History Detectives Case File No.8: Williamson Park

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WILLIAMSON PARK This History Detectives Case File is about Williamson Park, Lancaster’s beautiful park situated to the East of the City. In this issue, we will also discover some of our other wonderful green spaces and find out how Victorian philanthropy shaped the Lancaster we know today.

Philanthropy means acts of charity that benefit everyone in society. This might be donating money to a community project, or it could be giving up time to help others. A philanthropist is someone who is charitable in these ways. During the Victorian era, it was fashionable for wealthy businessmen to give money to projects that helped poorer people enjoy culture and education. You may have heard of some famous philanthropists, such as Thomas John Barnardo, who is known for protecting and supporting vulnerable children.

Dr Barnado.

Group portrait of children outside a Barnardo home

Barnado

Poster 1 931

James Williamson

WHO WAS ‘WILLIAMSON’ OF WILLIAMSON’S PARK? Confusingly, there are two Williamsons in our story, and they are both called James!

James Williamson II, the one who became incredibly wealthy and finished the park, was born in 1842. His father, James Williamson I, became rich by making textiles and specially coated cloth. Young James attended Lancaster Royal Grammar School and grew up to take on the family business and was a very successful businessman. During the 1870s, the family went from being wealthy to megarich and James Williamson II became one of the wealthiest men in the country.

He built the huge Lune Mills Factory on St Georges Quay where he made floor

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cloth and linoleum (tricky to get your tongue around, so people call it “lino” for short!) Lino is a wipeable floor covering that was originally made from cork.

James became known as ‘The Lino King’! (Not to be confused with the Lion King – that’s a whole different story!)

James was very shy and didn’t like to pose for photos or portraits, though some do exist. We have one of the only portraits of him in our museum collection. When he built the town hall, he wouldn’t let a painting of himself be hung inside, but he did allow his coat of arms to be included in one of the stained-glass windows.

James worked hard and became Lancaster’s main employer. He donated a lot of money to charity and changed the town of Lancaster forever. In 1884 he bought Ashton Hall (now Lancaster Golf Club) just south of the town. As well as Williamson Park, he paid for the Town Hall to be built, donated the Queen Victoria monument (in Dalton Square), funded the first Royal Lancaster Infirmary (hospital), bought a new clock and bells for Lancaster Priory Church, and in 1887 he paid for 5,000 scholars to visit the Manchester Jubilee Exhibition The Lancaster for their education! He held several roles including Town Councillor and Constable of the Town Hall stairs Castle. When he was made High Sherriff of Lancashire in 1885, he paid for 10,000 men in Lancaster to have breakfast!

James was very fond of the people of Skerton, where he lived in his house, Ryelands. He made gifts of coal when times were hard and threw a party for the locals on his birthday each year. He later became the Liberal Member of Parliament for Lancaster and was eventually invited to the House of Lords, becoming Baron Ashton of Ashton in 1895. Some reckon his donations would total £32million in today’s money!

Ryelands House.

Sadly, Williamson spent the last twenty years of his life as a recluse at his home. This means that no one ever really saw him and that he didn’t like to go out. He died in 1930, aged 88.

HEALTHY COMPETITION? Our James Williamson wasn’t the only philanthropist in Victorian Lancaster. There was a long-standing rivalry between the Williamson and Storey families. James Williamson I (James’ father) had been an apprentice to a man called Richard Hutton, a master painter and decorator. Another of his apprentices was William Storey. Storey worked for Williamson for a short time, but then left to set up his own business with his brothers. The firm was called Storey Brothers and was based at White Cross. From this point, the Storey family and the Williamson family were rivals. They both owned factories that made textiles, and they both wanted to be the most successful businessman in town! Some accused Wiliamson of paying his workforce poorly, but Williamson publicly denied this in the newspaper, stating that the

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£1.01p that his unskilled workers received each week was much better than the 92p that Storey’s workers received! amson’s Lino Factory

Arial view of the WIlli

As well as being the main employers in the city, they both funded lots of projects through their philanthropy, appearing both important and generous. William Storey was Mayor of Lancaster more than once, and the Storey family gave time and money to the hospital, funded the Storey Institute (for education), and contributed a lot of money for the Westfield Memorial Village, which provided homes for men injured in the First World War and their families (we will find out more about this in the First World War History Detectives Case File).

The Storey family were most interested in helping young people in Lancaster have a better future, so it is really nice that the grounds of the Storey family home are now part of Lancaster University!

HERO OR VILLIAN? Because James Williamson didn’t pay his staff very well he had a bad reputation amongst his employees for being mean.

He did a lot of things for Lancaster and wanted to give poorer people opportunities for play and sport. Do you think there were other ways he could have improved the lives of the poor people in Lancaster? What do you think of him from what you have read so far?

Inside the WIlliamso

BUILDING WILLIAMSON PARK During the 1800s, Lancashire was famous for its cotton mills and textiles. Just before the 1860s there was a too much cotton cloth being produced, which meant that there was more cloth than could be sold. At the same time, the American Civil War was happening, and it wasn’t as easy to get raw cotton to Britain from America. This led to the Lancashire Cotton Famine from 1862 to 1865. The Cotton Famine was a time when cotton production almost had to stop, and many thousands of workers became unemployed.

n’s Lino Factory

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During the cotton famine, the Public Works Loan Board decided to provide work for the unemployed cotton spinners in Lancaster. They were employed to lay a gravel drive and paths across the site of the old quarry on the Moor above Lancaster so that carriages and walkers could enjoy the views. A painting by W. J. Linton of 1854 shows people sitting in the quarry enjoying the view over Lancaster, so it possible that the area was being used for this already. The flat bit on the highest point of the Moor became known as the ‘Top of Hard Times’ in memory of the hardship that the workers had endured. This is now where the Ashton Memorial and the Butterfly House stand.

In the 1870s, James Williamson I decided to turn the area into a public park and plans were drawn up by Mr J Maclean.

Building the park was slow, and by 1877 only the paths and drives had been laid out. Sadly, old James Williamson I died in 1879, but his millionaire son James Williamson II wanted to continue building the park. James Williamson II was also known as Lord Ashton. The park was given to the Lancaster Corporation in 1881 along with £10,000, which really was a lot of money in those days! In 1904 major work began. Lord Ashton funded the construction of the structures and buildings in the park.

Did you know?

Queen Victoria died in 1901. She was 81 and had ruled for 64 years. That makes her the longest serving monarch after our own Queen Elizabeth II, who has been queen since 1952! When Queen Victoria died, her eldest son Edward became King Edward VII. The Edwardian era lasted from 1901–1910.

That means that even though Williamson Park was designed and laid out in the Victorian era, most of the buildings and structures are actually Edwardian.

building memorial and bandstand.

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WILLIAMSON PARK IN NUMBERS: Williamson Park covers 53.6 acres – that’s around 32 full-sized football pitches!

The Park was given to the people of Lancaster in 1881.

More than 500,000 people visit the park each year.

Williamson Park is open 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.

The Park has 2 gateways and 2 stone lodge houses.

The Ashton Memorial (the big white building) is 497 feet (151.4m) above sea level.

The Park has 7 buildings and structures that are protected because of their special design and features, in addition to the Ashton Memorial!

There are 150 bird boxes in the park!

The butterfly house has over 60,000 visitors each year!

25,000 people watch the Play in the Park over 6 weeks each summer.

STRUCTURES AND FEATURES If you have visited Williamson Park before, you will know that there are wide driveways and many winding woodland paths to explore. But there is more to look out for in Williamson Park.

There are two grand entrances to the park, each with its own gatehouse.

These were built in 1880 and are called Wyresdale Lodge and Golgotha Lodge.

They used to be the houses of the gardeners that looked after the park.

Did you k now?

Illustration by Ivan Frontani © Carnegie Publishing, cover image for The Lancashire Witch Craze

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If you enter the park from the Golgotha side and walk up the drive, you will see the ornamental lake, which is home to some ducks. It is surrounded by dramatic rockfaces. When it rains, the water is collected from the Ashton Memorial and is piped to the lake. In 1877 when the lake was built, a wooden footbridge was built across it. The sandstone bridge you see today was built in 1909. In the corner, behind the lake, it is easy to miss a waterfall – see if you can spot it. The waterfall was built in 1877, but at some point, everyone just forgot about it! It was rediscovered in 2015 after being hidden for 30 years. There used to be an ornate drinking fountain made of cast iron by the lake, but the metal canopy was removed in 1942 to make weapons during the Second World War. You might choose to walk over the bridge and, if you do, you will walk up the hill and past the Temple Shelter. This was built as a garden pavilion around 1909. You can follow the cobbled path and sit in the shelter. There’s a wonderful view!

The Ashton Memorial has a lot of steps! Can you count how many?

From the Temple Shelter, the Ashton Memorial can clearly be seen. In fact, at 150ft tall (about 46m), the Memorial can be seen from many parts of Lancaster and even from miles away! Locally, the memorial is known as the ‘Structure’. It was built in 1909 at a cost of £87,000. That is about £10 million in today’s money! It is built out of Portland Stone and the dome is made of copper. Around the dome are sculptures by Herbert Hampton representing trade, science, industry and art. The interior of the dome has paintings by George Murray. In 1962, the dome was damaged, and by 1981 the building became dangerous and had to be closed.

Thankfully, it was fully restored and reopened to the public in 1987.

Did you know?

Ashton Memorial

The Ashton Memorial is sometimes called the ‘Taj Mahal of the North’. The Taj Mahal is in Agra in India. It is a spectacular building made of white marble, built between 1632 and 1653. It looks like a grand palace but in fact it is a mausoleum, which means it houses a tomb. It was built by the Mughal Emperor, Shah Jahan, and the tomb is that of his favourite wife, Mumtaz Mahal, who died giving birth to their 14 th child. Lord Ashton is said to have built the Ashton Memorial as a tribute to his second wife, Jessy, after she died in 1904. But don’t worry, Jessy isn’t buried inside the Memorial. In fact, Lord Aston and all his wives are buried in Lancaster Cemetery on Quernmore Road, close to the park.

Taj Mahal

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Behind the Memorial is the Butterfly House, but it wasn’t built to house butterflies. In fact, it was built as a palm house and was once one of the finest in the country. During the Victorian and Edwardian eras, it was very fashionable to bring exotic plants from around the world and exhibit them in large glass houses. One of the most famous in Britain is the Temperate House at the Royal Botanic Gardens in Kew, London. The glasshouse at Kew took over 30 years to build! Lancaster’s palm house was badly damaged by fire in 1949 but has since The Butterfly House been fully restored. Inside it is like a tropical rainforest. There are tropical trees and flowers and a rocky waterfall, and it’s always very humid. As well as butterflies, it is home to tortoises, koi carp, birds and insects.

Did you know?

There used to be an observato ry in Williamson Park!

The Greg Obser vatory was ope ned on 27 July, 1892. An observatory is a building tha t is used for studying the night sky. It was called the Gre g Obser vatory because the instruments originally belong ed to a man called John Gre g.

When he died, he gave them to the Lancaster Corporatio n for everyone to enjoy. Visito rs paid a penny to use the instruments or to look throug h the telescope. 6000 people visited in the summe r of 1892!

There was also a weather sta tion at the observatory and volunteers helped take weather readings right up unti l 1939! The observatory fell into disrepair and closed in 1944.

Today, you can find a sundial in Williamson Park, not far from the Ashton Memorial. It’s on a raised platform and there are instructions on how to use it. Can you use it to tell the time? The sundial was built for the Millennium. Many years ago, this was actually the site of a bandstand. The bandstand was built in 1907 and had a copper roof which would keep musicians nice and dry.

It would have been used to host musical events. People may have heard the music while they took a stroll around the park or may even have found a comfy place to sit and listen while they enjoyed the view.

Did you know?

There was a time when you could reach Williamson Park by tram! The tram was opened on 14 January 1903. You could catch the tram from Dalton Square and take one of three lines.

You could travel west to the London and North Western Railway Company’s Castle Station, south to Scotforth, or through Bowerham up to Williamson Park. It would have been a lovely way to travel up the hill to the park! The tramway closed more than 90 years ago, on 4 April 1930.

EVIDENCE FROM THE MUSEUM COLLECTION These trophies are for sporting events organised or sponsored by Williamson’s coated fabric business – the Williamson family that created Williamson Park! One is inscribed ‘Williamson’s Midweek Cricket League President’s Trophy’ and the other was awarded to the winners of the Williamson’s Knockout Competition, a football tournament that was founded in 1933 and ran until 1961. This was a competition between the different departments at the Williamsons’ Mill.

James Williamson, Lord Ashton, was keen to set up sports competitions for people who couldn’t join snobbish sports clubs because of the expensive membership fees.

This is another example of his philanthropy.

Before the 1900s, working people had very little spare time, and sports, hobbies and games were only available to the middle and upper classes. The Liberal Welfare Reforms of 1906–1914 changed the laws around working hours, so adults found they had more free time to take up sports and hobbies. Younger workers had reduced working hours from 1886. Before this time, the only chance people had to play sport was on a Sunday. Even this was frowned upon, and some unfortunates were even punished for it! In 1823, twelve boys from Skerton were fined for playing football on the New Bridge on Sunday!

If you were posh, you might enjoy rowing or tennis, or be a member of the archery club, the John of Gaunt Bowmen. Archery is a very British tradition and there are stories about famous archers, such as Robin Hood. The club was first formed in 1788, but it was very exclusive and would only have been for upper class men. Even though archery was a sport thought suitable for ladies by the Victorian era, women were not allowed to join the John of Gaunt Bowmen. The members’ wives, mothers, and sisters could wear the club colours but could not actually take part. The club colours were Prussian Blue, white, and black. The club used to meet in Springfields Park, which is where the hospital is today, and then moved to an archery ground close to Meeting House Lane in the 1840s.

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Did you know?

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There is still an English Law that says males over 14 should keep two hours a week free for longbow practice. It’s probably time that law was scrapped, along with many other laws that now seem silly.

Can you find out about any more old-fashioned laws that still exist?

By the 1930s small sports competitions between schools, churches, workplaces, and even pubs would have taken place in Lancaster regularly. This gave working people a chance to join teams and take part in sports every week. Equipment was expensive, so working people relied on groups such as these to organise the teams and even buy their kit!

Today Lancaster and Morecambe have lots of places to go any enjoy sports and hobbies. And luckily, most people have some time to spend doing fun things. There are many junior clubs for children to join.

Maybe you would like to try football, rowing, or even martial arts! There are also lots of outdoor spaces that are free to use, including playgrounds, woodlands, beaches, and parks.

Both Lancaster and Morecambe have several sports teams. Some are amateur, which means that the players have other jobs as well as playing sport, and some are professional, which means that the players only play sport. Lancaster and Morecambe each have a football team. Morecambe is professional and has been a football league team since 2007. Lancaster City Football Club is now amateur, but they did play Manchester City in a friendly match back in 1976!

Many years ago, Football fans might have taken a noisy ratchet rattle such as this to the game. Ratchets were originally used in the First World War trenches to warn the soldiers that there was poisonous gas on the way. They made a huge noise, and at a football game would create instant atmosphere! They were banned in the 1970s, but not because of the noise. In fact, there were so many rattle-related injuries on the packed terraces that they had to go!

BE A HISTORY DETECTIVE We probably don’t need to tell you to visit Williamson Park this month! You may have been many times before, but maybe you have learned something you didn’t already know and would like to go and look for clues. If you’re a History Detectives Club member, post a picture of yourself enjoying the park on our private Facebook page!

Parks and green spaces have been a really important way for working people to enjoy some spare time and reconnect with nature for a long time. This month, why not spend some time in our other vintage green spaces and look for clues about their past.

Ryelands Park has a lot of open grass space, but also has places for games and football, a play area, and even a wildlife area. In the centre of the park, you will spot a large building which is Ryelands House. This was originally built for Jonathon Dunn, twice mayor of Lancaster. In 1874, our very own James Williamson II bought the house and later gifted the park to the people of Lancaster.

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Greaves Park is another park that is formed from the gardens of privately owned homes. The Community Garden was once the kitchen garden for Greaves House!

Have you ever been to Dallas Road Gardens? This little park, built around 1912, is tucked away between Lancaster Girls Grammar School and Dallas Road School. What clues can you find about how this little green space has changed in the last 100 years?

If you prefer woodland, why not take a walk through Barley Cop woods or Freeman’s Wood? There are paths and trails to explore. If you are quiet you might spot some wildlife, maybe some birds or even squirrels. Freeman’s wood is on Lancaster Marsh which was common land in the 1700s and at that time 80 of the oldest freemen had grazing rights to bring their livestock there to feed!

The Storey Gardens, behind the Storey Institute, are lovely.

There are also beautiful parks and green spaces in Morecambe. Regent Park in Morecambe’s West End is part of the old Summer Gardens. The Summer Gardens opened in 1898 and was an enormous park with space for lots of sports and hobbies as well as beautiful gardens. Holidaymakers from all over the north of England enjoyed the Summer Gardens when they came to visit Morecambe in the summer.

Happy Mount Park in Morecambe is now a popular destination for families, especially in the summer when the splash park is open! It was originally built in the 1920s when Morecambe was a very fashionable destination for holidaymakers. Can you find any clues about how it might have looked 100 years ago? You can find out more about Morecambe’s history as a holiday destination in The Seaside History Detectives Case File.

There are lots of other smaller green spots all around Lancaster and Morecambe. Can you find De Vitre Gardens and find out who ‘De Vitre’ was? Have you ever been to Scotch Quarry Park? If you live nearby, maybe you could get involved with the community garden project? Can you guess from the name what the land at Scotch Quarry Park was used for before it became a park?

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If you are a History Detective Club member, let us know about your favourite green space in or around Lancaster and Morecambe by posting in our private Facebook group! Maybe we haven’t included your favourite spot in this Case File, and we would love to find out about it.

This month have your History Detectives Time Travel Passport stamped at Lancaster City Museum. Look for a train timetable from 1846 and pick a place for a day trip. How much would it cost for you and your family to go? Trains offered people new opportunities to enjoy their leisure time. When the line opened in 1840 between Preston and Lancaster, it linked Lancaster to London for the first time!

YOUR MISSION ... ... is to take in the view from the Ashton Memorial.

Ashton Memorial can be seen from far away because it is on the top of a big hill. The view from the top of the park is super, and even better if you can get up on the observation deck of the memorial. Can you draw a picture or take a photo of the view? What features of Lancaster and Morecambe can you spot? Do you recognise anything from the History Detectives Case Files you have recently read? ...or … write a poem about your favourite green space and read it on the poem podium in Dallas Road Gardens! ...or ...make an old-fashioned toy.

From Victorian times, girls and boys played games like hopscotch, tiddlywinks, skittles, marbles and jacks in parks and in the street. They might have played with toys such as skipping ropes, yoyos, spinning tops, or even footballs.

Why not have a go at making some skittles by recycling some water or pop bottles? You can part fill them with water or sand and decorate them with paper cut outs or paint them bright colours.

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You could try making a simple spinning top too. You can use our template or draw round something round such as cup or glass. Decorate and cut out the disc and stick it to a piece of card (maybe some cereal box card) to stiffen it. Next, carefully poke a hole in the centre with a pencil. To do this safely, place some wall tack under your disc before pushing the pencil through. You can use the pencil as the point of the spinning top; just hold the shaft of the pencil and spin!

We love to see your creations and discoveries, so don’t forget to share them with the History Detectives Facebook group if you are a club member. If you aren’t a club member yet, but want to join, all the information can be found on the Lancaster Museum webpages.

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