Lancaster, 2.

Lancaster was a bust place with plenty of shops and things to see. Unfortunately the Museum was closed for refurbishment. There was plenty of other stuff to see on our very quick whistle stop tour.

The museum in Market Square was the previous Town Hall but the council outgrew it and a new one was started  in 1906, after a the council decided on a design by the architect Mountfield who had designed the Sheffield Town Hall and thre Old Bailey in London. It was opened in 1909. There was a police station and cells in the basement and behind there was a public Hall that was called the Ashton Hall. In fact Lord Ashton paid £150,000 to build the new Town Hall and redevelop the Dalton Square, including the statue to Queen Victoria.

It is not so often that you actually see statues or carvings of King Edward VII but here he is is in the pediment of the Town Hall. He was only on the throne from 1901 to 1910 so didn't have much time to influence the public statuary of the country. 

That is opposite to his mother who was on the throne 1837 to 1901. It has shades of Prince Charles and Queen Elizabeth II. It was commissioned by James Williamson, the 1st Baron of Ashton and was opened in 1906.

The monument was designed by Herbert Mampton who also designed the outside of the Ashton Memorial of yesterday's blog. There are 53 people in the bronze bas reliefs that were famous at the time. In the centre of this side of the monument is Prince Albert

In this panel is one of only two women that feature, Florence Nightingale. On the far right is the bloke that paid for it. James Williamson!

The second women to feature is George Eliot just to right of centre.

The actual bronze's are just a little less than life size. The monument is of Portland stone and bronze. There are five of those depicted from Lancaster, and 6 were alive when it was at the time of construction.

Freedon, truth and justice are depicted on each corner, along with this one of wisdom. It is Grade II*.

This is the Judge's House and the Clovell Cross. Thomas Clovell lived here and it he is perhaps best known as the Keeper of the Castle in 1612 when witch trials took place and several folk were condemned to death in the ground of what is now Williamson Park. When he died in 1639 visiting judges stayed here and between 1782 1865 over 200 people were sentenced to hang here. The largest number outside of London, thus winning it the affectionate name of the 'Hanging Town'!

We walked up to the Priory on Castle Hill. It was built within the walls of the Roam fort and the first recorded mention of a church here is 1094. It has been sacked by the Scottish. It was a priory church until Henry VIII wanted a divorce and it was taken from the French Mother House.

It is a big parish church with a chapel devoted to the Kings Own Royal Lancaster Regiment. In 1999 Queen Elizabeth visited visited Lancaster and the Crown sitting on the Bible was added above the pulpit.

We just had time to walk past the castle. It was built in the old Roman Fort  about 1164 and other than a couple of invasions of Scottish marauders the first time it was used in anger was during the English Civil War. It has been used as a prison since 1196 and was Lancaster Prison until 2011 when it was handed back to the Duchy of Lancaster who actually own it. It is undergoing a lot of work at the moment.

After getting abck to the boat we had lunch and then set off for the upper reaches of the canal.