My Lancashire - My accounts of the local area

Gamonia - Or to give it its full title, 'Gamonia: or, the Art of Preserving Game'.  Gamonia is a book about game shooting that is renowned for its detailed descriptions of game preservation and hunting practices. The book features illustrations by J. T. Rawlins, depicting various hunting scenes in Penwortham in the estate of Penwortham Priory.  The word "Gamonia" appears to have been coined specifically for the book and does not seem to have a broader historical or linguistic usage outside this context. Gamonia - Penwortham with conclusion of a Battue . Penwortham Priory was first a Benedictine priory and then, after the Dissolution of the Monasteries, a country house.  The latter was demolished a hundred years ago. The Rawsthorne family lived at the Priory from 1783. In the mid-19th century they employed the architect George Webster to redesign the house.  This architect also designed Bank Hall at Bretherton. Penwortham Priory from the LCC Red Rose Collections The ...

The Remains of Ribbleton Hall I have only been aware of these remains for a few years now.  I came across Grange Park on a walk to Brockholes Nature Reserve on evening several winters ago.  I would normally walk home the way I had come, back to Walton le Dale, via Fishwick.  However, on this occasion, I decided to do a loop of sorts.  I think I was heading into town to collect something.  I passed through the park at Grange, and could see the remnants of stonework and brickwork.  On this visit, it was almost dark, so I couldn't properly make out what was there.  I subsequently went back in the daylight last year to have a proper look around.  The Remains of Ribbleton Hall in Grange Park, Preston The Remains of Ribbleton Hall are at the site of a Medieval Manor House first documented in 1201. The later Ribbleton Hall was built in 1865 for Thomas Birchall, a local solicitor and Mayor of Preston. After the death of Thomas Birchall the house was used ...

The Mystery of Preston's Last Tram Stop I can't remember how I first came to be looking at this roadside shelter structure.  I have passed it on numerous occasions, which amounts to several hundred times, at least.  However, I can't say that I have given it a second look, until recently.  I'm not sure how it first came to my attention.  I think that there was a picture of it on one of the local photographer's Flickr site. The Mystery of Preston's Last Tram Stop When I searched for information about it, the structure was purported to be an 'original historic cast-iron tram shelter'.  To me that was odd thought, as it was positioned somewhere that was not on a historical tram route. The Historic England Blog includes it in an article entitled, "The Stories Behind England’s Street Furniture". Whilst, The Beauty of Transport website also features it in their "Iron Ladies (cast iron tram/bus shelters of the British Isles)" article. The ...

A Victorian Post Box on Market Street in Preston How many times have I walked past that and not realised that it was different to any of the other ones that I had seen locally? A Victorian Post Box on Market Street in Preston The plaque is inscribed; THIS VICTORIAN LETTER BOX WAS PRESENTED TO THE 1992 GUILD MAYOR ELECT COUNCILLOR MR HAROLD PARKER BY MR ALUN ROBERTS, DISTRICT HEAD POSTMASTER ON TUESDAY 31ST DECEMBER 1991 TO CELEBRATE PRESTON GUILD YEAR 1992 A Victorian Post Box on Market Street, presented to the 1992 Guild Mayor by Royal Mail I had known that Post boxes had Royal Cyphers on them, but just presumed that they had all been replaced over time for ones with ER on them. I hadn't really thought about the ones that may have survived from previous monarchs' reigns. Royal Cyphers that feature on Post boxes I hadn't found the one in Preston in 'real life', I had to resort to the Interweb to find it. The first time that I realised that there might still be some ...