Williamson Park in Lancaster, England, was constructed by millionaire James Williamson, 1st Baron Ashton, and his father, also called James Williamson. Its focal point is the Ashton Memorial. The park now covers an area of 53.6 acres (217,000 m2), having been extended in 1999 onto adjoining land, Fenham Carr, following a grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund.
The site was originally moorland, and the site of a gallows. [1] By the nineteenth century it was developed as a quarry. During the Lancashire Cotton Famine (1861–65), public works started to develop the site with a gravel drive being created by unemployed cotton spinners giving access. There were some barrows on the site of the park which were excavated in 1865. Several funerary urns and some grave goods were found. In the 1870s James Williamson senior started to develop the site, and by 1877 a plan of pathways had been drawn up. When James Williamson senior died in 1879, his son Lord Ashton took the work forward, handing the site over to Lancaster Corporation in 1881. The Ashton Memorial was added in the early twentieth century. [2]
Features of the park include the Ashton Memorial, fountains, a butterfly house, a café, a children's play area, the Lancaster sundial on the site of what was once a bandstand, an artificial waterfall, some sculptures and a small folly known as the Temple. The park is extensively wooded, with many pathways winding among the trees. There were also formerly an astronomical observatory and a weather station, but these became unviable with growth of the surrounding trees. They fell into disrepair after 1939 and only fragments remain.
Since 1987 The Dukes Theatre, based in the city, have put on their 'Play in the Park' during July and August each year. The production uses the natural scenery of the park as the stage and requires the audience to follow performers from scene to scene. [3] The first production to be staged in the park was A Midsummer Night's Dream in which Dukes' honorary patron Andy Serkis appeared. [4] Since it began over 500,000 people have attended at Dukes' park show and the 2016 production of The Hobbit won Best Show for Children and Young People at the UK Theatre Awards. [5]
On 18–20 May 2018 the park played host to the inaugural Highest Point music festival which offered several stages across the grounds. [6] Highest Point featured performances from Ocean Colour Scene, Rae Morris, Embrace, The Two Bears and the Hacienda Classical, and the festival was held again in May 2019.
In July 2019, it was confirmed the festival would return to Williamson Park on 15–17 May 2020. However COVID-19 caused the festival to get cancelled. [7]
Since then further iterations of Highest Point have run in the park, in September 2021 [8] and again in May 2022 when it was headlined by Richard Ashcroft, Clean Bandit and Kaiser Chiefs. [9]
The sixth Highest Point festival took place in 2024, on Friday 10 May and Saturday 11 May, [10] [11] with the associated Big Family Day Out festival on Sunday 12 May. [12]
A 5 km parkrun event takes place in the park every Saturday morning. [13] The first event was held in 2016. [14]
Lancashire is a ceremonial county in North West England. It is bordered by Cumbria to the north, North Yorkshire and West Yorkshire to the east, Greater Manchester and Merseyside to the south, and the Irish Sea to the west. The largest settlement is Blackpool.
Lancaster is a city in Lancashire, England and the main cultural hub, economic and commercial centre of City of Lancaster district. The city is on the River Lune directly inland from Morecambe Bay. Lancaster is the county town although Lancashire County Council has been based at County Hall in Preston since its formation in 1889.
Ulverston is a market town and civil parish in Westmorland and Furness, Cumbria, England. In the 2001 census the parish had a population of 11,524, increasing at the 2011 census to 11,678. Historically in Lancashire, it lies a few miles south of the Lake District National Park and just north-west of Morecambe Bay, within the Furness Peninsula. Lancaster is 39 miles (63 km) to the east, Barrow-in-Furness 10 miles (16 km) to the south-west and Kendal 25 miles (40 km) to the north-east.
Lancaster University is a public research university in Lancaster, Lancashire, England. The university was established in 1964 by royal charter, as one of several new universities created in the 1960s.
Andrew Clement Serkis is an English actor and filmmaker. He is best known for his motion-capture roles comprising motion capture acting, animation and voice work for computer-generated characters such as Gollum in The Lord of the Rings film trilogy (2001–2003) and The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey (2012), King Kong in the eponymous 2005 film, Caesar in the Planet of the Apes reboot trilogy (2011–2017), Captain Haddock / Sir Francis Haddock in Steven Spielberg's The Adventures of Tintin (2011), Baloo in his self-directed film Mowgli: Legend of the Jungle (2018) and Supreme Leader Snoke in the Star Wars sequel trilogy filmsThe Force Awakens (2015) and The Last Jedi (2017), also portraying Kino Loy in the Star Wars Disney+ series Andor (2022).
Lytham St Annes is a seaside town in the Borough of Fylde in Lancashire, England. It is on the Fylde coast, directly south of Blackpool on the Ribble Estuary. The population of the built-up area at the 2021 census was 42,695. The town is made up of the four areas of Lytham, Ansdell, Fairhaven and St Annes-on-the-Sea.
The Ashton Memorial is a folly in Williamson Park, Lancaster, Lancashire, England built between 1907 and 1909 by the millionaire industrialist Lord Ashton in memory of his second wife, Jessy, at a cost of £87,000.
Haydock is a village within the Metropolitan Borough of St Helens, in Merseyside, England. At the 2011 Census, it had a population of 11,416 Haydock's historic area covers the Haydock electoral ward and a section of the Blackbrook ward.
The Dukes is a theatre in Lancaster, England. It is the county's only producing theatre venue, and is an Arts Council England National Portfolio Organisation. As well as producing two theatre productions each year, it also hosts a varied programme of touring theatre, comedy, live music and dance. It also has a reputation for screening independent cinema and in 2017 won Northern Soul's Cinema of the Year Award.
Golborne is a town in the Metropolitan Borough of Wigan, in Greater Manchester, England. It lies 5 miles (8.0 km) south-southeast of Wigan, 6 miles (9.7 km) northeast of Warrington and 14 miles (22.5 km) to the west of the city of Manchester. Along with the neighbouring village of Lowton, it recorded a population of 24,041.
Bristol is a city in South West England. As the largest city in the region it is a centre for the arts and sport. The region has a distinct West Country dialect.
James Williamson, 1st Baron Ashton, was a British businessman, philanthropist and Liberal Party politician. His family's business in Lancaster produced oilcloth and linoleum, which was exported around the world. After serving as a Member of Parliament for Lancaster, he was elevated to the peerage as Baron Ashton in 1895. Unproven accusations that he had purchased his title, however, haunted him and led to his eventual withdrawal from public life.
Morecambe is a seaside town and civil parish in the City of Lancaster district of Lancashire, England, on Morecambe Bay, part of the Irish Sea.
The murder of Sophie Lancaster occurred in England in August 2007. The victim and her boyfriend, Robert Maltby, were attacked by a group of teenage boys while walking through Stubbylee Park in Bacup, Rossendale, Lancashire, on 11 August 2007. As a result of the severe head injuries Lancaster sustained in the attack, she went into a coma from which she never regained consciousness, and died of her injuries thirteen days later. The police said the attack may have been linked to the couple wearing gothic fashion and being members of the goth subculture.
The Royal Lancaster Infirmary (RLI) is a hospital in the city of Lancaster, England. It lies to the south of the city centre, between the A6 road and the Lancaster Canal. It is managed by the University Hospitals of Morecambe Bay NHS Foundation Trust.
St Mark's Church is a redundant Anglican parish church in St Mark's Road, Preston, Lancashire, England. It is recorded in the National Heritage List for England as a designated Grade II* listed building. In 1993 its benefice was united with that of St Michael and All Angels, Ashton-on-Ribble.
Ashton Hall is a largely rebuilt 14th-century mansion in the civil parish of Thurnham, Lancashire, England. It is 3 miles (4.8 km) south of the city of Lancaster and is on the east bank of the River Lune. It is recorded in the National Heritage List for England as a Grade I listed building, and is now owned by Lancaster Golf Club.
The Queen Victoria Memorial in Lancaster, Lancashire, England, is a Grade II* listed building. It stands in the centre of Dalton Square, Lancaster facing Lancaster Town Hall. It was erected in 1906, being commissioned and paid for by James Williamson, 1st Baron Ashton.
Lucy Jane Parkinson or LJ Parkinson is a British actor and drag king better known by the stage name LoUis CYfer.
Hattie Naylor is an English playwright. Her 2009 Ivan and the Dogs won the Tinniswood Award for original radio drama and was nominated in the 2010 Olivier Awards for Outstanding Contribution to Theatre. It has since been developed into a film directed by Andrew Kôtting called Lek and the Dogs (2018). Other productions include Weighting Extraordinary Bodies, national tour 2015/16. Her work as a librettist includes Picard in Space with Will Gregory (Goldfrapp) directed by Jude Kelly, for the Electronica Festival at the Southbank 2012. The Night Watch, her adaptation of Sarah Water’s novel, Manchester Royal Exchange, was listed as one of the top theatre plays of the year by the Suzanna Clapp, Observer for 2016. Further credits include Yana and the Yeti with Pickled Image 2017, and As the Crow Flies Pentabus and Salisbury Playhouse 2017. Going Dark was co-written and created with Sound&Fury, Young Vic and Science Museum 2013/14, and her controversial Bluebeard directed by Lee Lyford and created with their own company Gallivant, Soho theatre, Bristol Old Vic 2013. She has written extensively for BBC Radio 4 notably: The Diaries Of Samuel Pepys nominated Best Radio Drama 2012, The Aeneid nominated Best Radio Adaptation, BBC Audio awards 2013, and How to Survive the Roman Empire, by Pliny and me 2015-2018. She is a lecturer in stage and screen at Sheffield Hallam University.
Highest Point Festival returns for it's sixth outing
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