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 Before 1875, St Annes was a wilderness of sand hills and rabbit warrens sandwiched between the rapidly developing seaside resort of Blackpool and the fishing village of Lytham.
A consortium of east Lancashire businessmen obtained most of the central area of St. Annes-on the-Sea from the Clifton family. These businessmen formed the Saint Annes on the Sea Land & Building Company Limited to develop an up-market residential town and seaside resort
Well before the advent of Town and Country Planning, they mapped out the new town and its surrounding areas. They constructed a pier, built shops and houses and provided the town with a park (then known as St. George's Gardens but later to become Ashton Gardens). Initially, the gardens were approximately 12 acres in extent, and laid out by Mr. E Thomas, Landscape Gardener of Aughton in around 1875/76.
At this time, the gardens were a rectangular area of land running from Garden Street to where Beach Road is now. They were narrower than at present, and did not reach Clifton Drive nor the wall of the Cinema. The area between them and Clifton Drive was a wood yard and depot, and the area to their East appears to have been undeveloped except for a few isolated buildings.
The gardens were laid out mainly to attract visitors to the town. They had some areas of natural sand dunes, but there were also lawns, flower beds, ponds and avenues of trees. The gardens were a favourite spot for picnics and as a tea garden.
After building the gardens, the Company was experiencing difficulty in making them cost-effective. They leased them to several operators, then offered them to a forerunner of the local council, saying that if they did not take the gardens over, the Company would look to develop housing on them.
There were concerns on both sides. The company was worried that the Council would move the gardens down-market and fill them with amusements that would challenge the income generating ability of the pier. The Council thought they should spend the money on improving the town's drainage system.
The debate over St Georges gardens continued for some time. The Company sought to restrict what the Council could do with the land, but the Council worried that if pleasure and recreational activities were forbidden this would cut income and put an additional revenue burden on the ratepayers.
Because the Council was not able to agree terms with the Company, they sought a Parliamentary Bill that would give them the power to acquire the land free of restrictions.
The Council's ambition for the gardens was extensively reported in the local newspaper (then The St. Annes Express). The Council said it would be
" . . . . acting criminally for the future if the Council allowed that beautiful space to be built up".
In January 1914, the chairman of the Council was reported as saying "The ratepayers of the next generation would very seriously blame the present Council and the ratepayers of the present generation if they ever allowed the desecrating hand of the builder to fall upon St. George's Gardens".
However, a huge row blew up in the Town because some people were worried about having to pay extra rates to buy the gardens, and a poll of ratepayers (a sort of referendum of voters) was called for. On the eve of the poll, Lord Ashton stepped in with an offer to buy the gardens for the people of St Annes.
He was a successful linoleum manufacturer with a business based in nearby Lancaster. He had previously bought land on the sea front in St Annes and built a holiday bungalow there, and developed a considerable affection for the new town.
He wrote to the Council
"My Dear Sir,
Someone has been good enough to send me, anonymously, two St Annes newspapers dated the 9th and 16th instant, containing an account of a scheme for the purchasing and laying out of St George's Gardens.
There appears to be a difference of opinion amongst the ratepayers as to the desirability of carrying out the scheme, many of them fearing the effect upon the rate, and a poll of ratepayers is to take place.
Feeling as I do, an interest in the welfare of St Annes it would give me much pleasure to contribute to its prosperity and to the enjoyment of its residents and visitors. I shall, therefore, be glad to bear the cost of purchasing St. Georges Gardens, the price of which is, I see, £21,350, if the Urban District Council and its ratepayers will allow me.
Believe me
Yours very faithfully
Ashton
St Annes was overjoyed. Church bells were rung throughout the town, and the Council resolved: "That this Council in accepting the munificent offer of Lord Ashton desires to place on record its sincere appreciation of his magnificent gift to the town, which will ever remain as a monument of his benevolence and consideration for the present and future inhabitants of St Annes on the Sea".
Then he went even further and bought the 2.5 acres of
'Woodyard' - an area between St Georges Gardens and Clifton Drive North (now the main entrance to the Gardens) for a further £4,526. He also bought a strip of land to the East, where the greenhouses and Ashton Institute stand to day. Later he provided another £5,000 which was to be spent on the War Memorial and £10,000 which was to be spent on whatever the Council saw fit.
In total, these gifts amounted to a value of £40, 876 (The modern day equivalent is approximately £5 million).
The gardens were re-landscaped in their present form and opened on 30 June 1916. The Chairman of the Council said "Lord Ashton has done a service to St. Annes which will be cherished in increasing measure by the inhabitants as the years roll by. For all time when the town has expanded north, south and east there will be one cheerful sylvan spot in the very heart of the community where the people will have full liberty to enjoy communion with nature and participate in healthy, outdoor recreation."
The chairman of the Parks & Pleasure Grounds Committee said: "It falls to my lot to call upon the revered chairman of the Council to declare open for all time those beautiful gardens, the generous gift to our town from Lord Ashton."
The renamed Ashton Gardens, now totaling 12.5 acres was declared open.
For many years, the gardens grew and were cherished by the inhabitants of the town. In 1924, the War memorial was added and in 1947the Ladies Bowls Pavilion.
 More recently, they were accorded "Conservation Area" status by the Council and are also a Grade II Registered Park because of their historic importance.
Their recent past has been a time of trouble. In 1998, Mark Dransfield promoted the re-development of the Safeway store that would have taken about a quarter of the gardens for a car park. The "Save Ashton Gardens" campaign was born and 44,000 signed a petition opposing the sale of the gardens. St Annes had its first ever protest march when over 1,000 people of all ages took to the streets to demonstrate. In the end, the council narrowly decided not to sell the land.
Then Safeway came back with another smaller plan, which foundered when the Morrisons takeover was announced, and this was followed, closely by a plan from Newfield Jones to build a convenience supermarket with apartments above it in the southeast corner of the Gardens.
They did not proceed with this scheme, but they applied for outline planning permission to build a four-storey apartment block on the same space. This application was granted. SOAG moved back into campaigning mode and appealed for funds for a specialist charity law barrister's opinion. It said Lord Ashton's gift created a charitable trust. SOAG has taken steps to ensure the Council register the land with the Charity Commission.
Sadly however, this does not stop the Council selling part of the gardens so long as they re-invest the proceeds for the exclusive benefit of the gardens.
In 2005, Newfield Jones Homes was granted two separate planning permissions, and the Council sold the land to the developer. More details of this aspect are available in the
Campaigning section of the website
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