Header image: Regulars pose for a photograph at the old Clock Face Inn
which was situated on the opposite side of the road to the present pub

History of Sutton in St.Helens, Lancashire
Sutton Beauty's History & Heritage Pages

Part 18) Sutton True Facts! - Sutton Township (St.Helens):

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Lord Haw Haw - William Joyce
Not many people know that William Joyce (aka ‘Lord Haw Haw’) {pictured right} once referred to Sutton in one of his infamous broadcasts. He said that the Nazis were aware of a top-secret chemical warfare plant located off Abbotsfield Road in Sutton Leach. The site manufactured Lewisite, a chemical warfare agent which was developed in 1918 but too late for use in WW1.

It's a very powerful irritant and contact immediately damages eyes, skin and lungs. The site was closed in 1953 and its laboratory equipment was transported to another chemical defence site at Nancekuke, near Redruth where it was decontaminated and dumped. This site closed in 1980 and is now known as RAF Portreath.

In 2006 a chemical weapons scare was sparked when a digger driver accidentally unearthed the equipment. Specialists from the Defence Science and Technology Laboratory were called in to test for chemicals although none were found. The British government, as late as 1982, had strenuously denied that the mustard gas plant had ever existed. However, Sutton residents were fully aware of the "Poison Gas Works", as it was known.
Zeppelin L61 airship
Did you know that Sutton was bombed in WW1. This is a photograph of the actual Zeppelin L61 airship that flew over St.Helens and Sutton in 1918. It struck around midnight, though its bombs, thankfully, did very little damage.

A German Zeppelin airship also flew over Sherdley Park in Sutton in the 1920s dropping mysterious cylinder-shaped objects. It is thought that the pilot may have mistaken the Hughes' estate for that of Lord Derby's Knowsley Park, only eight miles away.
St.Helens newspaper report of vestry meeting at St.Nicholas Church in 1924
On April 29th, 1924 the St.Helens Reporter said a "breeze" had occurred during the annual Vestry Meeting of St.Nicholas and All Saints Church. Under the headline 'A Statement That Caused Sleepless Nights' they reported that allegations had been made by a church official that the balance from a collection for a war memorial made by members of the young men's bible class, had been pocketed by committee members.

An indignant Mr. Crouch, the bible class leader, had what might be called a frank and lengthy exchange of views with the vicar, Rev. W.E. Colegrove, which were recorded verbatim by the Reporter. Finally the vicar assured Mr. Crouch that he'd had the church books checked out and they were in good order and the pair shook hands. Mr. Crouch could sleep again!
A telegram from Pope Pius X1 to Sutton in St.Helens in 1924
Sutton was once sent a telegram by the Pope. It happened in 1924 and it came from Pope Pius XI as a result of the Knights of St.Columbia making a pilgrimage to the tomb of Dominic Barberi (1792-1849), the Passionist priest who co-founded the original mission with church, school and convent at St Anne’s. He was beatified by Pope Paul VI on 27th October 1963. The contemporary newspaper account reads:

The following telegram has been received at Sutton from Rome - The Holy Father touched by the homage of the Knights of St.Columbia imparts from his heart the Apostolic Benediction.
Dancing Shed in St.Helens newspaper cutting
Did you hear about Sutton Junction's dancing shed that fell through? Well it never actually got off the ground! A report in the St.Helens Newspaper of May 11th, 1886 entitled 'The Dancing Shed at Norman's Lane, Sutton' revealed how a Mrs. Morecroft had attempted to apply for a dancing licence for a shed on behalf of her sick husband. As seven people had turned up to object, the Bench refused to allow an adjournment and Mrs. Morecroft was informed that "the application would fall through". Of course it's quite possible that the application was for people to dance in a shed...rather than for a shed to dance...but who knows!