The Lifeboat Memorial, Lytham, is in the churchyard of St Cuthbert's Church, Lytham St Annes, Fylde,

Lancashire Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated Lancs) is the name of a historic county, ceremonial county, and non-metropolitan county in North West England. The boundaries of these three areas differ significantly. The non-metropolitan county of Lancash ...

, England. It commemorates the death of 27 lifeboatmen from Southport and

St Annes Lytham St Annes () is a seaside town in the Borough of Fylde in Lancashire, England. It is on the Fylde coast, directly south of Blackpool on the Ribble Estuary. The population at the 2011 census was 42,954. The town is almost contiguous wi ...

who were lost in the attempt to rescue the crew of the German

barque A barque, barc, or bark is a type of sailing vessel with three or more masts having the fore- and mainmasts rigged square and only the mizzen (the aftmost mast) rigged fore and aft. Sometimes, the mizzen is only partly fore-and-aft rigged, b ...

Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...

'' that had been driven into a sandbank in a gale in 1886. The memorial is in the form of a Gothic-style tabernacle with a

crocket A crocket (or croquet) is a small, independent decorative element common in Gothic architecture. The name derives from the diminutive of the French ''croc'', meaning "hook", due to the resemblance of crockets to a bishop's crosier. Description ...

ed pinnacle. It is recorded in the

National Heritage List for England The National Heritage List for England (NHLE) is England's official database of protected heritage assets. It includes details of all English listed buildings, scheduled monuments, register of historic parks and gardens, protected shipwrecks, a ...

as a designated Grade II

listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Irel ...

History

In a severe gale on 9 December 1886, the ''Mexico'', a German barque, was driven on to the Horse Bank, a sandbank off

Ainsdale Ainsdale is an area of Southport in Merseyside, England, situated three miles south of the centre of Southport. Originally in the Historic counties of England, Historic County of Lancashire, at the United Kingdom Census 2001, 2001 Census it had a ...

, near

Southport Southport is a seaside town in the Metropolitan Borough of Sefton in Merseyside, England. At the 2001 census, it had a population of 90,336, making it the eleventh most populous settlement in North West England. Southport lies on the Iris ...

. Three lifeboats were launched to come to her rescue, ''Charles Biggs'' from Lytham, ''Eliza Fernley'' from Southport, and ''Laura Janet'' from St Annes. The crew from the ''Mexico'' were rescued by the Lytham lifeboat, but the other two lifeboats capsized. All thirteen of the crew of the St Annes lifeboat were lost, and only two of the sixteen members of the Southport lifeboat crew survived. It was the worst disaster in the history of the Royal National Lifeboat Institution. Following the disaster, John Unwin, the mayor of Southport, set up a Disaster Fund, which raised £31,000. Most of this was used to help the dependants of the men lost, but in January 1887 the Fund allowed each of the three local committees a sum of £200 to erect monuments to commemorate the disaster. The Lytham committee erected their memorial in the churchyard of St Cuthbert's Church.

Description

The memorial is constructed in red

sandstone Sandstone is a clastic sedimentary rock composed mainly of sand-sized (0.0625 to 2 mm) silicate grains. Sandstones comprise about 20–25% of all sedimentary rocks. Most sandstone is composed of quartz or feldspar (both silicates ...

, and is in Gothic style in the form of a pinnacled tabernacle. It is about high, and stands on a square base of two steps. On this is a stepped

plinth A pedestal (from French ''piédestal'', Italian ''piedistallo'' 'foot of a stall') or plinth is a support at the bottom of a statue, vase, column, or certain altars. Smaller pedestals, especially if round in shape, may be called socles. In ...

carrying the tabernacle. The tabernacle has columns at the corners and cusped arches on each side, above which are steep

gable A gable is the generally triangular portion of a wall between the edges of intersecting roof pitches. The shape of the gable and how it is detailed depends on the structural system used, which reflects climate, material availability, and aesth ...

ts. On top of the tabernacle is an arcaded shaft, which is surmounted by a crocketed pinnacle. On the east side, the tabernacle has a carving depicting a crew rowing a lifeboat through a rough sea, and beneath this are inscribed the names of those who were lost in the disaster. There are also inscriptions on the other sides of the tabernacle.

Appraisal

The memorial was designated as a Grade II listed building on 15 February 1993. Grade II is the lowest of the three grades of listing and is applied to "buildings of national importance and special interest".

Related monuments

The Disaster Fund committee commissioned three other memorials to commemorate the event, two in Southport, and one in St Annes, all of which are listed at Grade II. In Southport, the Lifeboat Memorial is in the cemetery, and the Monumental Obelisk stands on the Promenade. The St Annes Memorial stands on the Promenade, and consists of a statue of a lifeboatmen looking out to sea.

References

Citations

Sources

* * * * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Lytham, Lifeboat Memorial Grade II listed buildings in Lancashire Buildings and structures completed in 1888 Monuments and memorials in Lancashire Lifeboat Memorial Grade II listed monuments and memorials Buildings and structures in the Borough of Fylde