The Anchorage & The Gardner Family

Part One 

This is a lengthy account with many photos, so it’s best split into two parts - part two will be published tomorrow.

The Anchorage September 2025: Website photo

We are well into 2026, and there is a special centenary to celebrate — 100 years since the arrival of the Anchorage, the youngest house at Sunderland Point and the first we see when arriving over the causeway. It’s also part of the story of the influential Gardner family, whose roots in the village date back to at least 1788, who built the house, and still live there.

From the elevated terrace at the front of the house, there are outstanding views over the salt marsh and the River Lune.

Majestic view from the front of the Anchorage: Website Photo

A placid high tide: Photo Stephen Loxam

What we see today is a modification of the original house, but the front façade has remained unchanged since 1926. The main changes are a substantial extension to the rear and the addition of a new garage and forecourt –we will explain that later.

James Glover Gardner built the house. He was the brother of Richard W.B. Gardner, who arrived in the village in the jubilee year of 1887. Richard lived at Upsteps Cottage with his wife Ann and the start of their growing family of 10 children. 

Richard William Baxter Gardner

Born in 1857, he started at sea as a sailor, sailing on the schooner ‘Sarah Lightfoot’ between Morecambe and Bilbao, and carrying iron ore to Carnforth and North Lancs ironworks. He later joined the ‘Ariadne’, trading between Barrow-in-Furness, Glasson Dock, and Lancaster. In 1880, he began work with Lancaster Port Commissioners, relocating to Sunderland Point, where he skippered the paddle tug ‘Mary Ellan’. He obtained his River Pilot Licence in 1890 and Sea Pilot Licence in 1892, while also fishing during quiet times.

Richard was a founding member of the Morecambe Trawlers Association and served for 20 years on the Lune Fisheries Board, fighting pollution and promoting drift-net restoration.

In 1927, he became Harbourmaster at Glasson Dock, a role he held until his death in 1940.

Richard William Baxter Gardner (1857-1940) Courtesy of the Gardner family

As Richard and Ann’s family expanded, they moved to the Old Customs House (3A) and, in 1893, bought the Large House (9 First Terrace) from Robert Mansergh, where they lived more comfortably. 

Five of the six daughters of Richard and Ann Gardner outside No 9 First Terrace: From the collection of the Gardner family

Building the Anchorage

The land on which the house stands was once part of Meadow Farm, owned by members of the Fielden family since  the early 1870s. In February 1921,the farm was purchased by 36-year-old William Hargreaves, the younger son of Thomas Hollis Hargreaves of Sunderland Brows Farm. 

In 1922, William Hargreaves sold a small plot of land to Arthur Mansergh, who built the Boathouse to store equipment for his yacht ‘Sue’. Arthur H. Mansergh lived at the Moorings (number 3), which his father, Robert, built in 1890.

In 1924, William Hargreaves sold the plot of land adjacent to the Boathouse to Morecambe-based James Glover Gardner, who planned to build a second home near his family living in the village.

James G. Gardner bought the area in red from William Hargreaves. It is to the side and back of Arthur Mansergh’s Boathouse: Courtesy of the Gardner family

James instructed Arthur Gorton of Morecambe to design the new house, which was then built by specialist contractors and completed in 1926.

The Anchorage family

While built by their uncle, three of Richard and Ann’s four sons will become owners of the Anchorage. One of them, Robert, would own it twice.

The Gardner brothers, Robert, Thomas, James, and Wilton, all lived at the Anchorage, except for Thomas. Collection Gardner family

Although Thomas was never an owner of the Anchorage, he was a regular at the Boathouse for almost 20 years, serving as captain and keeper of Arthur Mansergh’s yacht “Sue” (likely named after Arthur Mansergh’s second wife, Susannah).  Thomas later became a Pilot and a fisherman, keeping nets and other equipment at the Boathouse.

Arthur Mansergh, front centre, with relatives and sailing friends. Thomas Gardner at the back: Collection Rosemary Lawn.

Thomas, apart from his service in the Royal Navy on board mine-sweepers during World War I, spent his entire life at Sunderland Point. After he died in 1952, his sons, Harold and Thomas, also fishermen, continued to use the Boathouse. 

Harold was also a pilot and, with his brother Thomas as skipper of the pilot boat ‘Peggy’, completed over 100 years of the Gardner family’s continuous piloting service on the River Lune. They both retired in 1992.

Lancaster Guardian 1992

The family in the village

Five of the six Gardner sisters on the ramp to the Anchorage, c. 1956. They are in the back row: from left to right: Emily, Eliza, and Belle. Elizabeth is in front on the left, and Bertha is at the front right. It is Mary Ann (Polly) who is missing. Collection Gardner family

As well as being at the Anchorage, members of the family continued to occupy the Large House (No. 9). Polly (Mary Ann) lived in the “Summer House” (No. 5 The Lane), and Emily in one of the Hawthorn Cottages (No. 3 The Lane). For a time, their brother Thomas lived next door to Emily at No. 2 The Lane.

For birthday celebrations, Bank Holidays, Christmas, and especially at Easter, the Anchorage hosted many family gatherings. Current resident Stephen Loxam, grandson of Robert Gardner, remembers, ‘the family would all gather at the Anchorage before sports, including egg rolling in Sambo’s field.’

A gathering of the family at Easter, c1935.

Easter in Sambo’s field adjacent to Sambo’s Grave, c. 1935 Jim Gardner, Cyril Gardner, Nora Gardner, Keneth Bowker (Robert and Gertie Gardner’s nephew), Wilton Atkinson ( Elizabeth Gardner's son), Hilda Bowker (Robert and Gertie Gardner’s niece), Joyce ( a friend), Elsie Gardner, Harold Gardner, Thomas Gardner, Vera Gardner. Collection Gardner family

A gathering of the family at Easter in 1940.

Members of the Gardner family (and some others) at Easter Egg Rolling, Easter Monday 1940: Courtesy the Gardner family. (Names can be supplied): Collection Gardner family

For many years, Charlie Walker (Emily's husband), organised the annual egg-rolling and races.

Left: Charlie Walker, Gertie Gardner, Vera Loxam holding Christine, Emily Walker (nee Gardner) and Stephen Loxam at the Anchorage, 1958. Collection Gardner family

Residents of the Anchorage

James Glover Gardner, owner 1926 - 1931

Born into a fishing family, James caught shrimps, gathered mussels and netted for salmon at Sunderland Point. He fished with his brother Richard Gardner, for a short time with Bert Smith, and later with his nephew James W. Gardner.

James became a highly respected figure within the wider fishing community and the town. The Morecambe Visitor, in his 1941 obituary, wrote this.

‘Many threads which stretched into the past to the foundations of old established Morecambrian institutions were broken by the death on Monday of Mr James Glover Gardner, JP, aged 86. An old Morecambrian veteran, fisherman, stalwart Methodist, and unswervingly staunch liberal. He had deep-rooted associations with the traditions of the past.’

He was a remarkable man.

Right, James Gardner on the steps of the Anchorage, early 1930s, and ready for business, 1918. Collection Gardner family

James, born in 1855, was married twice. His first marriage, in 1888, was to Edith Smith, with whom he had four children—twins from Edith’s previous marriage whom James adopted and gave the Gardner surname. Edith died in 1900. Two years later, in 1902, at age 47, James married Bertha Baxter in Sheffield.

A leading fisherman with an entrepreneurial spirit, he began selling other fishermen's catches and expanded his business to supply the rapidly growing towns of Lancashire and Yorkshire. In the 1891 census, at age 35, he was listed as a Fish Merchant.

During the same period, he was a member of the Victoria Sailing Co. and later a director of the Old Morecambe Steamboat Company, which operated from 1872 to 1908. James was one of the captains of the company’s pleasure steamers, sailing from Morecambe's Central Pier around the Bay and making trips to Fleetwood and Blackpool.

'Sunbeam', a twin-screw steamer in service with the company until 1908: Collection Jill Sheldon

In the 1911 census, he records his occupation as ‘Pleasure Sailing and Fishing’. 

James was at the heart of the fishing community. He served as Secretary of the Morecambe Fishermen's Association for over 30 years and was a long-standing member of the Lancashire and Northwestern Fisheries Committee. In the 1920s, he helped establish Morecambe Trawlers, a cooperative of shrimpers, which improved their livelihoods for the next sixty years.

In 1904, he was appointed a Justice of the Peace.

He was an early member of the Morecambe Fishermen’s Choir, founded in 1904. Aside from a break during WWI, the choir performed annually, raising funds for local causes, including Morecambe Hospital.

‘In later years, he was a keen supporter of Morecambe Football Club. His heavily bearded, tanned face and broad stalwart figure made him a well-known personality in Morecambe.’  (The Visitor Obituary)

James Glover Gardner died in 1941 at the age of 86 in Morecambe. At his funeral, the cortege travelled along the Promenade with the sea in view, and at the service the Fisherman's Choir sang his favourite hymn. 

Morecambe Fisherman’s Choir, James G Gardner, back row in suit: Collection of the Gardner family

In 1931, when James was 71, he sold the Anchorage to his nephew, Robert, who also planned to use it as a second home.

Robert Gardner, owner 1931 – 1937

Robert was the youngest son of Richard W. Baxter and Ann Gardner, born in 1888 at Upsteps Cottage in Sunderland Point. 

Upsteps Cottage (1 The Lane), birthplace of Robert Gardner: Collection of the Gardner family

After finishing school, Robert started work as a shipbroker’s clerk at the Customs House on St. George’s Quay in Lancaster.

In the village, he was a founding member of the Reading Room and served as its first secretary. He arranged for the installation of a 6-foot billiard table in 1912 for 5 Guineas. (It is fondly remembered, has recently been refurbished, and is ready for play in the Anchorage.)

During WW1, Robert enlisted in the Royal Marines and served in the Middle East (Mesopotamia). In 1919, he married Gertrude Shenton and had three children – Nora, Cyril and Vera.

Robert Gardner and wife to be Gertrude (Gertie) Shenton, c.1916, outside the Large House (No. 9): From the collection of the Gardner family.

In 1920, Robert took over the shipbroking and insurance business of Harry Dingle, based on St George’s Quay, Lancaster. He expanded his business interests, becoming a shipowner and establishing a retail coal business at Lancaster’s Green Ayre Station.

In 1937, Robert purchased the site of the Lancaster Sanatorium and the adjacent 30 acres of land at Marsh Point, at the end of St George’s Quay and New Quay Road, for his builder’s merchant and shipbroker business. 

Robert Gardner letter heading: Collection Gardner family

In 1935, Robert sold the Anchorage to his eldest brother, James William Gardner.

James William Gardner, owner 1937 – 1945

Born in 1880 in Morecambe, James is well known to us through his colourful autobiography and the portrait photographs of Sam Thompson taken in the 1930s. James was known in the village as ‘Danny’ (from the song ‘Danny Boy’ which he would sing and whistle).

James sailed yachts and was a fisherman. He was employed in building Heysham Harbour and was a crew member on the trading schooner ‘Annie Park’ and later on the Liverpool flat ‘Pilgrim’.

James W. Gardner with his first wife, Fanny, outside the Old Customs House (3A), c. 1910: From the collection of Rosemay Lawn

From 1909 to 1923, he served as head netsman with the River Wye Fisheries Board. In 1926, he qualified as a Lune River pilot and later as a Sea Pilot.

James also skippered Brother Robert’s hopper barge, the ‘Depositor’, which was used to dispose of World War I explosives in the Irish Sea, and captained another of Robert’s ships, the ‘Vulcan’. 

‘Depositor’: From the collection of the Gardner family.

James married his second wife, Mary Gill, in January 1937, and they moved to Anchorage the same year, when James bought it from his brother, Robert.

Left James W Gardner in the award-winning Sam Thompson photo: Courtesy Lancashire Archives, and right, at the gates of the Anchorage in his Harbourmaster's uniform: Courtesy of the Gardner family.

Lastly, James became Harbourmaster at Glasson Dock in 1945 and remained there until he died in 1960, moving to the other side of the river to the Harbourmaster’s house.

He sold the Anchorage to his brother, Wilton.

Wilton Gardner, owner 1945 – 1953

Wilton used the house as a second home until the last years of his life, when he lived there permanently.

Wilton and Margaret Annie (nee Bowker), with eldest son Wilton (born at Point Farm, Sunderland Point) in 1906 and James William Gardner, born 1920 in Lancaster. Photograph courtesy Christine Newson (Great granddaughter of Wilton)       

Wilton was born in 1882 in Morecambe and spent his boyhood at Sunderland Point. After finishing school, he worked as an errand boy, earning 5 shillings a week with the Lancaster firm of Arthur H. Mansergh Ltd, specialists in floor coverings. 

After serving in the army in India during WW1, Wilton returned to work for A H Mansergh. By the time the company was incorporated in June 1926, Wilton had become Managing Director.

Wilton had two sons, Wilton (Jnr) and James (Jim) William. Wilton (Jnr) was ordained as a Congregational Minister in 1933, but later in life joined his brother Jim in the family business, A H Mansergh Ltd.

The family biography remembers Wilton (Sr) as ‘an extremely modest and generous man who did an enormous amount of good by stealth’. He lived most of his married life in Lancaster, except for a brief spell at the Anchorage during retirement. He died in Lancaster in October 1953, aged 71. 

Here is the link to Part Two