IMAGES TAKEN NEAR TO
Fairfield Road, WIDNES, WA8 6SQ

Swans having a flyabout on the small lake at Victoria Park

The new boating lake and fountain in Victoria Park, Appleton, Widnes. The park is in the middle of a major refurbishment with money from the Lottery Fund.

This tall, intricately carved, obelisk-style memorial on its square plinth was erected in 1921 to commemorate the men of Widnes who lost their lives during The Great War. Plaques for World War II were added in 1950. The imposing monument stands more than 50 feet tall. It is a Grade II listed by English Heritage (http://list.english-heritage.org.uk/resultsingle.aspx?uid=1392210 The Heritage List for England).

This marker stone, with the top broken off by a World War I bomb, was the fifth milestone standing beside the A57, Prescot to Warrington, road at Bold on 12 April 1918, when five German naval Zeppelins made the last effective airship raid on England. Zeppelin L61 from Wittmundhaven, commanded by Kapitanleutnant Ehrlich with a crew of 19, crossed our coast at Withernsea and flew almost to Crewe before turning north and crossing the Mersey at about 18,000 feet above Halton. At 11.17pm, the first of its bombs fell damaging the milestone, the road surface, a water main and doing some minor damage to adjacent property. There were no casualties here. A second bomb dropped three minutes later made a crater seven feet deep and fifteen feet across, in a field at Abbots Hall Farm, Bold. The Zeppelin went on to bomb Ince and Wigan before returning safely to her base. The night was dark and overcast, added to which, the effectiveness of the official blackout prevented accurate navigation, so that the airship commander reported in his log that he had bombed Sheffield. The light from blast furnaces of the Wigan Coal and Iron Company, which had received no air raid warning, attracted L61. Seven people were killed and twelve injured at Wigan and a further four injured at Aspull. The milestone was kept in Victoria Park at Widnes for many years, as a reminder of the second of the only two Zeppelin raids on Lancashire. Some people refer to it as "The Zeppelin Stone". Image] http://www.pmsa.org.uk/pmsa-database/5300/ Public Monuments & Sculpture Association

Plaques in front of Image]

A large war memorial stands in the park.

A terraced street with the background dominated by Fiddlers Ferry power station.

Opened in 1900 to celebrate the Diamond Jubilee of Queen Victoria, Victoria Park is situated close to Widnes Town Centre. It has recently been restored with the aid of Heritage Lottery funding which enabled the replacement of the major features that had disappeared over the years such as the bandstand, fountain and lake.