Fantastic place to visit (Lancaster in General)

Member Name: mjc121

Product:	Lancaster in General
Date:	21/02/09 (112 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: the castle and Ashton memorial

Disadvantages: not good shopping wise

As a Lancastrian I probably am a bit biased but I haven't lived there for six years now. It is well worth a visit as there are a number of things to see whilst you are there.

It is a great historic city dating back to Roman Britain and part of a Roman bath house was excavated behind the Priory Church on Castle hill some years ago. However as you get close to Lancaster the thing which dominates the sky line is the Ashton Memorial. The Ashton Memorial was commissioned by Lord Ashton as a tribute to his late wife. Lord Ashton became a millionaire producing oil cloth and linoleum which was exported from the port all over the world. The memorial, which is open to the public, is inside Williamson's park. On the balconies about half way up the monument you get some beautiful panoramic views of the area.

Lancaster Castle occupies a city centre hilltop location on the site of three successive Roman forts. It consists of a group of historic structures, including the 12th century Keep, the 14th century Witches' Tower, the 15th century Gatehouse. It is a Grade I Listed Building. The castle is one of Lancaster's biggest tourist attractions. However, you may have to plan a visit in advance as the castle is the location of Lancaster crown court which is still used to this day. It is the oldest functioning court in the UK. The court has been used for some high profile cases eg the Birmingham six.


It is also a fully functioning prison and so visits are by guided tour only. On the tour you see the crown court and some of the dungeon areas. Apart form the famous 'Pendle Witches Trial' Lancaster crown court holds the distinction (if you can call it that) of being the court which passed the most death sentences in the UK. Lancaster castle is also the site of the most public executions in the UK outside London.

An interesting relic of the early days of the court is the branding iron in the dock, which consists of a metal holdfast designed to immobilise the wrist and fingers, whilst a red hot branding iron embossed with the letter M was applied where the thumb joins the rest of the hand. This identified the convicted person as a 'malefactor' or 'evil-doer.' Both these items are still in the court-house but are now purely for show. If you do take the tour you may be the one who gets 'volunteered' to put your hand into the holdfast. Don't worry, the branding iron isn't demonstrated, honest.

The Branding Iron was last used in 1811. Up until this point it became the rule that before a prisoner was tried he was asked to raise his hand so that it could be seen whether he bore the brand mark and was therefore a previous offender. An easy way of keeping records and in a way that couldn't be lost.

(yes I had 3 school trips there and 2 projects on Lancaster Castle to do in my time at school)

The Judges lodgings is a little way from the castle and makes up one of Lancaster's 4 museums.

Lancaster was also an important port in the heyday of the cotton trade in Lancashire but as the river Lune silted up it fell into disuse. The old customs house is still standing and is now Lancaster Maritime Museum.
Other places to visit include the city museum located in the city centre and the cottage museum which is a short walk from the castle. There are also guided tours round the city and 'ghost walks' on some evenings.

Lancaster canal is also worth having a bit of a walk along. This crosses the river lune via the original stone aqueduct bridge.

The city also has one of the few remaining independent tea and coffee merchants, Atkinson's and Son's. Here they roast the coffee themselves and it is always fresh. Also If you can find it, the music room passage is home to Sunburrys - the best coffee shop in the city. It may be small and a bit more expensive than the rest but it is worth it. If you do go here the selection of cakes is excellent and my favorite is the rhubarb and almond slice. The tartness of the rhubarb and the sweetness of the almond topping really work well together.

For nightlife Lancaster has a number of pubs and clubs but also two theatres which are the Grand which is mainly professional performances and the Dukes Theatre which is mainly amateur dramatics. (The Grand theatre is said to be haunted) and a cinema.

There are plenty of restaurants for almost every taste and pocket. My favorite is 'etna' which is on New Street in the city centre. As you have guessed it is Italian food. It isn't overly expensive, there is nothing fancy about what is served it is just very good traditional Italian food. There is also the restaurant 'Bistro 16' (I think 16 is the number in the name) which is on Sun Street. this serves traditional British food. It is expensive but you pay for what you get. The gressingham duck is excellent. Other notable restaurants are 'The Blue Mountain' which is in the neighbouring town of Morecambe and the spaghetti house. Although the last time I went to the spaghetti house I wasn't all that happy. The food was fine but the other customers were loud and the language they used was awful. Especially as they had three young children at their table. The town centre also has the usual chains such as pizza hut etc.

Getting around isn't too bad by car, but the one way system can be a bit of a nightmare at rush hour. There is a good bus service to the town centre as well as a cycle path along the River Lune.

Lancaster university is situated near to the small village of Galgate. This is quite a distance from the city centre but it is serviced by a very good bus service. The University also owns and runs its own night club in the city centre - the sugar house.

Lancaster is also ideally placed for the lake district.

a shorter version of this review is also on ciao under the same author

Summary: My home town - I should go back more often