We only had a very short walk to the end of the driveway from the camp site to catch the bus this morning. Even though we are out in the countryside it only took 12 minutes to reach the centre of Lancaster.
Due to the inclement weather again we looked around for an indoor venue of some sort to keep dry and warm. The museum was an idea but not open Sundays, OK, try the Castle just up the road. We actually found the old prison gates to start with, which was no help. Some other tourists told us that they had walked right round the castle and couldn’t find an entrance open. Well we thought that we may as well have a look around and yes there were no entrance’s open until we walked down the steps to the car park level where we found the main entrance open for business.
Four pounds each and an hours guided tour fitted the bill nicely. We were only shown through what is the Crown Court section of the building which did include the 18th century holding cells in which a prisoner could spend up to 6 months awaiting trial only to be found not guilty. Nasty! We saw some of the original walls which were 6 foot thick and where alterations had been carried out over time.
Ninety per cent of Lancaster Castle used to be a prison which was closed down in March 2011 and not open to the public. It was deemed not to be cost effective as it only held about 250 prisoners and had high maintenance costs. There are rumoured interests in making it into a museum and a hotel similar to Oxford Prison.
Walking around town there is still a lot of the old 19th century industrial Lancaster to be seen in the buildings and the cobbled streets. It was certainly different to what we had expected to find. Down along St Georges Quay many of the old warehouses have been converted into apartment blocks but still retaining the character of the area. The Maritime Museum was our next visiting point where we learned of the shipping triangle where ships took goods from Lancaster to Africa where they loaded slaves to take to the West Indies for the plantations. Here they loaded sugar, spices and rum to bring back to England. This was very lucrative until slavery was banished.
The Lancaster Canal is also mentioned in the Maritime Museum where the Packet boats ran from Preston to Kendal between 1833 and 1846. These boats were the crème da la crème in their day. Heated in winter and hot food served from the galley they offered more than the railways at one stage. Pulled by a pair of superb horses at a gallop giving about 9 mph these boats had right of way over everything else on the canal. Every 4 miles the horses were changed for a fresh pair to maintain the very tight schedule.
When the railways opened the Preston to Kendall line the Packet Boat company halved their fares to compete and business boomed. (A lesson for modern day transport operators here I think.) It wasn’t until 1846 when the Lancaster to Carlisle Railway opened that the Packet Boat Co had to admit defeat and close it’s operation. The last of these boats, Crewdson, renamed Water Witch II, was cut down in size and used until 1915 as the canal engineers inspection vessel. It was finally broken up in 1929.
After reading about the canal it was time to go and have a look at this waterway which we found not too far away. Again no boats were evident even after walking about a mile of towpath, which I must say is in very good condition. Typical, one of the least used canals in very good condition. Well, we considered we had done enough for one day so it was time to head back to the bus station. We have another day here tomorrow as we are staying for 3 days instead of the usual 2. We will make a decision on tomorrows plans over supper.
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