16 October 2021

Sitting high above the city of Lancaster and easy to see from many directions is the Ashton Memorial.  It is very hard to miss as it stands out in the skyline or is lit up at night with coloured lights.

After having the tower pointed out on my other adventures with Janice, Mike, Karen and Lulu the dog, from the motorway, we got to visit Williamson Park.  It is even more impressive up close.

It is surrounded by a lot of parklands, although in our walk up the hill to the tower, I only got to see a small part of it. 

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When it was mentioned that there were hangings here, it made me curious to find out more.  I would have loved to climb up to the viewing level, but the hill climb and the steps up don’t mix well with a dodgy knee.  So I was happy to just admire it from the outside.

So who built this imposing building, known as the “Taj Mahal of the North” and a Folly?  Well, that’s a love story.  Like the Taj Mahal, it is a monument dedicated by a man to his wife.  The Ashton Memorial was commissioned by Lord Ashton as a tribute to his 2^nd wife Jessy, a woman who supported him in his political career.  His family was extremely wealthy, but they were philanthropic with their wealth.  It is written that in 1885, he served a breakfast for 10,000 people of the local population and was noted for his generosity and support of Lancaster.

The Memorial was designed by John Belcher and completed in 1909, 5 years after she had died. It cost £87,000 or equivalent to about £8.4m in 2020.  It is topped with a dome made of copper and has sculptures representing Commerce, Industry, Science and Art.  It stands on the top of the hill and is 150ft tall, meaning you can get a view of the surrounding countryside, Morecambe Bay and the Lake District Fells.

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It is known as a Folly, an architectural word used to describe a “costly ornamental building” that doesn’t have a practical purpose.  That doesn’t seem to me to be an accurate description, because this building is a symbol of love.  Imagine being loved so much by another person that they want to build you a monument. A beautiful white building, with a gleaming dome sitting in 54 acres of parklands and woodlands.

The tower is now used as a location for weddings, amongst other things. I think it would be a beautiful location that is very sought after.  A chance for the couple to start their wedded life at an iconic place and representative of love between two people.

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However, it could also be this memorial is the means to break a curse because of the dark history of the location where this park and building are.  This is not something that I read about, it was something that occurred to me.

The Williamson Park is situated in a former quarry, but before that, it was the location of hangings and specifically the hanging of nine of the Pendle Witches in 1612 when it was known as Gallows Hill.  The interesting history of the Pendle Witches can be found here https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pendle_witches taken from the records of the trials.

The Pendle Witches trials and subsequent hangings would, I suspect, have been known about by James Williamson, First Baron Ashton, after all, he had been the Sherrif of Lancaster in 1885. Was there a curse put on the location by the witches as they faced their hangings on Gallows Hill?

Maybe, James Williamson wanted to remove the memory of the hangings and what better way to end a curse than with love.  A bit like the fairy tales of Sleeping Beauty or Snow White, where love’s true kiss ends a witch’s curse.  With the tower being a memorial to his wife and now the location of many couples sealing their marriage with a “true love’s kiss” the curse remains broken.

Just an idea, what do you think?