Listed Lancaster: Mill Hall

From the English Heritage listing: “Former mill, now student accommodation. c1800, steam-powered worsted factory, converted into cotton spinning factory by 1828. Heightened by 3 feet and re-roofed, probably c1830, with south-east lift tower added by 1877. Production ceased 1975, and converted into student accommodation 1988-89.”

“The worsted mill was built by Thomas Higgin & Co. Thomas was the second son of John Higgin Senior, Governor of the Castle. In 1828 it was recorded as a cotton mill owned by Burrow, Higgin & Co. In 1846 it was purchased by John Greg, who then owned Moor Lane Mill South. In 1861 it was sold to Storey Brothers, who operated it until its closure. The original engine house occupied the north bay of the mill and rose through 4 storeys, and evidence found during conversion work suggested that the mill was designed from the outset to house a beam engine. The engine bay was floored over in 1929.”

The (now unused) iron fire escape.

It’s good to see old buildings put to new uses like this.

Historic England listing is here.

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Sunday Triptych: St. Mary’s

More views from a short wander from Underley Park into Kirkby Lonsdale, before heading back to watch a S play against a team from Millom. The church looked grand in the sunshine. I was struck by the decoration over the doorways.

This porch is a relatively recent addition apparently, but the doorway within is very old…

And this doorway, at the base of the west tower, is an original Norman feature from the twelfth century.

You can see from the date stone above the door that the rest of the tower was rebuilt in 1705.

There are more Norman features inside, but it seemed inappropriate to pop in to take pictures during a service.

Listed Lancaster: Town Hall

On Thursday I had a parents’ evening, so had a couple of hours between finishing teaching and starting work again. I was eating my tea in the staffroom (very nice if I do say so myself: coronation chicken and a couple of salads) when I noticed that the light coming through the windows was glorious. I rushed up to Castle Hill but was too late for the sunset.

Castle Hill has a good view across Morecambe to the bay and the hills of the Lake District beyond, but it also has a fine view across the town.

Here’s the view again, but this time from Friday lunchtime.

You can make out three prominent tall buildings: the Ashton Memorial almost hidden by the branches of the tree, the tall spire of the Cathedral and the clock tower of the Town Hall. All of those are listed buildings as are pretty much all of the houses in the area around the Castle.

Because time was short, I cut my usual route short, leaving out the canal, which gave me a chance to visit the Town Hall, where the low light was challenging for photography. The next day, I went back, but now the very bright sun was behind the building, which didn’t help much either.

Pretty grand isn’t it? Quite nice inside too. It was built in the early part of the Twentieth Century and was designed by Edward Mountford, who also designed the Old Bailey. Apparently this is in the Edwardian Baroque style which he was noted for. That’s Edward VII in the middle of the carved figures. His mum is commemorated in the statue in Dalton Square in front of the town hall…

The statue is from 1906 and is also listed, but there’s a lot of detail here to photograph, so I’ll come back another time.

That’s it for last week’s Lancaster strolls, except for the fact that I almost forgot the best moment: on Thursday lunchtime, when the sun was shining, I’d just joined the canal towpath when an unmistakable metallic green sheen, not dissimilar to the verdigris on Queen Vic only shinier, alerted me to a Kingfisher flying low over the water. First one I’ve seen in a couple of years. Marvellous.

Listed Lancaster: The Music Room

Hidden away on Sun Square, I think I worked in the town for quite a few years without really being aware that this curio was here.

This is what the Wikipedia page on listed buildings has to say:

“This originated as a summer house, it was restored in the 1970s, and then used as a shop and a flat. It is in sandstone with a slate roof, and has three storeys, three bays, and a balustraded parapet. The bays are divided by pilasters, fluted Ionic on the ground floor, fluted Corinthian in the middle floor, and panelled in the top floor. In the ground floor is a central round-headed archway, now glazed, flanked by doorways with architraves. The windows are sashes, the window above the archway having a swan-neck pediment and a central urn. Inside is richly decorated plasterwork.”

Some summerhouse!

I’ve never been inside to see the plasterwork, but now I’d like to. Good to see hardy customers enjoying the sunshine and sitting outside on the first day in February.

Listed Lancaster: The Assembly Rooms

Back to the eighteenth century. Once again, a building which I photographed on two different lunchtime walks; this time because of the difficulties posed by traffic, rather than by light.

Built in 1759…

…by the trustees of Penny’s Hospital, the rooms were used for social gatherings which raised money for the running of the almshouses. These days the Assembly Rooms houses a sort of permanent market with various stalls including a cafe and a secondhand book seller.

Nearby on King Street, this…

…is Penny’s Hospital…

…but that deserves a post of its own.

Listed Lancaster: Natwest Bank

Built in 1870 for the Lancaster Banking Company. This is also on Church Street very close to the older building in the previous post.

Those columns either side of the door are pink granite apparently. Wandering round town this last week, it’s struck me like never before that, I suppose like everywhere, Lancaster’s buildings are characterised largely by the available local stone, which in Lancaster’s case is sandstone.

I’m also realising how difficult it is to photograph buildings satisfactorily. This is a surprisingly large building, and I couldn’t get it all in frame. I wasn’t happy with this last photo which I took on a gloomy day earlier in the week, but then when I took new photos yesterday, realised that the strong winter sun was giving very dark shadows and therefore challenges all of its own. I also wished I had my camera with me rather than just the phone, both for the wide-angle capability, but also for the zoom to capture some of the detail. I’m learning a new vocabulary too: the doorway has a frieze and a pediment above the columns, the building has Corinthian pilasters and at the top a modillion cornice.

Lancaster has other large, grand, bank buildings, so expect more posts to follow. I wonder how long our high street banks will maintain large town centre branches like these?

Listed Lancaster: 76 Church Street.

It turns out that Lancaster is bursting at the seams with listed buildings. Any walk around the central part of town will take you past no end of them. Some of the very oldest, most striking buildings have appeared on the blog before. Wikipedia handily ranks the buildings by antiquity, and this building, part of which dates back to 1637, is one of the oldest I haven’t photographed before. It’s on what is becoming my ‘standard’ lunch-time route which takes me first along the canal, past the Cathedral (another listed building).

This photograph, however, was taken because of the bright, cheery catkins which were catching the sun.

Anyway, 76 Church Street is still listed on Wikipedia as The Conservative Club, although it hasn’t been that for a while and is now clearly commercial premises.

I have a feeling that these railings might be listed too.

The building also has one of Lancaster’s (many) green heritage plaques. According to this  fascinating account of BPC’s brief stay in Lancaster, he actually lodged in this building, whilst his right-hand men were both over the road in The Sun Inn. The Sun is still a pub and hotel, and still called the Sun. I may now have to include it in a post. Not a lunchtime workday visit though, they serve excellent beer and it would be rude not to sample one at least for the occasion.