VENUE
The venue for Stamp Camp 2008 is, for the
second year in succession,
the
Millennium Centre
located at St. Ann's Church in Rainhill, Merseyside.
St. Ann's Millennium Centre
View Road
Rainhill
Prescot
Merseyside
L35 0LE
Friday evening registration will take place in the Victoria Hotel, directly across the road from the Millennium Centre and on the main road through Rainhill, shown below. The pub car park (behind the pub) is in the same street as Rainhill Station, so the pub is easily accessible for all forms of travel. We will also be eating there on both days and it's likely that there will be a class or two based in there. This isn't too far from any of the recommended hotels. If you won't be travelling by car and are concerned about transport, let us know - there's sure to be someone who'll be happy to give you a lift.
The Victoria Hotel, 507, Warrington Road, Rainhill, Merseyside, L35 0LR.
Directions: http://tinyurl.com/34rnn4
RAINHILL
Rainhill is an ancient village with an
Anglo-Saxon name. The name Rainhill is thought to derive from the
Old English personal name Regna or Regan who would have been a
settler who established the small settlement on a hill overlooking
the river Mersey. Recordings have shown that in the year of
1246, Roger of Rainhill died and the township was divided into two
halves for each of his daughters.
The two most well known events in the history of Rainhill were first, the construction in the mid eighteenth century of the turnpike road from Liverpool to Warrington that ran through the village. Secondly, the village was the venue in 1829 for the famous railway locomotive trials, featuring Stevenson's Rocket.
A feature of the village is the "Skew
Bridge", of sandstone construction, t
hat
takes the main road over the railway. It takes its name from the
unusual diagonal angle at which the railway passes under the bridge.
It is the world's first bridge to go over a railway at an angle. The
bridge was later widened to accommodate increases in road traffic.
The milestone on the bridge that informs travellers of the distances
to Warrington, Prescot and Liverpool was moved to the opposite side
at the time of the expansion. Therefore, the distance markers
pointed to the wrong destinations. This quirk was corrected in 2005
when the milestone was returned to the correct side of the bridge
