St Peter's, Heysham

Ever since I crossed the Pennines to Lancashire six years ago I have been saying I will take Mum to Heysham, which is where she was born in the late 1920's. Today was the day. We collected my aunt from Preston on the way so that we could have chance to catch up. Mum moved away from Heysham before she was 2yrs old and has never visited.

My grandad was the gardener for Heysham Hall and mum announced the other day that the family lived in the Lodge. A bit of research on the internet told me that the Hall was now a pub and that The Lodge still remains as a house, a Grade II listed building, although houses have been built around it so the gardens are no longer there.

We found both the Hall and the Lodge very easily. It was wonderful to stand outside the house where Mum was born and we met a passerby who described a bit about what it used to be like with the large gates leading to the hall. Mum has posted her picture of The Lodge. We tried to go to the Old Hall pub for lunch but they don't do food and were extremely unwelcoming. Instead we went to St Peter's church, where we think Mum was baptised. The church was open but we decided it was time for lunch and we would go afterwards. We had a lovely meal in the pub next door but when we returned to the church there was a service in progress.

We climbed up to the ruins of St Patrick's Chapel and the rock cut graves, one of the oldest surviving Christian moments in the North-West, dating from the 8th Century. It was a nice view over Morecambe Bay, although a little grey and cloudy. We returned to the church but the service was still on, so we waited and looked around the grounds. The service continued so we went to the heritage centre, which was closed. We returned to the church just as the Mother's Union members were leaving. We waited for them to come down the path and out of the gate, then we went to the church, only to find that it was already locked and no-one was available to let us in! A bit of a disappointment. We finished our day with a drive around Morecambe Bay, passing the statue of Eric.

We have done some more photography projects this evening, more rings and hearts which I will add to Flickr shortly.

Big Adventure Day 119 - Heysham
Photos 67/13,088