One Merseyside town centre has an extensive history going back hundreds of years.
St Helens initially existed as four townships: Eccleston, Windle, Parr and Sutton. The name St Helens refers to St Elyn, and more specifically a chapel of ease dedicated to her, which was first mentioned in 1552.
The chapel was built where the road from Ormskirk to Warrington crossed the road from Prescot to Ashton. Maps from the time show that the chapel was on Chapel Lane, which is now the site of Church Street, right in the centre of the town.
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A small statue of the town's namesake, St Elyn can be found on St Helens town hall, above the windows of the Mayor's parlour.
The area became a major hub for coal mining as it evolved beyond being purely agricultural. Mining began as early as the 16th century in St Helens. The town then boomed economically as a result of the Sankey Canal being cut in 176. The canal meant coal could easily be transported to the port city of Liverpool.
The town centre's oldest building is the Friends Meeting House. The cottage-like house was built by the Quaker religious movement as a place of worship around 1679.
The building is an important piece of the town's history and culture, still remaining as the oldest Quaker meeting house in the county. It is a two storey stone building, with a stone-slate roof and bay windows.
St Helens Borough Council's "masterplan" has been a major talking point for the town in recent weeks and months. The work will be some of the first major works in the area since the 1970s and 1980s, with the large Church Square shopping centre being built in 1973.
The development was part of a development to overhaul the town centre and old market and turn it into a modern shopping hot spot. The plans cost around £40m in today's money
Large parts of the town centre have had little major work done since these 1970s developments, and the new 'masterplan' is expected to completely overhaul the area.
Draft plans of St Helens town centre's Phase One include bold ambitions to reduce the overall retail space and replace it with a new mixed-use development including a new market, a hotel, new cutting edge flexible commercial Grade A office space, a state-of-the-art new bus station and improved connectivity.
It also includes the creation of a new public realm and a new green park called "Discovery Park" in the centre of the town all with an expected completion date of Winter 2024..
Future phases of the 20-year master plan will span into the other parts of the town centre including St Marys and improve residential links to assets such as the World of Glass Museum as well as bringing in more greenspace into the town including a Discovery Park.
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