Milestones, Boundary Markers, Historical Artifacts, Street Furniture, lost roads and buildings.

There are many traces of our ancestors scattered around our landscape. Mile Markers and Boundary stones are there too. The Milestone Society believes that there are approximately 9000 left in the United Kingdom. Some are cherished but others are hidden in hedgerows, some have been unwittingly destroyed by crashes, road equipment or even stolen. Roads have been straightened to make them safer. There are old gateposts still left in place, old buildings, and place names that declare an evocative past. The aim is to capture some of this information at least photographically before it disappears.

Although the Fylde Coast does not have ancient history, the Romans apparently struggled to Kirkham. There have been huge changes in the last two centuries from literally a a few fishermans' and agricultural dwellings, to a full blown tourist and light engineering industry.

More historical information can be found here about the Fylde coast.

It also seems that time has marched on and left what appears to be some very respectable buildings... which just should be used, but seem to have no worth.

Links from this Blog

Nearly-Midnight The genealogy website relating to the family. A tangled web of people all related to one another, explore!
Memorials Website dedicated to War Memorials - The majority in the North of England. Visits to churches, but also memorials in out of the way places.
Robert Clark The Father of Henry Martyn-Clark - A missionary out in the North-West Frontier of India. One of the first Europeans to set foot in Afganistan
Affetside Census
A small village north of Bury, Lancashire, I can trace many of my immediate ancesters from there. On the Roman Road, Watling Street
Andrew Martyn-Clark My Father and his part in my World. Also my mother and his parents too.
Henry Martyn-Clark My Great Grandfather, his roots and his achievements. Discusses malaria but also his confrontations with Islam.

Sunday 17 June 2012

Queensway building land


This is the road that comes straight off the Queensway junction. This lane (before here) hooks to the left and goes to Easterleigh. This lane used to go to a disused barn next to a disused bungalow where a murder took place. (Another link)The house was bulldozed and the pile of rocks and dirt is effectively the remains of a murder scene. This is the place I took the panorama. I  think the land may be owned by a local builder (Kensington). The houses in the distance are the edge of Cypress point.
Looking back towards Queensway The road lights are the lights that are on Queensway.
This was taken  at the bottom of the mound.

This is a 360 from besides the bush at the top of the mound in the previous photo. Easterliegh Animal sanctuary is on the left side of the bush. The junction at Kilnhouse lane is on the very far right of the panoramic. This looks good on a three screen rig.
Felt I needed to photograph the land at the junction of Kilnhouse lane and Queensway in St Annes. There have been numerous applications for building. The wildlife is endangered. Traffic will be appalling, services will be strangled. Another bit of the landscape gone for ever. Cypress Point has awfull water table issues. Pumps are running 24/7 just to stop the houses flooding. There is a considerable amount of instability here. The actual land is only a couple of feet above the highwater mark. However it gave me a chance to get up early with the tripod and try using the shots to build a panoramic of this land that will now be turned over to housing.

The second panorama of the day is taken from the inner side of Queensway. There is a triangle of heavily overgrown land next to the industrial estate which has got planning permission.

The path that extend through the picture goes across the fields and joins Queensway at the far end. The airport is facing us. The industrial estate is right in the centre. The path to the left is the reverse of the path that heads towards the tree and heads towards Queensway. If you carry on you cross Queensway and meet the road immediately above.

The panoramas were rendered in Hugin on a Linx Mint rig.

This is an extract from the Blackpool Evening Gazette on Friday 22nd of June 2012

A CONTROVERSIAL new housing development on the outskirts of St Annes has been given the go-ahead.

Kensington Developments has fought for years to win planning permission to build 1,150 homes on land off Queensway - and today a Government planning inspector and the secretary of state have finally given them the green-light.
The plans have been the subject of two planning inquiries after Fylde Council rejected the proposal - and dozens of local residents came out in fierce opposition to the scheme.
Plans for the M55 link road, which will connect Lytham and St Annes with the motorway, are closely tied to the development and today’s decision means that project will also go ahead.


Mixed views over major homes plan  

Published on Wednesday 12 December 2007 15:11

RESIDENTS have had their first look at plans for a multi-million pound housing estate set to transform rural land near St Annes.
The scheme, revealed in Tuesday's Gazette, would see Kensington Developments transform land off Queensway by building 1,150 homes over a 10-year period.
The proposed site, on the border of St Annes and Blackpool, will see environmentally friendly homes built at a rate of 175 a year, a primary school, an 86-acre park and a 50-acre deer park. The development will include 259 affordable homes.
Kensington will spend 20m completing the long-awaited M55 Heyhouses link road, constructing a Heyhouses Lane bypass and building a new roundabout at the junction of Queensway and Kilnhouse Lane.
Robin Howe, 61, who lives on Heyhouses Lane, believes the scheme is a "golden chance".
He said: "I think it is a fantastic opportunity for us to move forward.
"One of the massive benefits will be to turn Heyhouses Lane back into a road instead of a motorway."
Mr Howe's wife Debbie, 46, believes more properties are desperately needed.
She said: "People are screaming out for them because they have nowhere to live.
"Something like this will take the town on because it is stagnating now."
However, other residents fear the development will add to already hectic traffic in the Fylde town.
Palmira Stafford, 46, who lives in St Annes Road East, said: "I am concerned there is so much housing in such a small space.
"I have worries about the access roads coming into the borough. Our road is really busy at certain times anyway."
Derek Unsworth, 74, of Eldon Court, doesn't believe a major housing development should be built so close to Blackpool Airport.
He said: "I am dead against it. They will be sending jumbo jets down there soon and I believe it would be a big mistake to build anything other than industrial units there."
Peter Liversidge, deputy managing director of Kensington, was on hand to talk to people about the plans.
He said: "We are very pleased with the public's reaction and interest in the scheme.
"Most people say the link road is a much-needed facility in the area. A residential development is the only way to do that.
"People have been particularly worried about the impact on wildlife but we will have a park alongside a wetland habitat."

A 50 Acre Deer Park - What!!

Make your own minds up.