St. John’s Beacon
Sitting here at home… we looked out of the window, and saw what a great sunny day it was, so after breakfast we made our way down to the city… our aim was to go up St. John’s Beacon, to photograph the vista’s over the city, however, befor that I had organised a meeting at the City Archives, with a guy, looking for a family grave in St. James’s Gardens, now a public open space, but firstly it was a quarry, supplying limestone to many of the buildings in the city, before becoming St. James Cemetery, which closed in 1939.
St. James Graveyard
St. James Gardens / a ‘landscaped’ cemetery
The headstones were ‘dropped’, with many being moved to stand against the boundary walls, some can be seen in the wooded areas, and others in the far end of the cemetery, along with other larger obelisk stones.
Ann and I made our way to the Archives, and I met with him, to show him my own search route, but he wanted me to search for him, but this is not what I do. I will help anyone out, but I do not do family histories for people…lol. There are a lot of people who do this, and I told him to contact them.
After my meeting, Ann and I went over to St. John’s Shopping centre, and the entrance to the Beacon lifts… The cost was £5.50. (concessions are available) and we went into the lift, which takes 30 seconds to the viewing level…
I’ve got to say…. we have been up a couple of times over the years… I once took my Aunt there when when she was visiting from Perth/Australia, that was when the revolving section was a french cuisine restaurant, in the 1970’s, but that closed and the Beacon was left empty for many years, until Radio City took over the tower… and is still there today.
If you pick your days… you can get great views over the city. However, a return is needed I think, as although the city looked really good on the shade side, when you got to the other side, the sun was shining right into the camera lens, and it was really hot in the tower… next time I will choose a flat cloud day…
Views down the river to the mouth of the Mersey
View to Lime Street – with the Great Northwestern Hotel & Lime St. Station