Building Name

St Anne's on the Sea (New Town)

Date
1874 - 1877
District/Town
St Anne's on the Sea
County/Country
Lancashire, England
Partnership
Client
St Anne’s‑on‑the‑Sea Land and Building Company
Work
Masterplan

James Maxwell helped to found the St Anne’s‑on‑the‑Sea Land and Building Company which developed the select resort in 1874. Maxwell & Tuke were appointed as architects and land agents; plans drawn up by the practice in 1875 included a large conservatory; but this was never built. After a dispute in 1877 the practice resigned although both Maxwell and Tuke retained their financial interests in the development of St Anne’s and owned substantial holdings of building land there; William Tuke lived in St Anne’s for many years.

 

THE NEW TOWN OF ST ANNE’S-ON-THE-SEA, LAYING THE FOUNDATION STONE – The novel, if not unexampled ceremony in this part of the country of laying the foundation stone of a new town took place yesterday at St Anne’s –on-the-Sea. The stone was laid by Master Clifton, a boy of six or seven and the grandson of Colonel Clifton.  A limited liability company formed in the Rossendale district, and called the St Anne’s Land and Building Company had made arrangements with Colonel Clifton of Lytham Hall, the lord of the manor, for the creation of a fashionable watering place on the coast between Lytham and Blackpool. Magnificent walks and promenades are being laid out, and a church, consecrated in 1873 by the Bishop of Manchester, has been built by Lady Eleanor Clifton at a cost of £4,000. With this exception, the place is mere waste land and sand-hills. The building now in course of erection, the foundation stone of which was laid yesterday, is intended for a hotel; and the architects, Messrs Maxwell and Tuke anticipate that a number of houses will be erected and inhabited before the year is out.

The coast at St Anne’s extends crescent-wise for a considerable distance. There is a beautiful sandy beach, expanding in some places to a width of nearly half a mile, and contracting in others until it scarcely exceeds 300 yards. It is at the outermost extremity of this crescent that the new town is to be built. It will be easily accessible by rail. By the end of the year it will be on the main line between Manchester, Preston, Lytham and Blackpool. A magnificent road called “The Drive” is now in course of construction between Blackpool and Lytham and will pass through the heart of the town. Approached by a short pier or jetty, a channel 18 feet deep at low tide runs close to the shore and is allowing communication by sea. The company have leased the land from Colonel Clifton for a term of 700 years. The promenade will be 3,000 feet long and 180 feet wide, with a greensward belt down the centre, and supported by a handsome stone sea wall, surmounted by iron railings. Besides these, contracts have been let for a new railway station, for a cast iron bridge to cross the railway, a boarding school for ladies, and a large number of private houses. It is intended shortly to erect a pier running out about 300 yards, at the extremity of which will be an assembly room for the use of a resident band and for public purposes. A gas company is in course of formation and arrangements have been made with the Fylde Water Company for the supply of water. The broad streets will be laid out in gently curved lines, while the houses will be set back in large gardens. With a few exceptions, all houses are to be built singly or in pairs, and in no case are there to be more than six houses without a wide interval for light and air between. In the centre of the estate is “The Oval” a small park or public garden of about 12 acres which will be laid out and planted. The style of architecture adopted is domestic Gothic, with a decided leaning to the later developments of the style as exhibited in many farms and manor houses of the 16th and 17th centuries.  This, the architects say, will enable them to give “a pleasing consistent picturesqueness of grouping of masses, with quaintness and comfort of detail and arrangement which will contrast very favourably with the dreary wildernesses of bricks and mortar of the modern type which stamp most of our modern streets.” [Manchester Guardian 1 April 1875 page 5, abridged]

Reference           Manchester Guardian 1 April 1875 page 5