PHOTOGRAPHS capturing Prescot town centre have been now featured in a national archive as part of the Historic England Picturing High Streets campaign.

The three-year project has built a contemporary picture of high streets across England, including Prescot town centre.

Prescot was one of only six places in the country to be selected to take part in the national project where photographers engaged with local communities to create a contemporary portrait of the high street. The images are now part of the Historic England Archive.

In July 2021, Tony Mallon was appointed as Prescot’s Photographer in Residence and worked with residents to create a temporary portrait of the area.

Tony, a photographic artist, was brought up in Knowsley and attended an art foundation course in Prescot, and has 25 years’ experience of delivering socially-engaged art projects.

READ > Friends set up fundraiser for family of 'beloved dad'

Tony ran a series of photography and memory fairs inviting people to share their own personal photographs and memories of the area and set up Prescot Photography Club to explore the high street using photography and portraiture.

The photography club co-produced work that was recently on display in shop fronts on Eccleston Street and in Shakespeare North Playhouse.

An exhibition of the work was also on display at Open eye Gallery, a dedicated photography gallery in the North West of England.

People can view the Picturing High Streets Collection on historicengland.org.uk.

About Picturing High Streets

‘Picturing High Streets’ is a three-year project that delivered six photographer-in-residence programmes at six high street locations across England, as well as artist mentoring and a digital nationwide mass participation project. The high streets cultural programme is the widest-reaching, community-led arts and heritage programme in the public realm that has ever been organised, led by Historic England in partnership with Arts Council England and the National Lottery Heritage Fund.  The £7.4 million Cultural Programme is part of the broader £95 million High Streets Heritage Action Zone (HSHAZ) initiative, of which Prescot is part of.  The Cultural Programme will be one of the biggest ever community-led arts and heritage programme in the public realm.

 

About the Prescot High Street Heritage Action Zone

 

Prescot was selected as one of the 68 high streets to benefit from the High Streets Heritage Action Zone project in 2020. The £3.1 million heritage-led regeneration programme will see major investment from the Council and Historic England into a number of key projects in Prescot town centre. In addition, Prescot will see a series of cultural events as part of the HSHAZ Cultural Programme Local Grants, as delivered by the recently established Prescot Cultural Consortium, led by The Shakespeare North Playhouse.