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12 unusual facts about St Helens


Battle of the Raz de Sein

On 12 April 1798 the British blockade fleet under the command of Admiral Lord Bridport sailed from its winter anchorage at St Helens on the Isle of Wight for the Breton coast.

The British blockade fleet under Admiral Lord Bridport had sailed from St Helens on 12 April and on the morning of 21 April was crossing the Iroise Passage when sails were spotted to the east.

British Rail Class 112

The cars were built for services in the LMR Central Division and in the Liverpool - St Helens area, where the gradients in the Lancashire & Yorkshire area required more power.

Church of St Mary, Lowe House

It was given in 1793 by Winefred Eccleston née Lowe, the widow of John Gorsuch Eccleston, the owner of Eccleston Hall, in Eccleston, outside St Helens.

Clive Jenkins

Upon retiring, for a time Clive Jenkins ran a B&B in St Helens, Tasmania, before returning to Britain.

Daphne Pearson

When her father was appointed as vicar of a parish in St Helens, Isle of Wight, her family moved there, to a house facing France across the English Channel; she later said that was the first time in her life she considered joining the Navy.

Edmund Knowles Muspratt

His father was also a chemical industrialist who had established factories in Liverpool, St Helens and Newton-le-Willows.

Sir Joseph Beecham, 1st Baronet

Beecham was the proprietor of the Aldwych Theatre in London, a Justice of the Peace for Lancashire and was Mayor of St. Helens between 1889 and 1899 and again from 1910 to 1912.

Sophie Dawes, Baronne de Feuchères

She was born at St Helens, Isle of Wight, the daughter of an alcoholic fisherman named Richard Daw.

The Big Art Project

The project also comprises a website centred on The Big Art Mob - designed to create the first comprehensive map of public art across the UK using photographs from people's mobile phones - and significant public art works such as Jaume Plensa's Dream (sculpture) in St Helens, Merseyside.

Watcyn Thomas

A teacher by profession, he moved to St Helens to teach at Cowley Grammar School in 1929, and played rugby for Waterloo and Lancashire, captaining Lancashire to the championship in 1934-35.

William Dacre, 2nd Baron Dacre

Dacre held the Lancashire manors of Skelmersdale, Whiston, Speke, and Parr, and he obtained a charter for the holding of a three-day market and moveable fair at Prescot, then also in Lancashire, to begin on the Wednesday following Corpus Christi.


A661 road

The A661 begins in West Yorkshire at the South Wetherby roundabout (adjacent to the Ramada Jarvis Hotel) where it intersects with the A58 (St Helens to Wetherby via Leeds, Bradford and Halifax) and slip roads for the A1.

Anderton Shearer Loader

It was utilised by Anderton's employers at Groves Ravenhead Colliery in St Helens.

Jimmy Lewthwaite

He continued to excel as a footballer and had trials with Blackburn Rovers and Preston North End before switching to rugby league with Barrow in 1943, making his first-team debut against St Helens in April that year.

Kallum Watkins

In that first season with the Junior Academy he scored 13 tries in 20 appearances as they headed for Grand Final glory, where he scored the opening try in the Rhinos 26-16 win over St Helens and earned himself a place in the England U17 squad to play the AIS.

Kevin Penny

After a Challenge Cup tie against St Helens, his play on the wing was compared by BBC commentator Ray French to Saints' South African wing of the 1960s, Tom van Vollenhoven.

Liverpool Pride

Liverpool Pride is a registered charity run by a Board of Trustees with the stated aim of promoting equality and diversity, advancing education, and eliminating discrimination in relation to LGBT people across the six districts of Liverpool City Region: Halton, Knowsley, City of Liverpool, Sefton, St Helens and Wirral.

Pilkington

Pilkington Group Limited is a multinational glass manufacturing company headquartered in St Helens, United Kingdom and a wholly owned subsidiary of the Japan-based NSG Group.

Ravenhead glass

It was founded in 1850 by Frances Dixon and John Merson after a move from their earlier (1842) factory at Thatto Heath near St Helens.

Thatto Heath railway station

Thatto Heath railway station is located in the Thatto Heath area of St Helens, Merseyside, England.

Thomas Baylies

Turner was concerned in a coal mine at Thatto Heath near St Helens and persuaded his partners to build a furnace at Sutton (there).