St Thomas' Church, St Annes

Attended a the christening of my granddaughter at this church, Coincidently really close to where I used to live. I suspect the names of these fallen could also be on the St Annes and Lytham memorials. But I am not sure. This memorial is quite well hidden on the right hand side of the aisle in a dark side of the church. The first image is of the memorial, the others are pictures of the church. The church tower is a financial liability, there is always a possibility that it may have to be demolished. I will publish more pictures of the memorial in due course.

The memorial on the South wall.
White marble with a brass plate, only mentions
those who fell in the Great War

 The inscription below reads:

THE EAST WINDOW IS DEDICATED TO THE GLORY OF GOD AND

IN MEMORY OF THOSE WHO FELL IN THE GREAT WAR 

ESPECIALLY

JACK BAYLISS

GODFREY BUCKLEY

BURTON CRITCHLEY

GUY D.M. CROSSMAN

DANIEL DUGDALE

HARRY EDWARDS

NORMAN FISHER

HENRY FISHER

WILLIAM FURNEVALL

HUBERT HASTINGS

THOMAS HILL

WILLIAM W JAGGER

REGINALD LITTON

JOHN S MASHEDER

E.C.W.OLDFIELD

HAROLD J. PORTER

HARRY V.B. SHARP

WILFRED TETTESALL

ROBERT B. WILFORD

LORD ALL - PITYING, JESU BLEST    -     GRANT THEM THINE ETERNAL REST

The font at the west end of the church

Large stone object in the southern end of the church

West end of the church

Closer view of the west end of the church. The door at the bottom end of the church was th "normal" way into the church.

The tower is in a constant state of repair. Frequently has got
railings around.

St Pauls Church, Marton, Blackpool.

It was a Saturday morning, I had gone to have the tyres changed on the car and I decided that I could do the walk down Preston New Road, visit the memorial and head back. However Blackpool away from the seafront is just like any suburban town and has a wealth of history just waiting to found. I went down Preston Old road instead, took photos in Marton Burial Ground, unusually there does not seem to be a church "looking after" it , found a boundary marker that I didn't know existed, took photos of the "Boars Head", and the hall opposite. There are some older cottages there too - they also ended up in the memory card too. Turned onto Whitegate drive at the "Saddle" pub, which is the longest permanently licensed pub in Blackpool. There is a shot up Preston Old Road from here.

The inscription

St Pauls Memorial

John Picken Dixon

The Outside of the Church

The inside of the church

The church is set back from the road and there is a pleasant clump of trees in front of the church. The memorial is set in front of the grass and is on the corner of a side road and Whitegate Drive. I walked around the church, there are some quite unusual features. The bell tower is set very low. There are no gravestones to be found. There is a tasteful foundation stone set in the church wall commemorating the founder of the church, John Picken Dixon. A biography is found here. The biography states that some members of the family are buried in the crypt at the church. The founder and his family have had a very illustrious career as an industrialist as well as having a huge influence in Blackpool and in particular, Marton.  It is quite a large size and is made of fine red brick, very much a traditional build - It is quite a modern church, but the surprises lie within. No pews - Apparently there was quite a bit of resistance from some members of the congregation. Looks good though! There were some ladies setting up for a Saturday coffee morning, on remarking there was very little in the way of ornamentation she showed me through the offices.

Cookson Memorial

Cookson Memorial

Metal Plaque inside Church

The memorial plaques to the first incumbent and his family. All three plaques are dedicated to the Cookson family whose origins clearly hark back to South Lakeland. A church definitely worth a visit! There is the compete list of the names on the memorial here as well as some more pictures of the church

Harrogate Memorial

This very small memorial is on the road to Weatherby. It stands about a mile from the Great Yorkshire Showground in Harrogate. It stands about 7 ft tall and "looks" over parkland. The poppies seem rather poignent and seem to suit the the faintly dejected air of the monument..



"In Loving Memory of the nine men who died of wounds in the hospitals of H.I.H The Grand Duchess George of Russia in Harrogate during the Great War 1914-1918

Jonathan Owen, 

Percy Meadwell, 

Ramsden Farrar, 

William Bailey, 

John E Robinson, 

Oliver Sewell,

William H Thomas, 

William Fenton,

Arthur J. Crook 

and of those who after leaving the Hospitals fell on the field of battle."

"I am the resurrection and the life, he that beliveth in me though he were dead, yet shall he live"

Cannot fail to be intrigued by this memorial. Pasted below is an excerpt from the BBC website.

 

"In 1914 Grand Duchess George of Russia came to Harrogate with her two daughters Nina and Xenia. The Duchess was the Greek wife of Grand Duke George Mikhailovitch, cousin of the Czar Nicholas II. She had left left her husband behind in Russia, where he was assassinated by the Bolsheviks in 1919.

A month after the family's arrival in England war broke out. During the First World War the Duchess ran a number of hospitals in Harrogate for wounded soldiers. One of these was Heatherdene on Wetherby Road. The Matron from 1915 was Christina MacRae and in 1917 Queen Alexandra presented a red cross brooch, made by Fabergé, to her during a visit to Harrogate. The Harrogate Herald of March 14th 1917 records that Nurse MacRae and three other nurses at the Grand Duchess's hospitals had been given awards for their services.

In 1920 Grand Duchess George erected a war memorial to the soldiers who died in her hospitals. It can still be seen on the corner of Wetherby Road, next to the Stray. Heatherdene was later demolished.

The brooch was later given to the Royal Pump Room Museum by a fomer colleague of Nurse MacRae. "

The name Heatherdene is still connected with NHS services in Harrogate, but a little snippet from a website says:

"Heatherdene Cottage is the home of the Harrogate Hospital Sports and Social Club. It was originally the gardener's cottage of the Heatherdene Convalescent Home opened in 1892 as a memorial of the Victoria Hall fire disaster which occurred in Sunderland on 16th June 1883. A total of 183 children lost their lives when a fire broke out at a children's concert. The cottage has been extended and extensively modified to provide a comfortable bar area and a function room at the rear.

Heatherdene Cottage is situated on Lancaster Park Road in Harrogate. The premises are on the opposite side of the road to the large District Hospital, approximately 50 yards from Wetherby Road. The Cottage lies between the entrance to the Ambulance station and the Heatherdene Nurses Residence.

This memorial is on the United Kindom National Inventory of War Memorials as

GRAND DUCHESS GEORGE OF RUSSIAS HOSPITALS

UKNIWM Ref: 29724