Tag: Blue Plaques

St Annes Church Parish Rooms

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St. Anne’s Parish Rooms, adjacent to St. Anne’s Parish Church in Lytham St. Annes, were built in 1911 to serve as a community space for church-related activities and various local groups. The church itself, initially a chapel of ease to St. Cuthbert’s in Lytham, was commissioned by Lady Clifton in the early 1870s and named in memory of her aunt, Anne. The town of St. Annes grew up around the church, taking its name from it. The church was built to serve the growing population of the hamlet of Heyhouses, which was a few miles walk from St. Cuthbert’s in… Read more »

Sir John Alcock Attends Heyhouses Endowed Church of England School

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Captain Sir John William Alcock KBE DSC (5 November 1892 – 19 December 1919) was a British Royal Navy and later Royal Air Force officer who, with navigator Lieutenant Arthur Whitten Brown, piloted the first non-stop transatlantic flight from St. John’s, Newfoundland to Clifden, Ireland in June 1919. He died in a flying accident in France in December later that same year. John Alcock was born on 5 November 1892, perhaps in the coach-house adjoining Basford House on Seymour Grove, Firswood, Manchester, England. His family lived for eight years in Lytham. He attended Heyhouses School in Lytham St. Annes, from… Read more »

Sir Nigel Gresley Marries Ethel Fullagar at St Annes Parish Church

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Sir (Herbert) Nigel Gresley (19th June 1876 – 5th April 1941) was one of Britain’s most famous steam locomotive engineers, who rose to become Chief Mechanical Engineer of the London and North Eastern Railway. He was an apprentice at The Horwich ‘Loco’ works and later became a locomotive foreman in Blackpool. He met Ethel Frances Fullagar in Blackpool in 1899 and married her at St Annes Parish Church in October 1901. The plaque, funded by St Annes town council, commemorates the marriage. He was knighted in 1936. Gresley was the designer of some of the most famous steam locomotives in… Read more »

The First Brick House in St Annes

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In May, 1875, there wasn’t a brick house in St. Annes, though the hotel was in course of erection, and the first permanent house tenanted was occupied by Mr. Clement Rawstron in August, 1875. That house was in St. Andrew’s Road South. It has yielded to the march of progress, and is, along with its neighbour, being turned into shop premises. With this house is associated much that tells of the progress of St. Annes. Dr. Andrew Wilson said St. Annes had been created as “if by rubbing an Aladdin’s lamp,” and to many who live in the town St…. Read more »

Official Opening of St Annes’s Public Offices

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St Annes’s Public Offices is a municipal building in Clifton Drive, St Anne’s-on-the-Sea, Lancashire, England. The building, which was the headquarters of St Anne’s-on-the-Sea Urban District Council, is Grade II listed. A local board of health was established in the rapidly developing town of St Anne’s-on-the-Sea in 1878. Following significant population growth, largely associated with seaside tourism, the town became an urban district in 1894 In this context civic leaders decided to procure new public offices: the site they chose formed part of the garden of an adjacent residential property. The new building was designed by Thomas Muirhead in the… Read more »

Blackpool Born Pioneer Develops Contact Lens in St Annes

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Frank Dickinson (1906-1978) was an Optometrist and contact lens pioneer, researcher and writer, who developed the micro-corneal lens and was born in Blackpool in 1906. In 1921, he was articled to his aunt, Maud Farnworth, who had an optical practice in Lytham St Annes. He obtained a diploma of the British Optical Association from the College of Technology in Manchester at the age of nineteen, though he was not able to use this professional qualification until he reached twenty-one. In 1930 he set up his own optical practice, moving premises two years’ later to 35 The Square in St Annes… Read more »

Lytham St Annes Tramway Passenger Shelter

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The tramway passenger shelter in St Annes, originally built in 1918, served as a waiting room for passengers of the Lytham St Annes Corporation Tramways. Constructed by the original tramway company, the shelter was located at the junction of A584 Clifton Drive North and St Annes Road West. It was later extended in 1984 and used as the Clock House Café but it is now used as a Spud Hut. The shelter features the words “WAITING ROOM” engraved above the original entrance and a later-added clock.

Watford Road Park is Brimming With History

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The Loos Trenches Underneath this park lies an important WWI archaeological site. It is important because whilst most trench training sites in the UK were out in remote areas, this one was on the edge of a growing town; What also makes this this site remarkable is that when it was no longer needed by the army, it became a tourist attraction raising money, for the nearby Lancashire Military Convalescent hospital at the old Clifton Racecourse. There are very few photographs or images of the trenches except those contained within the 1916 guidebook, but the fact that the guidebook has… Read more »

St Stephen-on-the-Cliffs and The Actor’s Chapel

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The Church of St Stephen-on-the-Cliffs on Holmfield Road, Blackpool, is an active Anglican parish church in the deanery of Blackpool, the archdeaconry of Lancaster, and the diocese of Blackburn. St Stephen’s originated as a mission church to All Hallows Church, Bispham, and was opened in 1912. It became known as “The Church on the Cliffs”. In 1919 St Stephen’s became a parish in its own right. The mission church was too small to accommodate its growing congregation, and money was raised to build a new, larger church on a site to the north of the mission church. Its foundation stone… Read more »

The Adelphi and Post Office Hotel

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The original Adelphi Hotel in Blackpool, located on Church Street, was built in 1835 by Esau Carter, believed to be Blackpool’s first postman. The hotel was later rebuilt by Catterall & Swarbrick, local brewers, in 1923, and featured a white tiled exterior, some of which can still be seen in Adelphi Street. A blue plaque on Church Street commemorates the hotel’s history and the story of Esau Carter, according to the Open Plaques website. To see the Adelphi building looking the way it does today is quite sad, especially with it being unoccupied. If you look at the comparison images… Read more »