{"id":2942,"date":"2024-09-10T18:02:49","date_gmt":"2024-09-10T17:02:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.madeinpreston.co.uk\/wp\/?p=2942"},"modified":"2024-09-13T19:20:05","modified_gmt":"2024-09-13T18:20:05","slug":"tram-bridge-has-gone-another-walk-in-preston-4th-september-2024","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.madeinpreston.co.uk\/wp\/2024\/09\/tram-bridge-has-gone-another-walk-in-preston-4th-september-2024\/","title":{"rendered":"Tram Bridge has gone! Another walk in Preston 4th September 2024"},"content":{"rendered":"

Another good walk in Preston:\u00a0 Tram Bridge – Harris Institute – Edith Rigby House – St Wilfrids – Harris Museum – Upper Friargate plus bonus places<\/strong><\/p>\n

The word is on the street is the Old Tram Bridge is gone.\u00a0 Time to check it out.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"The<\/a>

The River Ribble in Preston after demolition of the Old Tram Road Bridge. 4th September 2024<\/p><\/div>\n

Heading into Avenham Park, up onto the former East Lancs Railway Bridge, now a footpath.\u00a0 Look left, a space where the Tram Bridge was.\u00a0 \u00a0There’s a\u00a0 digger creating islands for the work on the new bridge.\u00a0 That’s something, a space, after 200 years.<\/p>\n

Looking over the other side we see the West Coast Main Line on the North Union Bridge over the River Ribble.\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

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Turning back we see the former Park Hotel ever threatening to be restored.\u00a0 Going straight along the path takes you to a barrier so we turn right and head back down into Avenham Park.<\/p>\n

But what happens if we don’t turn back.\u00a0 \u00a0Skip the next paragraph if you don’t want to know.<\/p>\n

It’s good to walk on former railway lines.\u00a0 The track goes towards Bamber Bridge but doesn’t reach there as a footpath. On the way you can turn left to the Capital Centre, or right to Vernon’s Cricket Ground as in Freddie Flintoffs: Fields of Dreams Series 1.\u00a0 You can turn onto the Tram Road and walk back in a triangular track or go further on to Lostock Hall.\u00a0 The rail track passes what was a large gasworks but is now a housing estate before the line comes to Todd Lane.\u00a0 I doubt you can walk past there.\u00a0 It’s years since I walked along there.<\/p>\n

Another option is to go down the other side of the bridge to Penwortham.\u00a0 Or go the other way to where the Tram Road bridge works are but can you get past?\u00a0 \u00a0If you can get past it goes to the Capital Centre or Winery Lane, Walton Le Dale.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

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Back in the park we walk along the river bank enjoying views of bridges and trees.\u00a0 It’s nice in there.\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

This riverside avenue of trees looks good in all seasons.\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The totem pole which contains a chain to denote the old trams and the steam driven chain that hauled them up the steep bank climbing around 100ft above the bridge.\u00a0 These horse drawn trams(trailers) could carry 2 tons of coal.\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The message ‘Tram Bridge. Reviving history. Reconnecting Preston.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The tram bridge opens walks over the river and along the Tram Road.\u00a0 These trams being horse pulled carts on rails between the Leeds Liverpool Canal and the Lancaster Canal.\u00a0 An aqueduct and locks being too expensive.\u00a0 It was started in the 1790s and operated for about 30yrs dragging coal dug in Wigan sent by barge before being dragged by ‘tram’ to Preston for loading onto a barge for Lancaster and Kendal.\u00a0 This was before the railway came to take over the job.\u00a0 Things don’t stop evolving.<\/p>\n

The Old Tram Road was a badly maintained dirt track in the 1960s, capable of taking a car if essential. Trains were still running from Blackburn(and further east) and Liverpool over the East Lancs Bridge and track.\u00a0 That route closed to passengers from Bamber Bridge to Preston in 1968 and Todd Lane Junction station closed.<\/p>\n

The gasworks would be fired by coal and produced coke and gas.\u00a0 By the time the line closed it was fired by Fuel oil which was shipped by rail for many years until North Sea gas came along and closed the site.\u00a0 Every gas cooker in Britain had to be converted to burn North Sea gas instead of Town Gas.\u00a0 \u00a0The gasworks lasted from around 1924 to 1970.\u00a0 I used to be able to see the gasometers going up and down across the fields from our back window.\u00a0 The giant gasometers are gone all over Britain.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

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Here’s a better shot of the former bridge stands in the river and at the far side the first of the workers islands.\u00a0 The new bridge is covered in a previous post on this blog.\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Moving on, instead of going up the steep former tram road go a bit further on and see the cannons from Sebastopol on either side of the steps.\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Then up to the promenade and the tower building, now flats, maybe apartments.\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Halfway along the promenade some interesting looking houses down a side street to the right.\u00a0 Enjoy the architecture.\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The Harris Institute.\u00a0 \u00a0A fine building pending another proposal for use.\u00a0 At this point\u00a0 Avenham Lane changes to Ribblesdale Place a formerly affluent area, now mainly offices.\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Ribblesdale Place.\u00a0 A road with some fine houses overlooking the park at the back.\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"The<\/a>

The home of the Reverend Robert Harris and his son Edmund in Ribblesdale Place, Preston.<\/p><\/div>\n

Ribblesdale Place.\u00a0 The house of the Rev Harris whose son was benefactor the Harris Museum.<\/p>\n

The Blue Plaque for the Rev Robert Harris and his son Edmund on the building they lived in at the gates of Avenham Park.\u00a0 \u00a0Edmund being the benefactor of the Harris buildings in Preston.\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

On to Winckley Square, Chapel Street.\u00a0 The house of Edith Rigby proposed for a museum to commemorate the Women’s Movement. See the Blue Plaque below.\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Blue Plaque in Preston.\u00a0 Edith Rigby.\u00a0 Suffragette.\u00a0 Secretary of Preston Branch Women’s Social and Political Union.\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

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This building looks good in the September sun.\u00a0 The next building is the site of the Preston Catholic College which was the Catholic Grammar School in the not too distant past. \u00a0\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

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St Wilfrid’s Church.\u00a0 Roman Catholic across the road from the former Catholic College.\u00a0 It’s interior is finer than its exterior.\u00a0 Going into churches in Preston wasn’t something I did but lately there’s been two firsts, both exceeding expectations.\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

On Winckley Square north side is the former house of Thomas Miller, mill owner and one of the benefactors of Miller Park.\u00a0 \u00a0See the Blue Plaque below.\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

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On the south side just beyond Winckley Square is another house of a Women’s Movement lady, Beatrice Todd.\u00a0 Blue Plaque below.\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

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Read more about Winckley Square on our website.\u00a0 Click here<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

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In Glovers Court leading to Fishergate is the Wellington pub. It looks better now than it did.\u00a0 Formerly it was very popular with teenagers in the 1960’s as the Beachcomber club was at the Fishergate end.\u00a0 \"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Booth’s clock bridge on Glovers Court.\u00a0 On the left upstairs used to be a high class fashion shop whose name escapes me.\u00a0 1960\/70’s.\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

A view along Fishergate the main shopping street in Preston.\u00a0 \u00a0The banner is for BBC Radio 2 in theP ark.\u00a0 \u00a0Held in Preston from Friday to Sunday 6th to 8th Septembe 2024.\u00a0 \u00a0A successful event with big audiences on Moor Park, to the north,\u00a0 and\u00a0 good\u00a0 weather until Sunday when it rained,\u00a0 as it did all over the UK.\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The Harris Museum awaiting re-opening in early 2025.\u00a0 \u00a0The announcement this week that a major supplier of the update has gone into administration puts a chunk of funding at risk as well as the opening date.\u00a0 Although we can only wait to learn what the administrator and council does.\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The best built view in Preston.\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Read more about the Harris Museum, Art Gallery and Library on our website.\u00a0 Click here<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

Another project on hold is the old post office conversion.\u00a0 Plans for a hotel are on hold.\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Continuing into Friargate just on the left is the former Boars Head pub looking tired.\u00a0 This was a popular pub.\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The Black Horse pub has an interesting interior.\u00a0 It had an old chap with a moustache and a white jacket who waited on in the late 60s.\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The Methodist Church on Lune Street.\u00a0 \u00a0Venue for Preston Historical Society meetings.\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The Old Vic across from the Railway Station.\u00a0 \u00a0Next door is Rise a nice coffee place and sister to the one in the Miller Arcade which also offers food.\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Preston Railway Station from Butler Street.\u00a0 \u00a0It’s good that Preston kept the prestige of having a real fully covered railway station when all the other towns in Lancashire had their’s knocked down and replaced with large bus type shelters.\u00a0 Perhaps that helped give Preston city status.\u00a0 \u00a0That and the astounding bus station.\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

That was a good walk, very enjoyable and thought and memory provoking.\u00a0 \u00a0Preston has many layers of history and still moves on powered largely by UCLan and payments from students and their demands for youthful life.\u00a0 \u00a0Keep that youthful life and keep walking.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Read more about the Railways around Preston and the Tram Road on our website.\u00a0 Click here.<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Another good walk in Preston:\u00a0 Tram Bridge – Harris Institute – Edith Rigby House – St Wilfrids – Harris Museum – Upper Friargate plus bonus places The word is on the street is the Old Tram Bridge is gone.\u00a0 Time … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[10,1,73],"tags":[90,75,74,118,49,22,77,76,91,92,79],"class_list":["post-2942","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-history","category-uncategorized","category-walk-in-preston","tag-avenham-park","tag-beatrice-todd","tag-edith-rigby","tag-harris-institute","tag-preston","tag-river-ribble","tag-suffragette","tag-suffragist","tag-tram-bridge","tag-walk-in-preston","tag-winckley-squiare"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/paPtnz-Ls","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.madeinpreston.co.uk\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2942","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.madeinpreston.co.uk\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.madeinpreston.co.uk\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.madeinpreston.co.uk\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.madeinpreston.co.uk\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2942"}],"version-history":[{"count":14,"href":"https:\/\/www.madeinpreston.co.uk\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2942\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2996,"href":"https:\/\/www.madeinpreston.co.uk\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2942\/revisions\/2996"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.madeinpreston.co.uk\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2942"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.madeinpreston.co.uk\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2942"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.madeinpreston.co.uk\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2942"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}