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Lancaster

Lancaster photos (137 available)

Old photo of Lancaster

Lancaster maps (2 available)

Old map of Lancaster

Lancaster books (5 available)

Lancaster memories

chapel

Lancaster, County Asylum 1891

Each week, as a 15 - 16 year-old, I used to cycle from Morecambe on a Sunday morning for an organ lesson at the chapel of the Moor Hospital. It was uphill there and downhill home. My teacher was the organist there, also Director of Music at LRGS, and my lesson started after the Sunday morning service. As I progressed I was allowed to play the recesssional after the service. Every few years I come back to look at that magnificant building (the Annex) and think of all those thousands of people, staff and patients, who kept that sanctuary alive - a city within a city - which care within the community cannot now hope to replicate. I regret its demise ...read more here
Contributed by IAN GERRARD

Henrys. Market Street.

Lancaster, Market Street c1950

I used to work at Henrys store, in the stock room. It was my first real job. It was a great old place. In the cellar was a secret passage way to the castle, bricked up from when there was a farmhouse there, I was told.
Christmas time was fantastic with Father Christmas and the grotto, and Father Christmas was my grandfather before I worked there - I sat on his knee when I was small and didn't know it was my grandad, how's that! I loved that place. British Home Stores rebuilt on the site and I worked for them for a while too. Allan Holmes.
Contributed by allan holmes

Williamson Park Gate House

Lancaster, the Entrance to Williamson Park c1955

The 1881 census shows my grandfather (John Smart) and his family living in this house.  He was the Landscape Gardener of the park.
Contributed by hazel veitch

Lancashire memories

Henrys. Market Street.

Lancaster, Market Street c1950

I used to work at Henrys store, in the stock room. It was my first real job. It was a great old place. In the cellar was a secret passage way to the castle, bricked up from when there was a farmhouse there, I was told.
Christmas time was fantastic with Father Christmas and the grotto, and Father Christmas was my grandfather before I worked there - I sat on his knee when I was small and didn't know it was my grandad, how's that! I loved that place. British Home Stores rebuilt on the site and I worked for them for a while too. Allan Holmes.
A memory of Lancaster contributed by allan holmes

Extracts From Lancaster & Lancashire books

Lancaster, from Sunny Hill c1885

THE ANCIENT city of Lancaster gave its name not only to the Palatine County, but also to a royal house. The Tudors were descendants of the House of Lancaster, and the Duke of Lancaster was part of the Tudor dynasty.
An extract from from"Lancaster, Morecambe and Heysham Pocket Album".

Lancaster, the Town Hall 1886

The old Town Hall was erected around 1781 on the site of an earlier town hall. Major Thomas Jarratt was the designer of the building, which opened in 1783. Market Square is the open area in front of the Town Hall, and Market Street runs to the left. The locals liked the large Tuscan portico and its four plain columns. The cupola and top were designed by Thomas Harrison, and were added just after the building opened. Harrison also designed Skerton Bridge. The total cost of the building was £2,054 13s 7d, including a £20 bonus that Mr Dickinson, one of the builders, had thought due to him.
An extract from from"Lancaster, Morecambe and Heysham Pocket Album".

Lancaster, Church Street 1886

We are looking down the street, away from the parish church, which gave the street its name. Church Street was never as busy or popular as Market Street. In Church Street stands the building (now the Conservative Club) where Bonnie Prince Charlie stayed twice in 1745. The first time was in October 1745, when he was heading south, full of hope and ready to regain the throne of England; the second time was in December 1745, when he was in retreat and heading north.
An extract from from"Lancaster, Morecambe and Heysham Pocket Album".

Lancaster, the Park Footbridge c1885

Williamson Park was a gift from the Williamson family; it was begun by Joseph Williamson, and continued by his son (later Lord Ashton) in memory of his father. It was a magnificent gift, and is Lancaster’s largest park. The Williamson family started making table baize, then known as American cloth, during the 1830s. They also made linoleum; they were at one time the largest manufacturer of this material, and exported it all over the world.
An extract from from"Lancaster, Morecambe and Heysham Pocket Album".

Lancaster, from the Bridge 1891

The River Lune and the town of Lancaster are viewed from the New Bridge, or the Skerton Bridge as it is now called. The bridge in our photograph is the Greyhound Road Bridge; it replaced the very first bridge, the medieval Old Bridge, which led directly to Bridge Hill and China Lane, which was only 8ft wide. This is the spot where the Romans built their ford to cross the River Lune; today the new Millennium Footbridge has been built here.
An extract from from"Lancaster, Morecambe and Heysham Pocket Album".