Lytham St.Annes Coat of Arms

 
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Lytham St.Annes, Lancashire, England
 

 

Matlock House, Clifton Drive South, St Annes on-the-Sea 

Matlock House, 300, Clifton Drive, St.Annes-on-the-Sea. This was one of the first buildings to be erected in St.Annes and the first seat of local government for the new town. From 1878 until 1894 it housed the office of the St.Annes-on-the-Sea Local Board of Health in the front room; this was the small town equivalent of a Town Hall. The rest of the building was let as apartments for visitors.

Matlock House, St.Annes-on-the-SeaAt the rear of the building was a saddle room, loft and stables as many visitors arrived by carriage with coachmen.

In the 1880s there were few buildings in the town. Looking inland from the first floor windows, across the Fylde, five working windmills could be seen.

Until the 1890s, the only buildings on this side of Clifton Drive South were:
Kilgrimol School (now the District Club),
Wesleyan Chapel (by present church)
Norton & Brentwood (next to Public offices)
Matlock House (Until recently a doctors surgery)
Spring Bank (Lloyds TSB Bank)
The rest of the road was sand dunes.

For a brief period at the turn of the century Matlock House was used a private school. In 1903-04 the two buildings were constructed on the adjoining plot to the left. 

For nearly 100 years the ground floor of Matlock House was a doctors surgery. Doctors there over the years include Dr.Blair J.P. (1920s); Dr.Worsley (1960s-80s); Dr Greenwood (1960s-1990s) & more recently, Dr Moorhouse. The 'Clifton Drive Surgery' closed in October 2009 when it moved to the new St. Annes Health Centre, in Durham Avenue.

Externally, the building is almost in its original state, as is the door and tiled entrance porch; internally, there are many original features.