In the last few years, there has been a movement to paint large scale murals in Preston. Many, though not all, reflect heritage themes about the city. This piece gives a guided walk to the murals and discusses their symbolism and links to Preston. The walk takes in seven murals and can be completed by anyone visiting the city centre. The route follows the main streets of Preston, from Church Street to Fishergate and finally both sides of Friargate.
The Mother on Hogarths, Church Street
The Mother is the most recent of all the murals and is located on the side of Hogarths in Church Street. It was painted in 2023 by Shawn Sharpe, aka REASM. Shawn took five days to complete the piece which depicts a young woman cradling the Preston lamb.
The symbol of a lamb seems to have become associated with Preston through its connection to the parish church, which stands next to the mural. The church was once named after John the Baptist, who in religious art is traditionally illustrated with a lamb, which is usually lying down. The association comes from John the Baptist stating that Jesus was the ‘Lamb of God’. In 1770, the dedication of the church was changed to a different St John, that of St John the Evangelist, traditionally believed to be the author of one of the gospels in the Bible.
The mural strongly echoes the Preston coat of arms. On these the lamb holds a cross, with a pennant flag fluttering from it, on a blue background. Beneath it are the letters PP, which is taken to represent ‘Princeps Pacis’, meaning ‘Prince of Peace’ a biblical term for Jesus. Many Prestonians state (in jest) that it stands for ‘Proud Preston’.
After viewing the mural, head down Church Street a short distance. Just before the Slug and Lettuce pub, look out for a ginnel known as Boltons Court on your left. Turn into it and a short way down, at the side of the Slug and Lettuce beer garden is the next mural, painted on the T. Snape Printers building.
Mile 0/21 T. Snape Printers, Bolton Court
Mile 0/21 is by Gavin Renshaw, and is the first mural of the original Paint Preston campaign, set up to reflect and promote Preston’s heritage. It depicts the official start (and end) of the Guild Wheel walk, created in 2012 as part of the Preston Guild celebration. The painting shows the East Lancashire Railway Bridge in Avenham Park, with the Park Hotel in the background. A pair of cyclists are seen heading under the arch of the bridge.
The inspiration for the painting stems from the work of the late councillor Peter Ward, who had the original idea for the Guild Wheel, a 21 mile circular route. He was a keen cyclist and was awarded an MBE for his services to cycling. Councillor Ward was nicknamed the ‘Sterling Moss of Cyclists’ for his daring riding style and frequent crashes in international racing. His vision and drive saw that the route was implemented in time for the Guild in 2012, no mean feat. The Guild Wheel is now used by 100,000 cyclists and walkers each year. Mr Ward died in 2012 and a memorial plaque and wild garden have been created in his name on the route.
The mural’s creator Gavin Renshaw has also completed work for the Ribble Steam Railway Museum and the temporary mural on the hoardings outside Harris Museum and Art Gallery while it is being refurbished (reopening in spring 2025).
Retrace your steps back out of the court, turn left and head down Fishergate to see the next mural. Look out for Cannon Street on the left (opposite Office) and turn down it. The mural is towards the bottom of the street, on the left.
Cannon Street Mural
The Cannon Street mural is a thoroughly modern ‘graffiti’ painting by Shawn Sharpe, and not a historical one. If it were to survive (it was painted with permission on wooden hoardings) it could in time be seen as an example of early 21st century graffiti style. Shawn created it in the hope that people would come down Cannon Street to see it, and perhaps go in some of the shops along the way, bringing in some trade. There are a number of interesting businesses on Cannon Street, including a couple of ‘retro’ clothing stores. Close to the mural at the end of the street is the Tea House, serving a huge range of specialist teas.
Retrace your steps back up Cannon Street, and turn left to proceed once again down Fishergate. Keep going until you reach Butler Street on your left, which leads down to Preston Railway Station. A short way down Butler Street is the Station pub, which has a mural on its large side wall.
The Station mural, Butler Street
When Blind Tiger Inns took over The Station pub in 2020 they wanted something to cover an unsightly side wall. To this end they commissioned Urban Gypset from Cornwall, which comprises of two graffiti artists named Sketch and Amanda. The work here does not have an obvious heritage theme, except for the Lancashire red roses. The pair worked using a cherry picker crane, completing the mural in three days. More recently Urban Gypset have been commissioned to change the interior of The Talbot pub at Euxton, near Chorley, covering the walls with a floral design.
The Northern Way mural, Friargate
Head back up to Fishergate. Cross over the road and turn down Corporation Street, opposite to the Fishergate Centre. Proceed all the way down until you reach Ringway. Do not cross here, but turn right and follow Ringway until you reach the back of the Corn Exchange. (You may wish to see the Preston Martyrs Statues in front of the corn exchange. For the full story of these see our page here). Continue along Ringway until you reach the intersection with Friargate. Turn left to cross at the Zebra Crossing and head over the road. Towards the end of Friargate is The Northern Way pub. On the side wall of this, where it meets Edward Street, is the next mural.
The third Shawn Sharpe mural on this walk has a solidly historical theme, featuring one of Preston’s most familiar paintings, a re-imagining of Pauline in the Yellow Dress. This hangs in the Harris Museum and Art Gallery, and was bought for the town in 1944. It has recently been dubbed Preston’s most popular painting by the BBC. On this mural, Shawn has once again featured the Preston lamb, sitting in Pauline’s lap, substituting it for her white lap dog in the original. From one of her hands dangles a bracelet, with a small Lancashire red rose on it.
Pauline in the Yellow Dress caused a sensation when it was exhibited at the Royal Academy Summer Exhibition. It was painted by Herbert James Gunn, one of the most famous portrait painters of his time. The picture depicts his wife wearing a dress that was specially imported from America. This was done during the Second World War, and the vivid colour was in stark contrast to the dull, washed out tones of the Home Front. Gunn was nervous that he would be criticised for the extravagance of the dress at a time of rationing. To mitigate this, he also submitted a patriotic portrait of the king. He need not have worried. Pauline in the Yellow Dress was hailed as the ‘picture of the year’ and was bought for the Harris Museum and Art Gallery within an hour of it first being put on show. Sydney Paviere, the Harris’s curator, did not balk at its £1000 price tag, which made it the most expensive piece in the show. The first day it was exhibited at Preston, 5000 people turned out to see it. During the next three months, 100,000 visitors would come to the Harris to view the portrait. It has remained on continuous display ever since.
Gunn would go on to be knighted. In addition to his portrait of King George VI, he painted Queen Elizabeth II, the Queen Mother, Princess Margaret and Prime Minister Harold Macmillan. His wife was a re-occurring muse in his painting, throughout his career. To see an image of Pauline in the Yellow Dress, click here.
On the Northern Way mural, there are other heritage connections with Preston. At the top are three ‘boards’. The first denotes a football player and the word ‘Invincibles’. This harks back to Preston North End’s nickname after they won both the football league and FA cup in the same season, 1888-9. The second board has ‘PP’ (as discussed in The Mother, above) and ‘PG ‘for Preston Guild, the once every twenty year celebrations in the city. On the final board is a tribute to Halewood & Sons booksellers. The business was first opened on Friargate in 1867. There are two Halewood & Sons bookshops on Friargate, and they are run by Michael Halewood of the original family. Book lovers can spend much time within these, looking for unusual, rare and curious books amongst the shelves.
While the red rose at the top of the mural has obvious symbolism, other motifs are less clear. What of the goldfinch and the yellow spool of thread? These could refer to the gold thread made at Simpson’s Gold Thread Works on Avenham Road. This produced gold, silver, and copper wire threads for clothing badges. During the Second World War the company was involved in espionage work, producing aluminium thread to reproduce forged swastikas badges to be used by British spies. For more on this, see our companion website Lancashire at War here.
To see the next mural, continue down to the end of Friargate, and cross by the double roundabout, taking care as this is a busy junction. Ahead is the blue painted Adelphi pub.
The Adelphi mural
The Adelphi has a stunning flora mural on the side of the building. This was part of an extensive refurbishment in 2021. Floral themed murals are becoming increasingly popular form of decoration for bars and pubs, but are usually on the inside of the premises.
For the final mural of the walking tour, retrace your route back down Friagate all the way to the busy road crossing of Ringway. Cross at the Zebra Crossing, and continue up Friargate as it heads back into Preston centre. At Cafe Nero, turn left to head up Orchard Street. (The building at Cafe Nero is close to where Benjamin Franklin visited Preston. For the full story, see our page here). At the end of Orchard Street you will reach Preston Market.
Outside Preston’s recently renovated covered market stand the bronze Wallace and Gromit statues. Nick Park, the creator of these characters is from Preston, as is their sculptor Peter Hodkingson. Head through the Market Hall (or go around it by heading up Earl Street). Turn left onto Lancaster Road and carry on a short distance to reach the Lancaster Gate pub. Turn right and head up Vicarage Road to see the mural on the side of this building.
Lancaster Gate pub mural, Vicarage Road
The mural was created by Chris Dorning, and he describes it as an “homage to Preston”, based on memories of his life in city. As with the above mentioned Mile 0/21, this was part of the original Paint Preston project. Completed in early 2022, it shows key places and objects of inspiration to Chris, all piled up in a big wheelbarrow. At the top of the painting is an archway from Avenham Park where he was a frequent visitor, running, walking his dogs and playing with his family.
The large skull belongs to Horace the Elk. This is a familiar sight to visitors to the Harris Museum and Gallery, where the full skeleton is on show. An extremely rare find, the elk dates from the end of the last Ice Age, and was discovered at Poulton. The animals skeleton reveal hunting injuries, showing that humans were already colonising the Lancashire area of the end of the Ice Age, around 13,500 years ago. On the mural below Horace are two paintings from the Harris’s art collection that Chris found particularly influential to his work while he was studying at college in the city.
The first is Lubaina Himid’s Hannibal’s Sister, depicting the sister of the Carthaginian general. Hannibal lead Carthage to victory over the Romans in the Second Punic War, invading Italy and inflicting numerous defeats on the Romans. Lubaina completed the painting in 1989, and an image of it can be viewed here.
The Second is Charles Spenceylah’s Why War? This shows an old man, a veteran of the First World War, sitting in his home. Painted in 1938, the year before the outbreak of the Second World War, the picture contains clues as to Spenceylah’s concerns. A new gas mask sits on the table before the man, while on a chair lies a newspaper with the headline Premier Flying to Hitler. This recalls how the Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain had flown to Hitler’s mountain retreat at Berchetsgaden, in a desperate attempt to prevent armed conflict. Britain declared war on Germany the following year. To see this painting, click here.
Turn back down Old Vicarage Lane, and then left onto Lancaster Road. Follow Lancaster Road all the way to the end, which will bring you back out on Church Street, close to The Mother mural on Hogarths where you began the walk.
Sites visited by A. and S. Bowden 2024
Access
The murals are open access. Preston has a large number of paid car parks in the city centre. The nearest car park to The Mother is Avenham Car Park.
Nearby
Searching for Benjamin Franklin
Preston’s Lost Medieval Friary
References
The Mother mural
blogpreston.co.uk/2023/08/meeting-shawn-sharpe-the-artist-behind-church-streets-striking-preston-mural/
lep.co.uk/news/people/new-mural-takes-pride-of-place-in-city-centre-4235648
preston.gov.uk/article/1365/Civic-regalia-insignia-and-Mayoral-chains#:~:text=The%20Coat-of-Arms%20of,be%2C%20″Proud%20Preston”.
preston.gov.uk/article/1365/Civic-regalia-insignia-and-Mayoral-chains
en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Preston_City_Council_-_coat_of_arms.png
prestonhistory.com/sources-2/preston-street-names-chapter-2/
commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Paintings_of_John_the_Baptist_with_lamb
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lamb_of_God
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_the_Evangelist
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Preston_Minster
Mile 0/21
blogpreston.co.uk/2021/09/gavin-renshaws-first-paint-preston-mural-spotted-on-boltons-court/
blogpreston.co.uk/2021/10/search-for-more-preston-buildings-to-paint-murals-on/
lancashiretelegraph.co.uk/news/19674466.huge-street-art-mural-pops-side-building-pay-homage-cycle-route-creator/
lep.co.uk/news/tributes-paid-to-prestons-guild-wheel-creator-peter-ward-1085294
blogpreston.co.uk/2021/06/former-preston-councillor-honoured-with-a-memorial-on-the-guild-wheel/
historicengland.org.uk/images-books/photos/item/IOE01/01758/29
The Station Mural
blindtigerinns.co.uk/iconic-graffiti-wall-installed-at-the-station-preston/
blogpreston.co.uk/2022/10/new-mural-for-the-station-pub-in-preston-city-centre/#google_vignette
.lep.co.uk/news/people/cheers-to-that-how-a-pub-has-created-a-colourful-new-welcome-to-preston-city-centre-3860057
lancs.live/whats-on/whats-on-news/gallery/first-look-talbot-chorley-pub-24529588
The Northern Way mural
blogpreston.co.uk/2023/10/pauline-in-yellow-dress-mural-adorns-wall-of-friargate-pub/
theharris.org.uk/press-news/qa-with-shawn-sharpe/
chronicle250.com/1944
garyarmer.co.uk/portrait-paintings-in-lancashire-pauline-in-the-yellow-dress/
artuk.org/discover/artworks/pauline-in-the-yellow-dress-152128
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herbert_James_Gunn
artuk.org/discover/artists/gunn-herbert-james-18931964
academia.edu/2764673/_Sydney_Pavière_and_the_Harris_Museum_and_Art_Gallery_in_K_Hill_editor_Museums_and_Biographies_Boydell_Press
blogpreston.co.uk/2014/11/pauline-in-the-yellow-dress-celebrates-70-years-in-preston/
royalacademy.org.uk/art-artists/work-of-art/pauline-waiting
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Invincibles_(English_football)
blogpreston.co.uk/2020/03/the-150-year-old-friargate-bookshop-trying-to-keep-the-pages-turning-through-the-coronavirus-pandemic/
lancs.live/whats-on/arts-culture-news/fifth-generation-bookshop-owner-continues-24254715
Adelphi mural
lancs.live/news/lancashire-news/gallery/inside-prestons-revamped-adelphi-pub-21622950
blogpreston.co.uk/2021/09/the-adelphi-to-reopen-following-six-figure-sum-facelift/
Wallace and Gromit Statues
theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2021/jun/05/preston-wallace-and-gromit-statue-wrong-trousers-bench
Black A Moor Head mural
blogpreston.co.uk/2022/03/second-paint-preston-mural-unveiled-at-back-of-city-centre-pub/#google_vignette
blogpreston.co.uk/2022/03/an-update-on-prestons-20-9m-towns-fund-award-one-year-on/
artuk.org/discover/artworks/hannibals-sister-152151
theharris.org.uk/press-news/black-history-month-2023/
artuk.org/discover/artworks/why-war-152434
tate.org.uk/art/artworks/spencelayh-war-or-no-war-who-cares-t07730
nationalarchives.gov.uk/education/resources/chamberlain-and-hitler/
Lancashire Past 
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