Lancastery

A Lancastrian Miscellany

[lancastery]

Lancaster's Old Old Town Hall was built in 1671. It was "supported on 20 stone pillars said to have been from Roman remains in the town. The space under the hall was the grain market. Steps led up to an announcement gallery, behind which were the council meeting rooms. The pillory as last used in 1807.

"When this hall was demolished in 1768, the pillars were too short for the new hall (now the Old Toan Hall). Some of them were used to support overhanging upper floors of shops in Market Street, which in turn were demolished in 1888. Three of the pillars were acquired by Sir Thomas Storey and erected on his Westfield estate, West Road, where they still stand, supporting nothing, near to the old stables, now converted into houses."

Lancaster Past and Preset, Richard Irving, 1987

[lancastery]

The Mill Race This opening in the wall alongside the river Lune is supposedly where the long-vanished Mill Race exits from its underground route and joins the main river. From an archaeological report by Wardell Armstrong Archaeology Ltd in 2012: Damside Street is thought to follow the line of a medieval mill race. The written history of the mill race started in 1574, when Robert Dalton leased the Green Ayre from Lancaster Corporation to build a mill. Lancaster was inspected in 1844 by Sir Richard Owen, who found the mill race to be a prolonged cesspool, and it continued to be a problem until its floor was concreted in 1891. Downstream from Skerton Bridge, it had been gradually covered over by bridges and houses, and upstream the mill race was lost with the building of railway sidings and the Kingsway (Horsfield 2001). The combination of sewage pollution from storm overflow, and danger of collapse under heavy traffic, necessitated repairs to the mill race in the 1990s and the construction of new overflows and a solids trap. source

[lancastery]

An update on the bear on the unicyle

lancastery:

Thanks to some detective work by Jez Reay in the Lancaster Past and Present group on Facebook we now know that 'The cycling bear' was made in 1984 by Shawn WIlliamson.

http://www.shawnwilliamson.co.uk/cv.html

[eyefood-blog]

Old street sign on North Road. (at Studio Arts)

[lancastery]

St George's Quay Works, set for demolition 18th August 2012.

[lancastery]

**The Wobbly House** 23 St George's Quay is a peculiarity in amongst the Georgian warehouses by the Lune. It looks, on first glance, to have subsided and sunk on its left side. On second glance, it appears almost to ahve been *deliberately* built that way — with differently sized uprights either side of the windows and door. On *third* glance, it becomes clear that the window uprights are all the same size after all, but they have additional blocks which compensate for the lean. Yet the blocks are *underneath* the uprights. The building makes no sense. If anyone knows the actual historical story of it, we would be very grateful.

[lancastery]

Treu Ginnel "Members were not completely happy with the suggestions of the Developer as they felt that some were confusing. It was instead suggested that Market Lane be replaced by Gillison's Lane, King's Yard become King's Place, the Rose and Crown Lane become Slip Inn Lane and the unnamed alleyway leading from Penny Street to the side of British Home Stores be named Treu Ginnel."

Minutes of the Lancaster Centre Service Group, 19th January 1995

[lancastery]

Pestle & Mortar outside the Co-operative Pharmacy on King Street As the sign beneath it says, it's "a rare survivor of a trade sign, once common". We're currently debating whether or not it's the same pestle and mortar that's in this photo of Whimprey and Caedwell Chemists on Market Street in 1880: http://www.flickr.com/photos/15059996@N06/1571396383/in/photostream/ (which again, is from the Museum's collection, and has been cheekily uploaded to Flickr.)

[lancastery]

Brass-lined Foothold in the wall of the Post Office on Market Street There's a hand-hold just above it, it was used to mount horses.

[lancastery]

Bear on a Unicycle On the ground on the cyclepath, at the point where it meets Greyhound Bridge, is this stone frieze depicting a bear on a unicycle, who appears to have his arms raised as if about to punch someone. We've tried to find out about his origins, but no one in Lancaster seems to know anything about him, not even the Museum.

[lancastery]

Sewing Machine above the door of 35 Sun Square This building was once the offices of Clark Oglethorpe & Sons, Solicitors.

[lancastery]

London and North Western Railway Co. Boundary Post, Giant Axe

[lancastery]

Gateway of Cawthorne House This ornate gateway that now leads to the Tasting Garden was once the front door of Cawthorne House, built in the 1770s by Richard Gillow for MP John Fenton Cawthorne which stood on the site of the present Post Office. It was moved here c1906, and reduced in height. http://www.britishlistedbuildings.co.uk/en-383092-storey-institute-back-entrance-lancaster Here is a photo of it originally in situ which someone has rather cheekily uploaded to Flickr despite it being from the Museum's collection. "In 1796 Fenton-Cawthorne was found guilty by a court martial of divers charges and expelled from Parliament. It was ruled that he had 'acted fraudulently and in a scandalous and infamous manner'" http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Fenton-Cawthorne

[lancastery]

Plaque on column by John O'Gaunt's Gate, Lancaster Castle "Her Most Gracious Majesty Queen Victoria in company with The Prince Consort The Prince of Wales The Prince Alfred and The Princess Alice visited Lancaster on the 8th of October 1851 when the adjacent Oak Tree was planted by Hy Gregson, Mayor"

[lancastery]

The Covered Yard "The site known as ‘The Covered Yard’ is situated to the rear of 9b King Street within Lancaster City Centre. ‘The Covered Yard’ is accessed via a ginnel between 9a and 9b. The yard is fronted to the south by a two-storey stone faced pitched roofed former warehouse and adjoining workshop. The north side of the yard is a blank wall of the rear of a building fronting Bashful Alley that lies to the north. At the eastern end of the yard is a gated access to the rear yard of the John o’ Gaunt public house which fronts onto Market Street. The access is for escape purposes from the pub. "The building within the covered yard is numbered as part of King Street and as the name suggests the yard has been roofed over. The property is owned by Lancaster City Council and let to a furniture restorer and blacksmith. The surrounding properties, which front King Street, are utilised by a range of commercial activities although the unit to the immediate south-east of the site is currently vacant." Lancaster Planning Application 10/01119/DPA Once the site of Touchwood Carpenters and Albion Ironmongers, it's been empty for several years. The gates mentioned in the planning application quoted above went up a few days ago, but by chance I'd stuck my head in the week before and taken a few photos.

[lancastery]

Remnants of Castle Branch line

These few sleepers are all that's left of the track of the branch line that went between Lancaster Castle Station and Green Ayre Station (and on towards Wennington and Leeds).

They're behind the green fence at the bottom of the Priory Graveyard. As you walk along the path that's there now, you can still see the concrete bases of the posts along the path of the track, that supported the overhead cables.

[lancastery]

**Graffiti on Greyhound Bridge, by the Cyclepath** *Lewis and Eddie signed their names here in 1994. No one has ever cleaned it off.*