Long Weekend in Lancashire
Thursday 12 August — Sold out
2pm Thursday to about 3.30pm Sunday. A repeat of the very popular Central Lancashire weekend which sold out in 2008.
We will explore Central Lancashire’s rich legacy of Victorian architecture and culture in and around Preston, Blackburn, Bolton, and Southport.
Thursday afternoon in Preston includes the great Catholic church of St Walburge with its spectacular 303-foot spire (JA Hansom, 1850-4), and a guided tour of the magnificent Harris Museum and Library (James Hibbert, 1882-93).
Friday starts in Blackburn and includes St Silas (Paley & Austin, 1894-8) and a guided tour of Blackburn Museum with its remarkable collections of Victorian art, icons and mediæval manuscripts. Lunch at Blackburn Cathedral is followed by a visit to Lord Leverhulme’s extraordinary moorland gardens at Rivington (TH Mawson, c.1900-25). We also visit Shaws of Darwen, Europe’s last functioning manufacturers of architectural terracotta.
Saturday starts in Bolton and the theme of the churches of Sharpe, Paley and Austin is developed at All Souls, Astley Bridge (Paley & Austin, 1878-81), and the remarkable terracotta St Stephen, Lever Bridge (E Sharpe, 1842-5). We hope to tour Bolton’s magnificent classical town hall (William Hill, 1866-73).
On Saturday afternoon we tour Queen Street Mill, Burnley, the last steam-powered weaving shed in the world, and finish at the Haworth Art Gallery, Accrington (Walter Brierley, 1909), with its superb collection of glass by Louis Comfort Tiffany.
On Sunday we visit one of the most remarkable Victorian country houses in Britain, Scarisbrick Hall (AWN Pugin, 1837-45 and EW Pugin, 1862-8), visit Holy Trinity, Southport, a tour de force of Edwardian patronage (Huon Matear, 1895-1913), and finish with a long walking tour of this remarkable Victorian seaside resort.
The weekend is based at the four-star Mercure Dunkenhalgh Hotel, Clayton-le-Moors, to the east of Blackburn, originally a Tudor Gothic mansion of c.1810 built for the Walmsleys, Lords Petre.
COST £325 per person sharing double/twin; £361 per person single. All coach trips, visits, admissions, gratuities, various teas and lunch on Friday, Saturday and Sunday are included plus dinner, bed and breakfast accommodation at the Dunkenhalgh Hotel. Please state any special dietary requirements.
The tour starts at Preston station at 2pm on the Thursday and ends there at about 3.30pm on the Sunday. The coach will also pick up at the Dunkenhalgh Hotel at 1pm on Thursday and return there after the station on Sunday.
View Lancashire Weekend in a larger map
Later event: Two Great Estates: A tour around Chester
