The parish of St Anne, Heyhouses on Sea, was formed out of the ancient parish of St Cuthbert, Lytham in the 1870s. The daughter church of St Anne was given that part of the St Cuthbert’s parish north and west of Smithy Lane and North Houses Lane. In those days the parish comprised farms, and cottages for farm workers and fishermen, but soon a small seaside resort sprang up and took for its name the name of the church and became St Annes-on-Sea. With the growth in the size and population of St Annes the parish of St Anne was split through the establishment of the daughter churches of St Thomas and St Margaret, which in turn became parishes in their own right.

Our parish of St Anne, however, remains as the ancient mother church of the town of St Annes-on-Sea and in the last few years the ancient but rather confusing title of the parish has been changed by Order in Privy Council from St Anne, Heyhouses on Sea, to St Anne, Heyhouses, St Annes-on-Sea.

While in modern times many people attend churches outside their own parish for a variety of reasons, the parish boundaries remain important, as ancient tradition gives all residents of a parish the right to be married or have their funeral at the Church of England church of the parish within which they live.

While the parish boundaries may have been “sensible” at the time of the formation of the daughter parishes of St Thomas and St Margaret, it can be that as building and rebuilding has taken place the parish boundaries actually run through buildings. A description of the boundaries of the parish of St Annes, Heyhouses is as follows:

On the south side the boundary runs from the sea along East Bank Rd (Old Lifeboat House), turning briefly along Clifton Drive and turning at the Post Office to cut through to the Synagogue and along Richmond Rd, continuing over the railway line to Springfield Rd turning briefly onto St David’s Rd up to & along Hove Rd until it reaches St Patrick’s Rd, where it runs along St Patrick’s Rd as far as Links Gate (overlooking the Royal L&SA Golf Club). It runs along Links Gate and ahead to Moorland Rd, through the Stocks & Bonds site to Wildings Lane and thence out onto the Moss.

On the north side the boundary runs from the sea along Beach Rd ahead over the railway line onto Lord St and Mayfield Rd where it turns left to run along Oxford Rd to St Leonards, where it turns right turning again between Keswick & Rydal to run through to Grasmere Rd and onto Highbury Rd. It turns left along Highbury as far as the near end of the Old Links GC, where it turns again parallel to the sea to take in the whole of the Frobisher Drive Estate and the Kilnhouse Estate. The boundary runs through the Airport onto Division Lane where it runs out onto the Moss to meet the boundary coming along Wildings Lane.

You can access a map of our parish on the A Church Near You website.