Everything about St Helens Merseyside totally explained
St Helens is a large town in
Merseyside,
England. It is the largest settlement of the
Metropolitan Borough of St Helens with a population of just over 100,000 of an
urban area with a total population of 176,843 at the time of the
2001 census..
Historically a part of
Lancashire, the area grew during the 18th and 19th century as a significant centre for
coal mining and
glassmaking. Both prior and during this time it was also home to a cotton and linen industry (notably sail making) that didn't last through the mid 19th century as well as
salt smelting.
The town and borough is notable for being the site of the first fully man made canal opened in autumn 1757, and also the first competition for steam locomotives (in
Rainhill Trials).
Today, St Helens is very much a commercial town. The main industries have since left, become outdated, or have been outsourced leaving the float and patterned rolled glass producer
Pilkingtons, a world leader in their industry, as the town's one remaining large industrial employer. Previously the town had been home to Beechams (now part of
GlaxoSmithKline),
Ravenhead glass (bought out by the Belgian nationalised Durobor), United Glass Bottles (U.G.B.), Triplex (owned by Pilkington, farmed out to India), Daglish Foundry (closed and demolished 1939), and
Greenall's (now located in nearby
Warrington).
History
The origin of the name St. Helens stretches back to a "chapel of ease". The Chapel was noted as "consisting only of a 'challis and a lytle bell".).
As late as the start of the 19th century, St Helens didn't exist as a town in its own right. It was formed from the townships of
Eccleston,
Windle,
Parr and Sutton,
townships of the parish of
Prescot which became civil parishes on their own in 1866. Census figures from 1801 suggest the population of the township area to be 12,500 which by 1860 had reached 50,000. Incorporation as a borough was granted on the 2nd February, 1868 when
Queen Victoria granted St. Helens a municipal charter. 20 years later St. Helens became a county borough.
Until the mid 1700's the local industry was almost entirely based on small scale home based initiatives such as linen weaving. The landscape was dotted by similarly small scale mining operations, notably for coal and it's the coal to which the town owes its initial growth and development The large
Pilkington Brothers works, founded in 1826, dominates the town's industrial quarter and still produces all the UK's output of flat glass.
Major investment is currently transforming the quarter into a retail and communications hub with former industrial land being reclaimed for use as hotels, shopping areas and housing. The many
coal mines on the outlying districts of St.Helens, (most of which were closed before St.Helens borough was created and were, therefore, never in St.Helens) including
Clock Face, Ravenhead,
Sutton Manor,
Bold, Wood Pit (
Haydock), Lyme Pit (
Haydock), Old Boston (
Haydock) and Lea Green, were closed between the 1950s and early 1990s. The last colliery in the modern
Metropolitan Borough and in the St.Helens area of the South Lancashire Coalfield, was Parkside, in
Newton-le-Willows, which was closed in 1992.
Governance
In 1868, St Helens was incorporated as a borough, and was then made a
county borough in 1889. The town hall was built between 1872 and 1876. As a county borough, St Helens was, from 1889 to 1974,outside the
administrative county of
Lancashire but remained within the geographical county palatine.
In 1974, under the provisions of the
Local Government Act 1972, St Helens became the administrative centre of the
Metropolitan Borough of St Helens in the newly created
Merseyside Metropolitan county.
Geography
The
St Helens Borough covers roughly 30 km² over an area of soft rolling hills used primarily for
agricultural purposes, mainly
arable. The highest point in the Metropolitan Borough of St Helens is
Billinge Hill, 3¾ miles (6 km) north from the town centre. The town is landlocked with a stream running through, Mill Brook/Windle Brook running through Eccleston and connecting with the (disused) St. Helens Branch/Section of the
Sankey Canal in the town centre. St Helens is around 160 feet (50 m) above sea level.
Demography
Christianity is the main religion in St Helens, being about 87% according to the 2001 census. This makes St Helens the "most Christian town in Britain".
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There is very little ethnic minority representation in the St Helens population, one of the lowest levels in the country. 98.8% of the St Helens population is White British.
Transport
Road
St Helens lies in close proximity to the motorway network with the
M6 running a few miles to the eastern side of the town, with Junction 23 at
Haydock. The
M62 runs a couple of miles to the south of the town with Junction 7 at
Rainhill Stoops. The
M57's Junction 2 lies several miles south west of St.Helens, at Prescot. The
M58 is several miles north of St.Helens. The
A580 East Lancashire Road runs north of the town centre alongside Eccleston, Moss Bank and Haydock. It is a former trunk road taking traffic from
Manchester to the Liverpool Docks. It was built between 1929 and 1934 and was opened by
King George V. It was intended to take pressure away from the
A58, a major road running from Prescot (M57) through St.Helens to the M1 at Wetherby, Yorkshire. The Rainford By-Pass
A570 is the transport route from
Southport and west Lancashire through St Helens and the M62 at Rainhill Stoops. A major development in communication was the opening of the St Helens Linkway (classified as part of the A570) in 1994, which linked the town directly with the M62 and, by proxy, an alternative connection to the M6. The
A572 takes traffic from the town centre through Parr to
Earlestown and
Newton-le-Willows.
Rail
Rail is an important means of transport in the borough.
St Helens Central serves as the town's main railway station, which lies on the
Wigan to Liverpool line. Other stations on this line in the town are
Thatto Heath and
Eccleston Park. The Liverpool to Manchester line serves St Helens at Rainhill,
St Helens Junction and
Lea Green which was opened in 2000 in order to bring people away from the now dilapidated St Helens Junction Station, which was opened on 15 September 1830 by the pioneering
Liverpool and Manchester Railway.
St Helens Central is recently finished a major redevelopment at a cost of £6 million, which the Council hopes will encourage investment, create more jobs and improve the gateway into the town.
Air and sea
St Helens has no airport. The nearest airport is Liverpool John Lennon Airport, serving European destinations, located about 12 miles (19 km) south-west of the town, and is connected with a direct bus service.
Manchester Airport is approximately 25 miles (40 km) away and has numerous direct flights to Europe, North America, the Middle East and Asia. St Helens is a landlocked town, but with easy access to the ports of Liverpool, on the River Mersey and Mostyn, North Wales, on the River Dee. The Sankey Canal, including the St.Helens section, is no longer used for transporting goods, constisting of several short sections only, the remainder being drained and filled.
Town Twinning
Stuttgart,
Baden-Württemberg,
Germany
Education
Primary Schools
The Borough of St Helens has one nursery school, one infant school, one junior school and fifty two primary schools. Performance in the Key Stage 1 and Key Stage 2 SATs has been consistently above national averages over the past 5 years. An example of a primary school is St Thomas of Canterbury RCP.
Special Schools
There are three special schools in St Helens - Penkford, Mill Green and Lansbury Bridge.
Secondary schools
The Borough of St Helens has eleven secondary schools. These are
Cowley Language College,
Cowley Hard Lane Site,
Cowley Broadway Site,
De La Salle St Helens,
St Augustine's, St
Aelred's,
Newton,
Haydock Sports College,
Sutton High Sports College,
Rainhill,
Rainford High Technology College and
St Cuthbert's.
Further education
The town has seven educational institutions offering post-16 education in
Cowley Language College, Rainford High Technology College, Rainhill High, St Alred's High, Sutton High (all 11-18 secondary schools), Carmel College (a sixth form college) and St Helens College (a general FE college). Carmel College is a leading college in the country with a value added score of 328. The college is an associate of the
University of Liverpool. St Helens College offers a wide variety of Higher and Further Education courses including degree courses, foundation degrees, BTECs and professional qulaifications at the college's Business School. The college has a growing reputation for its standards and achievements. There is no university in St Helens; locals who stay in the area and go to university often take advantage of the surrounding universities such as
Edge Hill (
Ormskirk),
Liverpool,
Manchester,
Salford and
Chester.
Media
St Helens has no television or radio broadcasters. However
102.4 Wish FM gives the second part of its name (sh) to St Helens while the first half goes to Wigan (Wi), where it's based. There are two local weekly newspapers which are freely distributed. These are the
St Helens Star and the
St Helens Reporter.
St Helens College has previously broadcasted temporary, limited service radio broadcasts from their Town Centre Campus, headed by the late Paul Dempsey, who previously worked as a presenter on BBC Radio.
A new internet station is under development and will be launched soon at
Radio St.Helens
Leisure & Investment
Investment and Local Arts
The past twenty years have seen major redevelopments in the town centre. This has included mass pedestrianisation of much of shopping area, with traffic being directed around the town centre on existing roads. The principal
theatre is the Theatre Royal, which has been recently renovated internally and externally with a modern glass exterior, It has a large capacity and stages many performances, including comedy, music, drama and excellent Christmas pantomime, The theatre provides a wide variety of entertainment from top class comedians to musical shows. The Citadel Arts Centre is a smaller theatre on Waterloo Street. This theatre was once the towns original Theatre Royal, however it was closed in 1888 and purchased by the Salvation Army, where it was extensively re-designed as thier new Citadel. In 1988 the Citadel reopened as a music and performance venue and it was again extensiveley refurbished in 1999.It is now home to
alternative music and the arts, it has a smaller capacity than the Theatre Royal, but the Citadel enjoys positive feedback from performers and customers.
The George Street Quarter
regeneration programme left an impressive stamp on the town. The George Street area receives foot traffic from the railway station so the area was enhanced to leave a positive impression on tourists. Major improvements were made to building exteriors, parking, security, street furniture and paving. This has attracted several new businesses to the quarter including award-winning restaurants. The surrounding areas are now receiving attention, with the Hardshaw Centre receiving a new car park exit stairway into the George Street quarter. The stairway spirals around a tall pointed metal structure and is named 'The Needle'. However this new and modern looking stairway is in stark contrast to the brown, square and brick built 'Hardshaw' Centre. The main shopping areas, Church Street and Church Square, are currently undergoing extensive regeneration and there's a proposal for Duke Street, which extends into the town centre, to also receive funding. The main problem in St.Helens has been the virtual elimination of all the old buildings in the 1960s and 1970s, leaving the town with a large selection of grey, square blots and few traditional buildings. It is due to its 'fragmented' town centre, the results of years of poor planning in the 1960s - 1980s that it isn't as well appreciated as the neighbouring towns of Wigan and Warrington. The current council is working hard to solve these problems with good results.
Each year many youngsters from the Scout and Guide Movement perform at the annual St. Helens Scout and Guide
Gang Show. The show has been nationally recognised as being of a high standard and is often used by other gang shows worldwide as a form of inspiration to get ideas or acts or dance etc. The show is usually held in mid April at the Theatre Royal on Corporation Street. The show has a lovely mixture of dance, song and act which proves a huge hit year after year and due to its nature it's deemed one of the most family friendly shows in St. Helens.
The Catholic church of St. Anns and Blessed Dominic is a site of pilgrimage for Roman Catholics. The Victorian missionary Blessed
Dominic Barberi is buried in the church on Monastery Road. It was he who received John Henry Cardinal Newman into the Catholic Church. Alongside Blessed Dominic Father
Ignatius Spencer is buried. The son of the 2nd Earl Spencer he was a famed convert to the Catholic faith.
Elizabeth Prout, foundress of the religious order, the Sisters of the Cross and Passion is also buried with them.
Museums & Parks
The World of
Glass Museum, which opened in 2000, incorporating the Pilkington Glass Museum, has received many awards including North West Attraction of the Year. The
North West Museum of Road Transport is another museum located in the town. The Smithy is a small museum in
Eccleston about the works of a local
blacksmith.
The borough of St Helens has several major
parks and open spaces. These include the historic Taylor Park with opened in 1893. Sherdley Park is a modern park in
Sutton, the park features a
petting zoo and annuanly holds a
funfair usually in July, called the St Helens Show. Other open spaces include the Sankey Valley Country Park and Colliers Moss Common.
Nightlife and Social Scene
Traditionally, the town is known for its social clubs, mainly connected with the Labour Party and the Roman Catholic Church. In recent years, the boom in Britain's '
binge drinking' culture in the mid 1990s has fuelled the nightlife industry over the past 10 years. The town centre has exploded over this time with many new or relaunched drinking establishments. Many of the new bars including Boudoir, Bar Java, Cafe Chloe and Zoo are centred around Westfield Street and Bridge Street in the town centre. Several bars such as Panama Joes, Zoo Bar and Dali Bar have licences to serve alcohol until 3am.
The town no longer has any major nightclubs, the infamous Club Nexus which was the towns main club ceased trading on February 1st 2008 . The club which opended in the mid 1990's began to gain a bad reputation in the early 2000's for
underage drinking,
drug dealing and
aesthetics. It previously lost it licence on two occasions in 2006 and 2007. Should Nexus employ another registered DPS they're legally entitled to re-open. A second nightclub was planned for Bridge Street, with building work being completed for the end of 2002, but it has remained closed since completion. The building was up for sale for many months and has recently been bought for around the sum of 3Million Pounds and is going to be transformed from a Club/Cafebar to a shopping precinct.
There are several restaurants in the town centre with an increasingly mixed cuisine on offer. The George Quarter alone has Italian, Spanish, French/Modern British at Le Frog, Chinese and Thai cuisine on offer. A local newspaper,
The St Helens Reporter, awarded its 2005 'Restaurant of the Year' prize to The Griffin Inn, Eccleston.
Hospitality
The principal hotel is the four star Park Inn, formely
Hilton Hotel, built during a period of massive commercial augmentation in the town during the mid-1990s. Other large hotels are the Holiday Inn, Travelodge and Thistle Hotel in Haydock. There are numerous smaller hotels, inns and
B&Bs across the borough.
Sport
St Helens
rugby league club's (
St Helens RLFC)
stadium is located in
Eccleston in Dunriding Lane/Knowsley Road's residential area. During the summer, the 100 year-old stadium receives thousands of fans from St Helens and England's other rugby league towns, although it faces an uncertain future due to the rugby league club's intention to build a new modern stadium on the edge of the town with better transport links and parking facilities. The club has won the
Challenge Cup eleven times and has played in many finals, the latest of which took place at the newly refurbished
Wembley Stadium, where they beat
Catalans Dragons on
August 25,
2007. The club was crowned
World Club Champions in 2001 and again in 2007. In 2006 season the club won all three major honours in the domestic game, the Challenge Cup,
League Leaders Shield, the League Leaders Shield and the Super League Grand Final. At the start of the 2007 season, the club also won the
World Club Challenge, defeating Australian side Brisbane Broncos to add to the honours acquired the previous season. Other honours won by the club this year include,
Daniel Anderson Coach of the Year,
Paul Wellens Man of Steel and Players' Player and
James Graham Young Player of the Year.
In December 2006 St Helens were awarded with the BBC Sports Personality of the Year Team Award at the Annual BBC Sports Personality of the Year Ceremony, this accolade recognises the best team in any sport within the United Kingdom. At the same ceremony Daniel Anderson was given the BBC Sports Personality of the Year Coach Award - this was the first time a rugby league coach had won the award.
The town is also home to a large number of amateur rugby league teams. Most notable of these are Thatto Heath Crusaders,
Pilkington Recs, Blackbrook, Haydock, Haresfinch, Bold Miners and Clock Face. Most of these teams and others in the area compete in the BARLA North West Counties league (although Thatto Heath compete in the higher ranked
National Conference League).
The continued success and achievement of these teams at the grass roots level is important to the town, and have provided many players who have gone on to play for the 'Saints' and other professional and semi-professional clubs. Thatto Heath is known locally as a
rugby league hotbed, having a number of amateur teams. It is the birthplace of many famous players including
Alex Murphy, the Chisnall brothers,
Paul Forber and St. Austins Primary School.
St Helens Town FC is an English
football club, currently playing in the first division of the
North West Counties Football League. The club, based in St. Helens, play their home games at Knowsley Road, the home of St Helens RLFC, the town's rugby league club.
The town also has its own amateur football league, the
St Helens Combination which has been running since the 1917/18 season.
An example of a cricket club in the town is
St Helens Cricket Club.
Retail
The town's shopping area is centred on the parish church around which Church Square was built in the early 1970s. Church Street, the main shopping street, runs parallel to Church Square. The town centre has two indoor shopping centres. The oldest is the Hardshaw Centre which includes a
Marks & Spencer. Church Square forms two shopping centre, which includes a
Bhs and an indoor Market. Other main shopping streets include Bridge Street, Westfield Street and Duke Street. St Helens has been criticised by residents for not attracting major chain stores; this has been due to many chain stores unable to find suitable premises. This is generally because of the small units on offer in both shopping centres.
St Helens has two retail parks, one on either side of the St Helens Linkway. The older of these, St Helens Retail Park, is home to discount stores and wholesale retailers, while Ravenhead Retail Park houses more mainstream retail stores, such as
Currys,
Next, B&Q and
Boots. The town has several supermarkets.
Notable People
Beechams
The Beecham dynasty is one of the most notable families to be associated with St. Helens. Thomas Beecham founded what was to become the world's largest pharmaceutical producer,
Beechams in St. Helens. His son
Joseph Beecham built up the business and promoted classical music in the town. Conductor Sir
Thomas Beecham, son of Joseph, was born in St Helens.
Pilkingtons
Entertainment
The town has a long history of association with the film industry. St. Helens-born
George Groves is credited with being Hollywood's first "sound man", as he was the recording engineer on the seminal Al Jolson picture,
The Jazz Singer (1927), as well as many other early
talkies.
Herbert Mundin found fame as a character actor in 1930s Hollywood. Actor, dancer and singer
Robert Dorning had a career in film and television spanning from
1940 until his death in
1989. More recently, former boxer and model
Gary Stretch has turned to acting, starring in films including
Dead Man's Shoes,
Alexander and
World Trade Center.
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix had two St. Helens-born men amongst its production team - director
David Yates and choreographer
Paul Harris. Yates is also directing its follow-up,
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince.
Two actresses on the popular TV series
Hollyoaks are from St. Helens -
Emma Rigby and
Carley Stenson.
Pauline Yates, best known for playing Elizabeth Perrin in the
BBC television sitcom The Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin is also from the town. Actor
Matthew Crompton, of
The Bill,
Coronation Street and
Brookside fame, was born and raised in St. Helens.
Johnny Vegas, the comedian and actor, was born and raised in St. Helens, and maintains close ties with the town. He isn't the only comedian to come from the town -
ostrich-jockey
Bernie Clifton is also from St. Helens.
St. Helens has had several notable musicians, mostly in bands based elsewhere. For example,
Haydock-born guitarist
Nick McCabe found fame in
Wigan's
The Verve. Drummer
Peter Clarke (better known as 'Budgie') played in
Liverpool bands
The Spitfire Boys (formed by St Helens guitarist David Littler) and
Big in Japan before moving to London and joining
Siouxsie & the Banshees. He was married to Banshees vocalist
Siouxsie Sioux for a time, but they're now divorced. One-time
Beautiful South vocalist
Jacqui Abbott is from St. Helens. Beautiful South frontman
Paul Heaton reportedly heard her singing at a party in the town and asked her to join the band.
Jeffrey Walker, best known for playing bass in
Carcass is from St. Helens. He formed his first band
Electro Hippies in the town.
Recently local band
The Loungs have come to some degree of prominence, releasing an album and three singles on the Manchester-based
Akoustik Anarkhy label. Despite favourable reviews in the press and online they've yet to break the charts.
Sports
Rugby League has a large following in St. Helens. The town's major club
St Helens RLFC are currently in
Super League. Their home ground is
Knowsley Road. Notable rugby league players from the town include
Saints players
Paul Wellens,
James Roby and
Matty Smith;
Huddersfield Giants centre
Kevin Brown; and
Alex Murphy, who had a long and successful career playing for Saints,
Leigh and
Warrington, and later as a coach. League referee Steve Ganson is also from the town, as is BBC Rugby League commentator Ray French.
In football
St Helens Town F.C. compete in the
North West Counties Football League and share
Knowsley Road with the rugby club. St. Helens has also supplied the world with several notable football players - former leading women's football player
Lily Parr,
Manchester United players Bill Foulkes (one of the Busby Babes and survivor of the Munich plane crash), Tommy O'Neill and
Phil Marsh and
Manchester City player
Gary Owen. City goalkeeper
Bert Trautmann was originally from Germany but settled in St Helens after
World War 2.
Premier League football referee
Chris Foy is also from the town.
World champion
Grand Prix motorcycle road racer Geoff Duke is from St. Helens, as is
darts player
Alan Tabern. The latter is an avid Saints supporter, and has 'The Saints Are Coming' by
The Skids as his entrance music as a tribute to the team.
Amateur boxer Ronnie "No Mercy" Mercer was named ABA light fly weight champion in 1996. Nicknamed "Lord of the Flies", Ronnie went on to box for England. He was later forced to retire early from boxing due to a detached retina.
Former Cage Rage Heavyweight Champion Rob Broughton also comes from St Helens. With notable wins over Butterbean and James Thompson in the cage. Rob is currently ranked third at super heavyweight in the world.
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Art
St. Helens has produced three notable artists.
Stuckist Allan Ferguson (better known as
Arfius Arf) was born and raised in the town. Although now based in
Northern Ireland,
Jim Manley was also born in the town. Writer and artist
Mike Philbin, (a.k.a. Hertzan Chimera) was born in
Haydock.
Other
Richard Seddon, who went on to become Prime Minister of
New Zealand, was from St. Helens. He is currently the country's longest-serving Prime Minister, holding the office from
1893 until
1906.
Other people born in the town include Victorian philanthropist
John Rylands,
Independent theatre reviewer Paul Taylor, glamour model
Louise Glover, 1950's theatre actor Paul Walsh, businessman and philanthropist
Michael Smurfit, and Harold Dacre Robinson Lowe (1886-1952), who had dinosaur
Monoclonius lowei named after him by CM Sternberg in 1940, Businessman and philanthropist Kevin O'Brien
Mike Clarke, known locally as the godfather of St Helens, still resides in this town.
Trivia
- A famous Punch cartoon had Napoleon lamenting, "Oh, no! I've been banished to St Helens!" This was a pun on St. Helena, the South Atlantic island to which Napoleon was exiled.
Residents of St Helens are known variously as "St.Helens People", "St Helensers" or "Sintelleners" or, at times derisively by some residents of the neighbouring city of Liverpool, as "Woolybacks", though this term originally refers to those who would unload American cotton in the Liverpool docks.
St Helens is home to The Burgies.
In the 2001 Census, St Helens was the most Christian town in BritainFurther Information
Get more info on 'St Helens Merseyside'.
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