St Helens
ST HELENS, a market town and municipal, county, and parliamentary borough of Lancashire, England, 14 m. E.N.E. from Liverpool, on the London & North- Western and Great Central railways. Pop. (1891) 72,413; (1901) 84,410. A canal communicates with the Mersey. The town is wholly of modern development. Besides the town hall arid other public buildings and institutions there may be mentioned the Gamble Institute, erected and presented by Sir David Gamble, Bart., for a technical school, educating some 2000 students, and library. Among several public pleasure grounds the principal are the Taylor Park of 48 acres, and the smaller Victoria and Thatto Heath Parks. This is the principal seat in England for the manufacture of crown, plate, and sheet glass; there are also art glass works, and extensive copper smelting and refining works, as well as chemical works, iron and brass foundries, potteries and patent medicine works. There are collieries in the neighbourhood. To the north of the town are a few ecclesiastical ruins, known as Windleshaw Abbey, together with a well called St Thomas' well, but the history of the foundation is not known. The parliamentary borough (1885) returns one member. The county borough was created in 1888. The town was incorporated in 1868, and the corporation consists of a mayor, 9 aldermen and 27 councillors. Area 7285 acres.
Note - this article incorporates content from Encyclopaedia Britannica, Eleventh Edition, (1910-1911)
