Spirit of the North Gallery

The pier at Lytham St Annes N990008

LYTHAM ST ANNES, Lancashire. The pier at Lytham St Annes, viewed here at sunset. First built in 1885 and subsequently remodelled, it is made of conventional iron column with a lattice girder design. The pier pavilion was destroyed by fire in 1974

© Historic England

Beach, Coast, D Usk, Leisure, P Ier, Recreation, Sand, Sky, Victorian

Aintree racecourse, Liverpool 20434_011

AINTREE RACECOURSE, Liverpool, Merseyside. Opened in 1829 for horse racing on the flat, steeplechasing was officially introduced in 1839, when the first Grand National was run at Aintree. Amongst National Hunt courses, fences such as The Chair, Canal Turn and Bechers Brook make Aintree amongst the most challenging. In the 1950s and 1960s, Aintree also hosted the British Grand Prix and the Aintree 200, a non-championship Formula 1 motor race. Alfonso de Portago is notable for competing in both the Grand National and Grand Prix at Aintree. There is a nine hole golf course within the circuit

© Historic England

Consett Steel Works FF98_00247

Consett Steel Works, County Durham, 1945-80. Eric de Mare (1910-2002) cellulose acetate negative. Steel-making dominated Consett for 140 years from 1840, and the steelworks, employing 6, 000 workers in the 1960s, loomed over rows of terraced houses. Eric de Mare's elevated view of Consett Steel Works captures their gargantuan scale, echoing the work of pre-war photographers such as Albert Renger-Patzsch in Germany and Charles Sheeler in the United States who emphasised the strong forms of industrial structures. De Mare used colour photography here, recognising that this required a ?'different vision' from black-and-white film. The massive tube in the foreground reflects his view that a close shot filling or almost filling? the frame 'will usually be more effective and more interesting'

© Historic England