Lancaster.

We decided to spend the morning at least having a look around Lancaster so off we set. Before we left how ever we had a chat with the folk off the boat astern of us that was from East Yorkshire too, 'Wright Away' I think it was. It turns out that we will be going across the Ribble Link together so more chat later.

Our first stop was at the Catholic Lancaster Cathedral. It was a very English Catholic Church inside. The first Catholic church in Lancaster was built in Dalton Square but when it was outgrown the next one was this one, St. Peters. The foundation stone was laid in 1857 and it was consecrated in 1859. Giles Gilbert Scott got his hands on alterations at the start of the 20th century, as he did many churches at the time. In 1924 the diocese of Lancaster was created and the church became a cathedral.

The tall spire is built in four stages and is 240' tall and can be seen all over the city.

As I glanced above the roof tops I noticed this odd tower. I thought it may be a disused lighthouse, but when I looked into it I found that it is connected with the Moor Lane Cotton Spinning mill that was built in 1826. This is actually as water tower that was built in 1900. The cast iron tank sits on top of  a brick tower with a rather nice slate Chinese hat on top!

We walked further up the hill to Williamson Park and the magnificent Ashton Memorial. It was commissioned by Baron Ashton of  Ashton, who was a very rich man, obviously, as he had made his money from the manufacture of oil cloth and lino. The building was designed by Sir John Belcher and John James Joass, a London architecture partnership. It was made largely of white Portland stone with granite steps from Cornwall. It stands 150' tall, and cost £80,000 which would be close to £8 million today.

The domed roof.

The inside is now used as a wedding venue and an art gallery in one of the upper galleries.

From the top gallery the views are pretty good, even on a dull day like today. The River Lune snakes in the middle distance and the headlands of Grange over Sands and Ulverston in the far distance.

The EDF nuclear Power Sataion can also be seen by the coast. It will be a good place to keep myour eye on the development of the next reactor, if the French, Chinese and British get their acts together.

The Ashton Memorial was dedicated to Sir Ashton's second wife Jessie. I'm not sure what his 3rd wife would have made of this as she didn't die until 1944! It had a fire in 1962 and was closed due to a danger to the public as the steel girders that the stone was 'hung' on was corroding. However with various funding it was opened again four years later. The Memorial is Grade I Listed and is said to be the finest memorial in the country. I think that may well be the Albert Memorial in London thought. By coincidence it is found that the memorial is at the mathematical centre of  the UK Great Britain and Northern Island.

The butterfly house is a lovely building seen from the Ashton Memorial. It was originally built as a palm house I loved the mosaic in the courtyard made from coloured pebbles. It is Grade II Listed.

By the cafe, where we stopped for a cup of coffee, this cheeky robin to full advantage of daft humans who were giving it part of their lunch etc.

The Ashton Memorial is found in Williamson Park that was started as a public park by James Williamson,  a local industrialist. He started the area being landscaped in the 1870's but died in 1879. It was originally formed round a disused quarry and was designed to provide work for men who had lost their jobs after the cotton famine following the American Civil War. The work passed to his son also James. James Williamson junior became Baron Ashton of Ashton in 1895 and had given the park to 1881, along with an endowment of £10,000.

This looks much like a canal bridge but is actually over the lake seen in the last picture, and replaces a wooden bridge in 1909 and is Grade I listed. It must have been a lovely place to walk in the shade on a hot day like last Bank Holiday weekend.

More of Lancaster to follow tomorrow.