuck to wandering within the boundaries of the village instead. Past the dock and onto the Bay Cycleway I walked for a short distance before turning inland and from the bridge which took the road over the canal I noticed a strange looking boat moored up a distance away. It looked more like a submarine than a canal boat and as I hadn’t seen it last year when I was round that way I went to take a closer look, although it was partially obscured by all the canalside vegetation.
Back on the road I went to take a look round the marina, something which I’ve never done before. I wasn’t sure if I might be trespassing on private property so I was prepared for being thrown out but no-one bothered me – presumably anyone who saw me assumed I was with someone who had a boat there – and I spent a pleasant ten minutes or so wandering round to get a few photos.
From the marina entrance the road took me uphill past fields and the village primary school and eventually I came to the lay-by with its views across the estuary and where I parked for the night one weekend last year, although this time I was parked at the bottom of the hill not far from the Dalton Arms pub. With thoughts turning towards finding something to eat I headed back towards the dock and came across four cute cats in the pub car park, and luckily they all stayed put while I took their photos.
The Lock Keeper’s Rest adjacent to the car park at the far side of the dock is popular with bikers and on such a nice day it was very busy, but though it gets good reviews I went to the much quieter village shop and cafe instead, just managing to place an order before they stopped serving hot food. The cheese and ham toastie and hot chocolate were really good and I’m sure the guy must have put half a pig in that toastie as there was so much ham – and it was proper ham too, none of that processed stuff.
Back on the Bay Cycleway the mid afternoon sun was casting long shadows and a golden glow over the marshes of the inner estuary. Turning off at the entrance to the churchyard I popped into the little chapel for a few photos then walked back along the canal and past the marina and canal basin. Since my visit to the village last year a ‘bicycle wheel’ sculpture has been added to the picnic area near the inner dock; created by Ulverston-based blacksmith/artist Chris Brammall it marks the start (or end) of Morecambe Bay’s 80-mile long Bay Cycleway.
With the wheel sculpture and pilot boat ‘Gertrude’ being my final photos I headed back to the van and set off for home, finding my way to the M6 to avoid all the previous roadworks and arriving back just before I needed to put the van lights on. In spite of not having time to do my intended walk it had been an enjoyable couple of hours in Glasson, appreciated more now as it’s rained every day since then.
This is a walk I wanted to do on a couple of previous occasions but the weather let me down, however last Saturday was glorious so I didn’t miss the opportunity this time. Parking in a lay-by just out of Bolton-le-Sands village a short path took me up onto the canal close to Bridge 126 where I headed in a vaguely northerly direction with my goal being Carnforth Marina.
The marina turned out to be not as far away as I’d first thought and I got there sooner than I expected. It was an attractive place with a petrol station nearby, facilities for boaters, the Canal Turn pub, and several boats moored alongside the towpath. A sign in the pub car park rather amused me – I don’t know if the management would ever actually clamp any cars but the pub was closed anyway.
As I’d only walked a mile there was no point going straight back to the van so I decided to carry on walking. After a while I came to a children’s playground separated from the path by a long metal fence then round a couple of bends and across the canal a pony grazed peacefully in an attractive paddock. A handful of boats passed by with their occupants waving or shouting a friendly greeting, pretty cow parsley lined the path and I was surrounded by the gorgeous sweet smell of hawthorn.
After a while the trees gave way to more open land where sheep and cattle grazed and across the fields to the west I could see Warton Crag hillside in the distance. Passing under the busy M6 I eventually came to Bridge 130 and having walked just short of three miles I decided to make that my turn around point, though first I wanted to see what the view was like from the top. With nothing but fields stretching into the distance there was no sign of any civilisation but just along the lane and almost hidden among the trees was a cottage where several goats and chickens wandered freely in what passed for a front garden.
Back at Carnforth Marina a newly arrived narrowboat was approaching the moorings and I spotted a rather cute design on the side of a boat already there. Further along and up ahead I could see some paddling cows although they were out of the water by the time I got there, then close to my starting point I found a mother swan with three babies almost hidden beneath her wings while another little one tagged along behind her.
By the time I got back to the van I’d walked almost six miles. With the blue sky, just enough clouds to make it interesting and a gentle breeze taking some of the heat out of the sun it had been a perfect afternoon and a walk which had been worth waiting for.
What a difference a month makes! After a rather disappointing visit to Gresgarth Hall in April my visit there last Sunday showed that the garden had burst into life during the previous four weeks and it was all starting to look rather lovely. The same couldn’t be said for the weather though – a check on the live webcam for that area before I left home showed sunshine but by the time I got there just over an hour later it was all rather dull. The sun did reappear briefly a couple of times but not enough to make a difference and without any actual grey clouds I was left with the one thing I hate when taking photos – a featureless white sky.
Exploring the hillside on the south of the river, which I hadn’t done on previous visits, I was pleasantly surprised at what I found. A mixture of grass paths and gravels tracks meandered through the trees and I came across some features which I didn’t expect to see – a cute and quirky stone building nestling among the greenery, a rustic bridge across the river, and a stone folly set back off one of the paths. A set of recently built steps took me down to the bridge so I crossed over and headed along the opposite hillside and back down to the main part of the garden.
The sweet smell of hawthorn perfumed the air in several places, rhododendrons in a variety of colours were dotted here and there, many still in bud, and wild garlic (which I can’t stand the smell of) grew in abundance beneath the trees in a shady corner.
At the stall by the entrance gate a cute little dog mooched quietly about round the table; it was called Kipper and belonged to one of the ladies on the stall. It was rather a sweet little thing and I couldn’t resist taking a couple of photos of it before I left.
Wandering round the garden for a couple of hours and discovering things I hadn’t seen before had been very enjoyable, it was just a shame that the weather couldn’t have been brighter. Blue sky and sunshine would have made so much difference to the photos so I’m keeping my fingers metaphorically crossed that’s what I’ll get if I go back next month.
On a stormy night in December 1886 the Royal National Lifeboat Institution, founded in 1824, suffered its worst loss of life ever when 27 brave lifeboat men died while attempting to rescue the crew of the German ship Mexico which ran aground off the coast of the Ribble Estuary near Southport.
During the late 19th century the Hamburg-registered Mexico was involved in shipping cotton from South America to Liverpool’s markets and had docked at Liverpool in early December 1886, leaving just a few days later to return to Guayaquil in Ecuador to continue trading, but sadly it never left British waters. The 10-mile wide Ribble Estuary between St. Annes and Southport on the Lancashire coast was, and still is, littered with sandbanks cut through by shallow channels and on December 9th that year the Mexico was driven by a fierce west-north-westerly gale towards the shore.
With visibility obscured by showers of sleet and hail the Mexico’s Captain Burmester ordered two anchors to be dropped but these didn’t stop the ship drifting so he ordered the fore and main masts to be cut down and eventually, at about 3 pm, it held to its anchors close to Ainsdale just south of Southport. It could be seen from the Southport lifeboat station but appeared to be in no danger at the time, however by 9 pm that evening Captain Burmester realised that his ship was drifting again so fearing imminent danger he ordered distress signals to be fired and told his crew to lash themselves to the rigging of the mizzen mast; shortly afterwards the Mexico struck the notorious hazard of Horse Bank and became stuck fast with huge waves sweeping over the decks.
The ship’s distress signals were seen onshore at Southport and St Annes and when the St Annes lifeboat gun was fired to summon the crew the shot was heard at Lytham. Coxswain William Clarkson assembled his crew of 14 and their new lifeboat was launched shortly after 10 pm – the same size as the other lifeboats but fitted with four water ballast tanks the Charles Biggs had only arrived at Lytham ten days before so this was the first time it had been launched in service.
Lytham lifeboat Charles Biggs – photo from RNLI
The second lifeboat to set out was the Laura Janet with a crew of 12 under the command of Coxswain William Johnson and launched off St. Annes beach at 10.25 pm. Under oars for the first 500 yards or so it then set sail to head across the banks towards the Mexico – and this was the last time the 13 crew were seen alive.
St. Annes lifeboat Laura Janet – photo from RNLI
The Southport boat, Eliza Fernley, was the last of the three to launch as Coxswain Charles Hodge decided that in view of the conditions he would take three extra crewmen and the boat would be pulled on its carriage three and a half miles along the beach towards Ainsdale so they were in the best position to reach the Mexico. This took over an hour to accomplish but just after 11 pm Eliza Fernley was launched successfully through heavy breakers off the open beach.
Southport lifeboat Eliza Fernley – photo from RNLI
The crew of the Charles Biggs had initially rowed a mile and a half down the estuary from Lytham before setting sail to head across the banks towards the stricken Mexico. With limited visibility they were guided by the distress lights showing aboard the ship and when they were within a quarter of a mile the coxswain ordered the sails to be taken in and masts dropped. The men then rowed the last part, putting out a green light to show the sailors that a lifeboat was approaching, but a sudden and violent squall threw the Charles Biggs onto its port side and broke three of the oars. The boat righted itself however and by 12.30 am on December 10th had successfully reached the Mexico.
A total of three lines were lowered from the Mexico to the lifeboat, with the first two breaking under the heavy swell, and though two of the Mexico’s crew were injured all were successfully taken off the wreck, with Captain Burmester being the last to leave his stricken ship. Another lifeboat oar was broken in pushing off from the Mexico but despite being full of water, with all sails set the Charles Biggs retraced its course across the banks to regain the main channel, arriving back at Lytham at 3.15 am under oars and to loud cheers from a waiting crowd. The rescued and their rescuers were then taken to the Railway Hotel where they were revived with hot food and drink and Captain Burmester publicly thanked the crew of the Charles Biggs for their efforts in rescuing him and his own crew.
The Mexico wreck – photo from RNLI
After a lengthy struggle through the stormy sea the Eliza Fernley and the Southport crew reached the Mexico a little after 1 am, not knowing that the sailors had already been rescued by the Lytham lifeboat crew. As they were turning to come alongside the ship they were hit by a massive wave – the Eliza Fernley capsized and failed to right itself. The upturned boat was swept back towards the Southport shore with some of the crew trapped underneath, entangled in the lines and equipment, while others clung helplessly onto the side. When it finally reached the beach just two of the sixteen crew, John Jackson and Henry Robinson, had survived and were found exhausted, trying to make their way home.
A search for other survivors was quickly organised by the police, aided by local men and a Dr. Pilkington, and when the Eliza Fernley was located on Birkdale beach, upturned in water, the bodies of three men were found underneath it. Ralph Peters was discovered on the beach but died in the arms of one of the policemen while for Peter Jackson there appeared to be more hope, but in spite of several attempts at artificial respiration he couldn’t be saved. One of Henry Robinson’s two brothers was found in shallow water by his father but couldn’t be revived, while John Ball was found standing in a pool of water near the lifeboat; he was taken by horse cab to Southport Infirmary but died of hypothermia within the day. The other bodies were taken on carts to the coach house behind the nearby Palace Hotel then with no sign of the six men still missing the search was called off at 7 am.
At St. Annes people had remained on the foreshore all night waiting for the return of their lifeboat but it never came, so when morning dawned the telegraph office contacted lifeboat stations up and down the coast to see if they had any news. In 1886 communications were limited and it hadn’t previously been realised that all three lifeboats had gone out – it was only then that the Lytham crew became aware that the Laura Janet hadn’t returned so at 10.30 am and despite their feelings of exhaustion the same crew that had gone to the wreck of the Mexico launched again to look for the missing lifeboat.
During the search they went alongside Southport Pier and learned that the Eliza Fernley and all but two of the crew had also been lost, then a lookout on the pier spotted a white shape in the estuary. When the Lytham men went to investigate they found the upturned and partly smashed Laura Janet with three bodies trapped underneath. The bodies of the rest of the St. Annes crew were subsequently found along the tideline and with no survivors there was no way of knowing how the Laura Janet and its crew came to grief. The bodies were taken to the Palace Hotel coach house and laid out with those from the Southport lifeboat then in the following days the public were allowed to view the lifeboatmen, pay their respects and make donations for their relatives.
The former Palace Hotel coach house, now the Fishermen’s Rest pub
On Monday December 13th the bodies of the Laura Janet crew were returned to St. Annes and Lytham on a special train and the first Southport lifeboat man was buried at St Philip’s Church that same day, then the following day, amidst sleet and hail showers, all the other funerals took place. The rest of the Southport crewmen were interred in the town’s cemetery, seven of the St Annes crewmen who lived at Lytham were buried at St Cuthbert’s Church in Lytham and five coffins were laid to rest at St. Annes Parish Church, while the remaining St. Annes crewman, James Harrison, was buried at Blackpool Cemetery.
This was, and still remains, the worst disaster to occur in the history of the RNLI lifeboat service, with the 27 drowned men leaving behind 16 widows and 50 children who had no means of support. A disaster fund was set up and following nationwide appeals it eventually raised around £50,000, including donations from Queen Victoria, the German Emperor, and the Port of Hamburg where the Mexico was registered. The disaster also raised many questions about lifeboat design and why the Lytham boat had survived the storm while the other two boats hadn’t. More stringent tests were carried out for self-righting and it seemed that the answer lay in the ballast tanks fitted to the Charles Biggs so it was decided that all similar boats should be modified to take similar tanks. A new design of Watson sailing lifeboat was also introduced and both St. Annes and Southport received one in addition to their carriage boat.
In the aftermath of the disaster boat builders Allsup and Sons of Preston believed the Mexico could be salvaged from the sandbank it was stuck on and paid £45 to the ship’s underwriters to enable them to do so. Some of the mixed cargo was taken off before operations were set in place to move the Mexico then two tugs were used to pull it off the sand bank and tow it onto the Southport shore where some quick repairs were carried out. The following day the tugs pulled the Mexico to the shore at Lytham where a jetty was built out to it and a caretaker installed to show visitors around for a small fee.
After two years of exhibition at Lytham the Mexico was towed to Allsup’s yard at Preston to be fully repaired then on September 5th 1889 it was re-registered and sold to J P Lybecker of Nordrey, Denmark, for £910. Under their ownership it sailed to Port Gallegos in Argentina and from there to the Falkland Islands then back to Britain where it was sold to Sparing and Waldron of London for £950. They in turn sold the Mexico on to Blohm and Osen of Frederiksvaern, Norway who renamed it Valhalla but on the first voyage for them, sailing from London to Dundee, it became stranded off the coast near North Berwick in Scotland and was finally written off.
Although the disaster fund had been well supported it prompted Charles Macara, a Manchester businessman who lived in St. Annes and was a member of the town’s lifeboat committee, to look further into the financial affairs of the RNLI, and realising that all funding was dependent on the wealthy few he resolved to bring lifeboats to the notice of the man in the street. In October 1891 he organised the first Lifeboat Saturday in Manchester where the St. Annes and Southport carriage boats were towed through the streets along with a procession of decorated floats and with volunteers collecting donations from members of the public; they even used large purses on poles so those in upstairs windows or on the tops of tramcars couldn’t avoid giving a donation.
The committee of the disaster fund decided to set aside £200 for each of the three local communities to have a memorial constructed to honour the lifeboat men, with each memorial being a different design and construction. In Southport a competition was launched to select a memorial, with Ernest Walter Jones’s design being the winner; the monument was created by Thomas Robinson and erected in Duke Street cemetery.
Duke Street cemetery, Southport
Southport also commissioned a second monument, an obelisk erected on the promenade, to commemorate not only the loss of the Eliza Fernley but also to mark the launch of its two successors, the Mary Anna and the Edith and Annie. Designed and sculpted by Thomas Robinson from grey granite with bronze inscribed plaques it was unveiled by Mayor Unwin on June 28th 1888.
In St Annes parish churchyard the memorial to the five Laura Janet crew buried there is in the form of a Celtic cross made of red sandstone and sculpted with the names and ages of each of them. Although it was refurbished in 2009 it now looks as though it needs some more attention as the detail and names are extremely difficult to make out, however they are: Charles Tims (43) Reuben Tims (30) Thomas Bonney (35) James Dobson (23) and Thomas Parkinson (28).
St. Annes Parish Church
The memorial for the St. Annes men who lived at Lytham was designed by Scotsman William Birnie Rhind and erected in St Cuthbert’s churchyard. Made of red sandstone with a spire on top it has gilt lettering and the sculpture of a lifeboat under oars in curling waves.
William Birnie Rhind also designed the statue of the lifeboat man located in St. Annes promenade gardens, close to the pier and looking out towards where the Mexico was wrecked. He was supplied with a portrait of Thomas Harrison, the new coxswain of the St Annes lifeboat crew, wearing a lifeboat man’s sou’wester and cork life jacket, and though the statue was carved using this image the face is believed to be that of drowned coxswain William Johnson. The statue was unveiled by John Talbot Clifton, the Squire of Clifton Hall, on May 2nd 1887.
In 1925 the St. Annes and Southport lifeboat stations were closed as the moorings at both these places had silted up due to a dredged channel being made up the Ribble for access to Preston Docks. Lytham however remained open and the service is still fully operational today with two lifeboats housed in separate modern boathouses 3.5 miles apart – a Shannon class all-weather lifeboat housed at St. Annes and a D class inshore boat housed at Lytham. The original boathouse from which the Charles Biggs was launched that fateful night still stands next to Lytham windmill and now operates as a lifeboat museum housing a fully restored sailing lifeboat from 1900, while the original boathouse at St. Annes served as an ambulance station between 1949 and 1974 and is now the premises of a funeral directors.
Lytham’s original lifeboat house, now a lifeboat museum
St. Annes original lifeboat house, now a funeral director’s
After the RNLI closure of the Southport lifeboat station the building was used for many years by the local council for storage then in the mid 1980s, after a series of accidents off the coast in which local men lost their lives, bereaved relatives and locals campaigned to bring a rescue service back to the town. Amazingly, after only 14 months, Southport once again had a rescue service, this time run independently by the Southport Offshore Rescue Trust and financed entirely by public donations and fundraising efforts. As of New Year’s Day 2022 the rescue service is now housed in recently built modern premises overlooking the shore though the original lifeboat house is still used for storage by the lifeboat crew.
Southport’s original lifeboat house
From that first charity event back in 1891, prompted by the Mexico disaster, the Lifeboat Saturday movement spread throughout the British Isles and became the foundation on which many of today’s fund raising efforts are based, in fact it could be said that the origins of all charity street collections can probably be traced back to that first Lifeboat Saturday in Manchester.
The Mexico disaster was without doubt a terrible tragedy but thanks to the brave crew of the Charles Biggs 12 men were saved. Following the disaster a poem was written titled ”Warriors of the Sea” and this is the last verse, as appropriate now as it was back then –
Think of the sailors round our coasts who, braving sleet and snow
Leave sweethearts, wives and little ones when duty bids them go.
Think of our sea-girt island, a harbour where alone
No Englishman to save a life has failed to risk his own.
Then when the storm howls loudest, pray of your charity
That God will bless the lifeboat, and the Warriors of the Sea.
After several days of almost continual rain yesterday turned out to be beautifully sunny so I decided to forgo the usual Saturday shopping trip and take advantage of the sunshine, heading off for a few hours at the coast during which I spent some time wandering along the promenade and round the Marine Lake and King’s Gardens in Southport. With hardly any breeze it was t-shirt weather and with the number of people there it could almost have been the middle of summer.
Along the promenade was the Fernley Drinking Fountain erected in 1861. Recorded as having originally carried a thermometer, weathervane and barometer in addition to supplying drinking water it was restored in 1995 and became Grade ll listed in 1999 although it seemingly no longer supplies water.
A bit further along was what I first thought was an old post box but seems to be an old Southport Corporation electricity box. Unfortunately I’ve been unable to find out anything about it although one photography website says it’s a post box, however given the wording on the front of it and the fact that there’s no slot to post letters I doubt that’s the case.
Across the road on a gable end wall was the huge mural of Red Rum done by Liverpool-based artist Paul Curtis. It was commissioned in March 2020 by the Sefton Borough of Culture Committee and measures 15 metres tall by 20 metres wide. I actually photographed it that summer but as yesterday was the day of this year’s Grand National I thought I may as well get another shot of it. Back round the far end of King’s Gardens I got my last few photos then headed back to the van for the drive back home.
Weather-wise today has been cloudy and dull all day, both here at home and on the coast, so I’m rather glad that I took advantage of the sunshine yesterday. I had a lovely few hours out with the dogs, got some good photos, and my first visit of the year to Southport proved to be very enjoyable.
Lovely sunny weather on Easter Sunday prompted me to make my first visit of this year to Gresgarth Hall garden. Now I’ve said more than once over the years that I have absolutely no interest in gardening and other than the obvious ones I have no idea of plant/flower/tree/shrub names, nor do I know where they grow and when, so having seen this garden in full bloom twice last year maybe I was expecting too much when it’s still so early in the season.
The predominant colour seemed to be white, with trees full of white blossom dotted in many places around the garden, though an odd bit of colour did appear here and there. The most interesting thing in the very bare kitchen garden was an owl guarding one of the greenhouses while most of the flower beds in the main garden were very sparse, though the daffodils on the hillside were quite plentiful.
View of the garden from the hillside
In the middle of one of the flower beds was a friendly looking almost life-size lion which I hadn’t seen before, while the two roaring lions at the edge of the lake were now completely visible as they weren’t surrounded by foliage, though they were so close to the water that I could only see their faces by viewing them from across the lake.
It was unfortunate that the sun and blue sky disappeared while I was walking round but in spite of the garden looking rather bare in many places I still got some reasonable photos. Another couple of months and the place should be blooming with more colour so it won’t be too long before I return.
Just a few days ago the dogs and I paid a visit to Hornby Castle Gardens during the snowdrop open weekend. I’d originally been undecided about going as (according to the website) with it being early in the season some of the snowdrops were only just getting going but this was the only weekend the gardens could open, however we hadn’t had a decent day out so far this year and the weather was promising so off we went.
If I thought that getting there soon after the 11am opening time would avoid what would later be a lot of visitors I was wrong, there was quite a queue to pay at the table set up just inside the main gates. With a history talk scheduled for 12 noon at the main house most people seemed to be heading up that way so I went in the opposite direction to where it might be a bit quieter, starting with the woodland walk.
Past the pond the path led me to the walled garden but with bare flower beds and nothing much growing anywhere there was very little to see so I went down to the riverside, walking along by the water then following a steep path up to the corner of the castle lawns. Across the front of the castle steep steps took me back down onto the main driveway and with nothing else to see I headed back to the main road and the car park.
The Lodge
River Wenning from the road bridge, Hornby village
Still only lunch time and with the rest of the afternoon ahead it was too early to think about going back home once I left Hornby Castle so I headed for Morecambe and an excellent filling lunch of home made steak pie, mash, veg and gravy in Rita’s Cafe on the promenade, followed by a mooch round the indoor Festival Market then a walk down to West End and back along the promenade as far as the Eric Morecambe statue before returning to the van and finally heading for home.
The daylight hours increasing slowly each day meant that I was back home before it started to go dark, with the dogs having slept all the way back. As far as days out go there had been nothing special about this one but it had been good to have a few hours away from my local area, and if dogs could talk I’m sure Snowy and Poppie would agree.
Following on from my tour of the Winter Gardens theatre in October and lunch in a nearby cafe I drove the couple of miles north to Hest Bank for another walk along the Lancaster Canal, this time heading south. Unfortunately the weather gods had decided they no longer wanted to play ball – although it had been beautifully sunny with blue sky while I was in the theatre it was now cloudy and dull, not the sort of weather to show the canal at its best and I did consider coming back home, but with the afternoon stretching before me I decided to do the walk anyway.
Parking on the foreshore at Hest Bank, directly in front of me across the grass was a rather cute looking metal shelduck sculpture with an attractive information board at its base. Created by Ulverston-based blacksmith Chris Bramall on behalf of the Morecambe Bay Partnership it’s one of seven unique bird sculptures situated in different locations around the bay, with each one being associated with that particular location.
Across the nearby level crossing and the main coast road Station Road took me up to Bridge 118 on the canal where I walked north for a hundred yards or so to check out the weird canalside people and their pets which I’d seen on my walk along there a month previously. With a large banner now fastened to the hedge they were definitely ready for Halloween and even their weird pets were dressed for the occasion.
Retracing my steps I went back to the bridge and headed south with my goal being the Milestone Bridge which carries the relatively new (opened in 2016) dual carriageway over the canal, linking Junction 34 of the M6 with Heysham and its port.
As far as canal walks go there was nothing remarkable about this one though maybe if the earlier sunshine and blue sky had still been around the surroundings would have looked a lot nicer. Reaching my goal of the Milestone Bridge and with no desire to go any farther on such a dull afternoon I turned and headed the almost two miles back to Bridge 118. Having seen no-one at all during the first part of the walk, at one point it was nice to see an approaching narrowboat and as it passed me the guy at the back of it shouted a cheery greeting. Having messed about on boats myself in previous years I’ve always thought boat people are a friendly lot.
Almost back to civilisation I saw just three more people, a couple walking a small dog and a guy sitting on a bench, then no-one else until I got back onto Station Road. Back at the level crossing I found the barriers were down so I crossed the line via the overhead bridge where I took my final shot of the day looking north along the shore to the hills across the bay.
With hindsight, if I’d known that the afternoon would turn out to be so cloudy I would have booked a later theatre tour and done the walk first while it was sunny but as the saying goes, hindsight’s a wonderful thing. Would I do that walk again? It would be nice to see that section of the canal in better weather so I might be tempted sometime next year.
Life In The Mouse House 