St Helens Photo Montage

Creative Commons License

"This is a view of Victoria Square in St Helens, Merseyside. On the left hand side can be seen the Town Hall with the clock tower, and directly across from the photographer is the Gamble Institute which houses the Central Library. The statue of Queen Victoria which used to stand in the middle of the square has now been moved to just behind where the photo is taken from."

"This monument to Mr. Anderton, the inventor of the power shearer and loader, otherwise known locally as "th'cutter", which revolutionised longwall mining throughout the world.You can see the helical drum of the cutter under the bust of a collier. Each pick in the drum had a manganese-steel tip and each pick was worth £27 over 25 years ago.Originally the monument was situated in front of Anderton House, Lowton, which place housed National Coal Board district administrative offices; with the closure of these offices together with that of the last colliery in the Lancashire coalfield, the monument was moved to National Coal Board (renamed British Coal) Western Area offices in Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire. However, as the Anderton shearer was first used at Ravenhead Colliery ("Groves's"), St. Helens, of which colliery Mr. Anderton was the general manager, St. Helens council asked British Coal if they could transfer the monument to a site which is very near to where Ravenhead colliery used to be. One more point (and don't tell anybody): Mr. Anderton was a Wiganer. There is often confusion between James Anderton CBE , former chief constable of Manchester who was born in Wigan , and James Anderton OBE , inventor of the power shearer , whose birthplace I have so far been unable to confirm. However he lived locally and died aged 89 at his home in Newton le Willows."

"The impressive St Mary’s Lowe House, dubbed “The Poor Man’s Cathedral”, was built using money collected from working class people during the depression. The land on which the present church stands, was donated in 1793 by the widow of John Gorsuch Eccleston of Eccleston Hall (her maiden name was Lowe). The chapel was replaced with the current building, the tower and dome of which dominate the skyline of St Helens." Public Domain Ravenhead Mine Works - Public Domain, St Helens Library Archives