A Stroll Around St Annes
This issue, local writer and walking enthusiast, Steve Garrill, takes us for a delightful walk around St Annes, taking in some fascinating historic facts. Photography: Harry Fenton
St Annes Circular (2.75 miles)
1. From the railway station go straight ahead to reach St Annes Square. Turn right into Garden Street and at the end enter Ashton Gardens to reach Ashton Pavilion cafe and Ashton Gardens.
Ashton Gardens were made possible by a very generous donation from Lord Ashton. They were presented to the residents of St Annes in 1914. They had originally opened in 1874 as St Georges Gardens. A local man, F Harrison, won a competition to design them in 1914 and they were formally opened in July 1916.
2. Take time to explore these beautiful gardens before following the broad path to the entrance onto Clifton Drive North. Turn left.
Just before the lights on the left is an old tram shelter. The shelter has a blue plaque which tells us it was erected in 1918 by the original tramway company. The Lytham St Annes tram system can trace its history back to 1896 when a line opened from South Shore in Blackpool to St Annes with an extension to Lytham 12 months later. Originally operated by trams fuelled by compressed coal gas, the system was electrified in 1903 and then in 1905 the line was connected to the Blackpool system. The last trams ran in 1937.
3. At the traffic lights cross over, turn right and cross again. Cross via the zebra to the pier.
St Annes Pier was opened in 1885 and was one of the first buildings in the new town of St Annes. It was originally 914ft long, it has now been reduced to 600ft.
4. Turn left to pass the lifeboat memorial.
The memorial was erected in memory of the 27 local lifeboatmen who lost their lives in the 1886 Mexico disaster, the worst in the RNLI’s history. Discover the full story on the RNLI’s website: rnli.org.
5. Bear right at the Waters Edge café to the RNLI lifeboat station.
St Annes RNLI has a £1.5 million Shannon class lifeboat. There is a gift shop and museum above.
6. Continue along past the beach huts and the miniature railway. Bear left and turn left.
The Promenade Gardens, are a Grade II registered public park, opened in the late 19th century. In 1896 the first St Annes Improvement Act led to the laying out of a length of designed pleasure gardens extending south-east from the pier, which later became known as North Promenade Gardens. In 1913-14 South Promenade Gardens were laid out.
7. Turn right over the little bridge and then cross to the front of the Grand Hotel.
In 1897 a Mrs Holloway had the Grand Hotel built amongst the sand dunes at what was then the end of South Promenade. It was then an isolated spot but was less than half a mile from the new golf club and was known as ‘the golfers’ hotel’ because it was used by many visiting players.
8. Turn right and left down Links Road. Turn left to pass the Carnegie Library on your left.
The Carnegie Library was officially opened on 10th January 1906. The land was given by the St Annes-on-the-Sea Land and Building Company and Andrew Carnegie paid for the building. A Carnegie library is a library built with money donated by Scottish-American businessman and philanthropist Andrew Carnegie. A total of 2,509 Carnegie libraries were built between 1883 and 1929, with 660 of them in the United Kingdom.
9. Turn right down Wood Street and second left down Park Street.
Gabriella’s on the right is my favourite café/restaurant, but there are many more.
10. Turn right for the railway station but please turn left first and take time to explore this lovely little town.
A (VERY) BRIEF HISTORY OF ST ANNES ON THE SEA
Running to 16,000 acres, the Clifton estate once extended across southern Fylde from Clifton-with-Salwick in the east, to Blackpool in the west. The Clifton estate wanted to make more use of the desolate sandhills between Lytham and Blackpool which was part of the estate.
The scheme for a railway between Lytham and Blackpool was proposed by James Fair, the Clifton Estates’ Land Agent and funded by local investors. St Annes-on-the-Sea was a 19th-century planned town. It began with a chapel amongst the sand dunes which served the hamlet of Hey Houses.
It was built by Colonel John Talbot Clifton who dedicated it to Saint Anne. St Annes-on-the-Sea railway station opened in 1873. An official founding ceremony for the town was held on 31st March 1875.
There are many more local walks and a lot of fascinating local history in ‘Walks from the South Fylde Line’ by Steve Garrill.
Signed copies are available for £8.95 from Plackitt & Booth on Clifton Street in Lytham.
