Lytham Hall
STAGE 61 (W2) – ST ANNE’S TO LYTHAM
5.75 miles – 2 hours walk
74 feet climbed – highest point 19 feet as we are never far above sea level
More Lancashire Coast followed by the lovely and considerably more gentile town of Lytham, with its Hall.
A map of Stage 60 can be found below courtesy of Ordnance Survey maps. You can subscribe yourself using this link, https://osmaps.ordnancesurvey.co.uk, which will enable you to import the GPX file which can be downloaded below.
Download file for GPS
To download the GPX file for this stage click on the link above.
Exit St Anne’s Pier and continue south along the Promenade. Bear right around the Boating Lake keeping the coast directly on your right side. Pass the many beach huts and at the end descend to the seashore. The sand is quickly replaced by a pebbled track. Follow this all the way to the sea defences at Fairhaven. Please note when the tide is high this track may be wet or covered. There are, however, paths at the base of the dunes our within the dunes. Failing that use the road as far as Fairhaven Lake, where you can then pick up the path along the sea defences.
Use the steps to climb up on to the sea defences and continue in the same direction (SE). To your left is Fairhaven Lake, a boating lake. Continue along the promenade past the car park and then along the path directly by the sea front know as Granny’s Bay! Look out for the large white church – Fairhaven United Reform Church.
The new sea defences as we approach Lytham
You will then come to some new sea defences. Continue along the sea front. There are magnificent views across the Ribble Estuary here to Southport and West Lancashire. If you have walked the Southern Loop, you may recognise some of the hills.
The coast at Lytham
Pass the slipway. To your left across the road, you will see Lowther Gardens, which we will be entering by the SE gate. Find the path that links the path you are on by the seashore to the road and this entrance to the Gardens. Enter the gardens. Take the main path which runs diagonally through the gardens to the NW entrance. Note another statue for another great North West comedian, Tommy Ball, a short way along this path.
Exit the gardens. If its is after 4pm then do not follow the instructions below as you will not be able to enter the grounds of Lytham Hall via this route.
Cross the road and turn left and follow the main road. Pass St Cuthbert’s Church. If you have time enter the grounds and at the rear of the church you will find a memorial to seven members of the St Anne’s lifeboat, who perished in a storm in November 1886. The carving is exceptional. Return to the main road and carry on in the same direction. Turn left into Church Drive through the brick gate posts and follow this to the end, then through concrete bollards and pick up a path which crosses over the railway line. The path exits onto Ringwood Close. Turn right and then cross the next road into Maplewood Close. Follow this and then enter the ginnel that brings you out onto another road and then the main road.
Cross the main road and just to your left is a green gate which is an entrance to Lytham Hall and its Estate. NB This entrance states that it closes at 4pm but I have never been able to test this!
Follow the path on the left through woods and when you come to a pond on your left, turn right. Carry straight on to a wall. Turn right through a gate. Take the path on your right up to the Mount, which gives good views over the Estate and to the sea. This man-made hill was created in the seventeenth century for exactly this purpose and was made from the soil excavated from ponds on the Estate. Within the Mount was an “ice house” used to keep food fresh.
Return down and turn right past an old flagpole. Turn left along the gravel path/ arbour towards the Hall, passing a statue of Diana.
Diana, the goddess of the hunt but also the countryside and nature.
Exit the gardens to front of the Hall.
The manor of Lytham was recorded in the Domesday Book of 1086 under the name of “Lidun”. It was initially the site of Lytham Priory, dedicated to St Cuthbert and under the control of Durham Priory. Following the dissolution of the Monasteries in the 1530’s the land occupied by the Priory came into the possession of a local landowner, Cuthbert Clifton, who built a house on the site. This was subsequently replaced by Lytham Hall which was built in 1757 to 1764. The house was passed down through the Clifton family. During the First World War the house was used as a military hospital and unfortunately the family did not move back and the house fell into neglect. Finally, the house was sold by the colourful Henry de Vere Clifton in the 1960’s. It is now owned by Lytham Town Trust with the help of a donation by BAE Systems. It is a Grade I listed building.
Walk around the Hall and then follow signs to the cafe etc and walk through garden centre. There are toilets here and a café for refreshments. Head to the road behind the cafe. Pass the animal hub! Walk through a car park to the brick dovecote. Take the track past this with the Woodland car park on your left. The track then bends to right, past a pond on your left and then becomes a path. After the pond take the next main path on right. This takes us to main drive to the hall. On the way look out on your right for great views back up to the Hall.
Views back to the Hall
Turn left and use the footpath that follows the drive all the way to the main gates to the Estate. Turn right and follow the main road ahead up and over the railway. Take the steps on your right down to the station, which marks the end of the Stage.
END OF STAGE
Lytham railway station is connected to Moss Side, Kirham, Salwick, Fairhaven, St Annes and Starr Gate as well as Blackpool South, which enables you to undertake various day walks covering the first four stages of the Western Loop.
