Great Eccleston
Great Eccleston photos (7 available)
Great Eccleston maps (2 available)
Map of Lancashire
Beautifully hand-drawn and coloured, dating from around 1840
See this old map of Lancashire
Personalised maps
Create an historic map centred directly on any postcode!
Great Eccleston books (15 available)
Lancaster Town Walk Guide
Paperback
Lytham St Anne's Town and City Memories
Paperback
Heart of Lancashire Pocket Album
Paperback
- 3 photos on Great Eccleston appear in 1 Frith books - View photos of Great Eccleston
- Read extracts and see photos from these books on Great Eccleston and Lancashire
Great Eccleston memories
Read and share memories of Great Eccleston and Lancashire inspired by Frith photos
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You can also read memories of nearby places in Lancashire below.
Lancashire memories
Shovels Inn - 1952 to 1971
My grandparents, John & Betty Whiteside, were Landlord & Landlady of The Shovels Inn 1952-1971. I was born in 1955 and clearly remeber the pub as it was then, before they tore down walls! The old men of the village taught me how to play dominoes in one of the little rooms that used to be off the main bar. As you walked through the door there used to be an open fire on the right with the dartboard above it. On the photograph, on the extreme right, just outlined against the white building, you can see the petrol pump which was used to fill the charabancs that used to call at the pub on day trips to the Over Wyre ...read more here
A memory of Hambleton contributed by Lynda James
Bilsborrow
My dad grew up in Bilsborrow in the house next door to the White Bull pub. I spent many a happy day at my nanna and granddad's house. My nanna used to be a cook at Bilsborrow Primary School and my granddad was a bus driver. They were very involved with the community. Our first born son is buried with my grandparents in St Hilda's. I love the place, it is peaceful and beautiful. When I visit to put flowers on our son's grave we always eat at the Roebuck.
A memory of Bilsborrow contributed by Kathryn Heathcote
Walking to Skippool
When I was young we lived a short distance from here. A Sunday afternoon walk usually involved "going top see the boats"
A memory of Poulton-Le-Fylde contributed by Alan Fryer
Little Nellie
Hi anyone remember "Little Nellie" (husband Joe) and their daughter Annie and grand daughter Margaret, from Sultan Street in Accrington. We used to travel down on the same bus with them every Friday night. In those days, we got the bus from the bottom of Water Street/Melbourne Street (now Eastgate). They had a caravan on Thornfield for years and years. When you passed the shop and turned onto the site, their caravan was way down the bottom, tucked in a corner. Little Nellie was extremely small and always seemed to wear mens wide legged trousers, with turn ups!
June
A memory of Staining contributed by june huntingdon
Extracts From Great Eccleston & Lancashire books
Rush collecting was once a local industry here. Villagers cut rushes growing by the River Wyre; rushes were made into rush lights or stored in readiness for the rush cart, which was led in procession twice a year for the strewing of fresh rushes in halls and churches. The making of a by-pass split the two villages of Great and Little Eccleston, which had originally been joined by the winding old road. In this bustling village, which once held three fairs every year, the inns and Leckonby Hall still speak of its long history. To the far right with the Evening Gazette sign was G L Johnson’s newsagent’s shop. J N Kellet was next door, and then came the White Bull Hotel, facing the Black Bull; in 1823, when the licence was renewed, no cock fighting or bull and bear baiting was allowed to take place in the square on a Sunday. The gala queen is crowned here annually, and a weekly Farmers’ Market is held. The lamp replaced a cast iron fluted pillar in 1936.
An extract from from"The Fylde Photographic Memories".
In the 1950s a new and busy road separated the two villages of Little and Great Eccleston. The Latin words ‘parva’ and ‘magna’ for little and great were anciently applied to many Fylde villages (Carleton, Bispham, Thornton and Poulton are all examples). Cartford Lane led to one of the six fords across the River Wyre. The smithy stood there, and in Butts Lane was a tithe barn and turf dales at what was then called West End. Turf dales were parts of the old mosses where sods were sliced up for peat, to be used as fuel. About the size of an A4 paper sheet, the turf was neatly cut, stacked and dried, and when ready for burning was taken round to cottages for sale.
An extract from from"The Fylde Photographic Memories".
G Hilton’s grocer’s shop (left) was here in the 1960s. Opposite was the post office, whose thatched roof had to be replaced by corrugated metal like many others along that stretch. Amongst these was a very old cruck-built Fylde cottage with clay and straw walls from the 16th century. Leckonby Hall is the most interesting historical building hereabouts. The fair (there were once three fairs here) was a great event. Held in the Square in the 19th century, six hundred stallholders came from all over the country, and great crowds from the Fylde turned up.
An extract from from"The Fylde Photographic Memories".
This is the corner of St Anne’s Road West and Garden
Street (right) before it was fully surfaced. The rather
solitary buildings are now part of the urban sprawl
that characterises every shopping centre.
An extract from from"Lytham St Anne's Town and City Memories".
Kiosks on the beach; donkey rides; parasols; shady hats. All the
ingredients for a perfect seaside holiday.
An extract from from"Lytham St Anne's Town and City Memories".