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Darwen
Darwen maps
Historic maps of Darwen and the local area, hand-drawn by Ordnance Survey and Samuel Lewis. View all Darwen maps
Darwen area books
Displaying 1 of 16 books about Darwen and the local area. View all books for this area
You can read extracts and browse photos from these books.
Memories of Darwen
Displaying a selection of personal
memories of Darwen.
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Clogs
I remember the sound of the clogs at 6am as people came past 6 Hilton Street (second house from mill).
Primary School
I attended St. John's Primary School from age late 8 to 11, we used to go to church on Monday morning where we would walk round from the school to Sough Road where the church was.
This is Hilton Street.
I was born at No 4 Hilton Street (in March 1955) which was the shop on the very corner at the end of the street nearest to the chimney. Darwen Paper Mill is the mill opposite the houses, with of course India Mill at the end.
Education And Faith For Holy Trinity.
I attended Holy Trinity Primary School, Church of England, at Darwen in the year 1955, when I was six years of age. There was a spiritual bond between the school and the Holy Trinity Church, as it was then called.
On a certain day of the week the class of children I belonged to were given religious instruction. A picture still present in my memory, is that of the outline of the Holy Trinity Church, as drawn on the classroom blackboard by the teacher. It was explained that the outline shape was that of a cross on which Jesus was crucified and that the church was built in the same shape for that reason.
On religious days of remembrance, for example, Good Friday, all the children at the school would be paraded across the town centre and up the hill to attend a service at the church.
My grandfather was 23 yrs of age when he died, having succumbed to wounds he endured during the... Read more
Darwen Market & The Old Glass Shed
I was born in Cranberry Lane in 1957 and I remember the old market very well. There was the 'pot man', Annie and her second hand stall and the old market cafe. In summer there was the ice-cream man near the steps at Railway Road. Later on I worked on the market after school and on Saturdays for Betty who sold underwear and for Mrs Jones who sold remnants of fur fabric. My mother had a stall later on selling handbags. I also recall the lady who sold potted shrimps in the doorway of the market hall. I always thought the market was a wonderful place, especially when it was lit up on a winter's day, but how grateful we were for the mugs of steaming tea from the cafe to ward off the cold.
Lancashire memories
Childhood Memories in Blackburn
My first school was St Michaels and All Angels in Whalley New Road. We all had to have our gas masks over our shoulders and hang them up on our own little peg. I can remember we all had school dinners, I don't think we paid, we had no money. Also all the very young children had a sleep for a couple of hours in canvas beds so we had to creep around. My father Harold buck and his friend Edmund kept pigs, so they came after dinner to collect the food that was left over to feed the pigs, they called it pig swill. I used to hide when they came. There was a wall at the bottom of the playground with a big drop on the other side down into the brook(Blackwater), we would climb down sometimes, cross the brook and go up the other side to the Tizer where soft drinks were made. Also on the same land was a big lake we called Granny Green Teeth,... Read more
School Speech Days
When I was a pupil at 'Blackburn High School for Girls' we used to go to Blackburn Cathedral for the morning sevice on Speech Day. In those days the Cathedral was dark and dismal with masses of dark wood and lots of box pews. I particularly remember walking over what I believed were graves - scary to an eleven year old! We always sang the hymn 'Now Thank We All Our God' and I always associate that hymn with the Cathedral. The modernised, light and airy Cathedral is a joy to visit and bears no resemblance to the Cathedral of my schooldays. I was so delighted to find your photos of the 'old' Cathedral's interior looking more like my memories to show to my children.
