We changed trains at Preston, from the two coach rural train to an 11 coach Virgin train out of London! Both ran pretty much to time. Once at Lancaster we walked into the city centre, calling first at The Storey, as it indicated that it served coffee!
Just before that we passed the Friends Meeting House which was first founded in 1708 although it replaced another building that had been used for unofficial meetings before the Act of Toleration in 1682. Lancaster had been an important centre of the development of the Quaker movement before that and a number of its proponents ended up in Lancaster Jail.
This building, originally built to replace the former Mechanics Institute, has had a chequered career, variously being an art gallery, public institute, an art school, a girls school and took on is present function as a community multi purpose building for arts and small businesses just a few years ago.
Inside the main entrance is a splendid staircase, now with a more recent style of wall decoration.
After our refreshments we walked down to the quayside on the bank of the River Lune. Along the way we passed in front of the Judges Lodgings, dating back to the time when justice was administered in Assizes, twice a year when judges would travel to administrative centres to deal with the crimes having more severe punishments. It is said that Lancaster was second only to London for the number of hangings!
At one time the Lune estuary was a major port with Lancaster developing very much on the basis of world trade. Many of the buildings along the quayside were built for uses associated with the port, especially warehouses.
The ships were for a time heavily involved in the transport of slaves and a recent sculpture on the quay recounts the names of the ships, their masters and the number of slaves carried.
So successful was the port that the tradespeople petitioned Parliament to be allowed to construct its own Customs House. This splendid building, once the centre of import and export - masters, ship owners and traders would mingle here to share news (gossip) about how matters were developing across the globe, especially on the main trade routes of the time, from Africa and the Caribbean.
This building, together with the more utilitarian warehouse next door have now been combined into a Maritime Museum which proved well laid out and informative - and only cost us £2 each for entry!
Quite an extensive section recalled the development of the Lancaster Canal and especially the introduction of fast Fly and Packet boats. The model is of the most well known Crewdson, which several sources suggest could carry up to 120 passengers, some first class and others second class. Food and rink was served on board. The boats provided a daily service from Kendal to Preston - trial runs completed the journey non-stop in just over three hours but a realistic regular timetable took around eight hours - very remarkable for its time but it was not long before the railway arrived and took over this traffic.
There were also a number of posters about how boaters should behave - perhaps today's users might take note! This one certainly would provoke strong reaction on some canal discussion sites!
A short film about the history of Lancaster also explained how the nearby seaside town of Morecambe developed. with the arrival of the railway as this made the fishing of shrimps and cockles worthwhile. Morecambe Bay is a large intertidal area and for centuries it has been used as shortcut but is also treacherous as the tides come in very quickly and there are many quicksands that can rap the unwary - hence their is still the post of Royal Guide (which once piloted Prince Philip across in his horse carriage driving days) There was even at one time a regular coach service between Ulverston and Lancaster.
Part of the museum is devoted to the Triangle Trade, as the name of the business of shipping goods out to Africa where they were exchanged for slaves to the Caribbean and a final leg back home with the start of the cotton industry in Lancashire. One panel reminded visitors that whilst they may wonder how so many people were content to buy goods in this country that were the product of slavery, they should not forget that many of the cheap clothes of today are often made in less than brilliant conditions across the world.
After leaving the museum we walked back into the city centre to find somewhere for lunch - it was getting rather late and we enjoyed a pizza in a small Italian place.
The City Museum was once the Town Hall and occupies one side of the large Market Square.
For the afternoon we walked back up the hill to Lancaster Castle - all visits are now guided tours whilst building work is in progress. Whilst the jail closed in 2011, the crown court is still in use - it was sitting today so there were parts of the castle we could not see. This also meant that photography during the tour was forbidden - hence no pictures.
The tour lasted an hour and took us first to the civil court room where the walls are decorated with the coats of arms of people associated with the city going back over centuries.
We were also taken into areas which were part of the crime and punishment system - cells used in days when prison was a place of silence and harsh treatment, through to the section that was part of HMP Lancaster until recently.
Our guide followed a detailed script and was clearly very conscious of keeping to time! What he had to say could have proved fascinating but, alas, he did not seem to have a real feeling for his material.
After we left the castle we walked across the green to the Priory, now the parish church. We did not have a lot of time left and, although very impressive, it did seem to be a fairly conventional parish church. It does seem to be proud of a large icon which is displayed in a prominent position, but so far we have not found out much about it!
The view outside the church looked out across to the higher ground in the Lake District (we think!)
On the way back to the station we stopped off once more at The Storey for a cup of tea before heading to our train. As some of the trains were running a little late, and our schedule only gave us a short time to catch the hourly train to Burscough Junction, we were quite pleased to catch a train to Preston that was a little earlier than planned. It was better to have a half hour sit on Preston station platform than an hour to the next train!
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