Blackburn
Blackburn maps (2 available)
Map of Lancashire
Beautifully hand-drawn and coloured, dating from around 1840
See this old map of Lancashire
Personalised maps
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Blackburn books (21 available)
Blackburn Town and City Memories
Hardback
Blackburn Town and City Memories
Paperback
Lancaster Town Walk Guide
Paperback
- 20 photos on Blackburn appear in 5 Frith books - View photos of Blackburn
- Read extracts and see photos from these books on Blackburn and Lancashire
Blackburn memories
Read and share memories of Blackburn and Lancashire inspired by Frith photos
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 ...read more here
Contributed by bill buck
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 ...read more here
A memory of Blackburn contributed by bill buck
Living there
As a young boy I used to stay at my aunt's house in Commons Lane. It may well be the house pictured? During summer school hols my brother Ken and I were often taken by our 'mam' on the Ribble bus to Mellor Brook, from where we had to walk to get to auntie's house, probably about 3 to 4 miles. The whole outing was someting of an adventure as often we were accompanied by mam's friend(s) and their offspring.
In good weather we could run ahead and play in a small wood until the grown ups caught up. If we were only going for the day the time sped by and the reverse journey could be tiring, and we were ...read more here
A memory of Balderstone contributed by First name Last name
Coopers and Booths
My Great, Great Great Grandfather, William Booth, used to push a cart up and down the streets of Clayton le Moors with his son John Booth, selling shellfish. He was known as 'Muscle Bill' and his son, 'Oyster Jack'. (This is actually a memory passed down from my ancestors to my 3rd cousin.)
They lived at 'Old Sparth House' from around 1895 onwards. William died in 1900 age 79. Most of the family married and brought their children up in Clayton le Moors. A few emigrated abroad. Robert Booth to Australia, Ellen Booth married Charles Battersby and moved to Canada. John Booth's daughter Luciana Booth married William Cooper from Great Harwood at All Saints, and my Grandfather, Robert Cooper was born ...read more here
A memory of Clayton Le Moors contributed by DONNA COOPER
Extracts From Blackburn & Lancashire books
Blackburn had two markets, the indoor market and an open air one, held every Wednesday and Saturday, when this photograph was taken. Friday was later added to the open market days. Our photograph shows the open market in New Market Street. Here we see the Market Hall (or House) from the rear, and we can also see the back of the Town Hall; its 20ft-high wall guards a courtyard. It was the Market Square that hosted the Blackburn Fair, which was held by Charter every Easter Monday, and then on 11 and 12 May, and also the Winter Fair every 17 October.
An extract from from"Heart of Lancashire Photographic Memories".
When this photograph was taken, Blackburn had two markets, the indoor
market and an open air one, held every Wednesday and Saturday. This
photograph shows the open market in New Market Street. Here we see the
Market Hall (or House) from the rear, and the back of the Town Hall; its
20ft-high wall guards a courtyard. It was the Market Square that hosted
the Blackburn Fair, which was held by Charter every Easter Monday, and
then on 11 and 12 May, and also the Winter Fair every 17 October.
An extract from from"Heart of Lancashire Pocket Album".
Here we have a busy and bustling view of Northgate. The Town Hall did not need or get a clock, because the Market Hall had the town’s clock on a free-standing tower in front of it. The Market Hall and its tower are on the right of our picture, and the square, solid Town Hall is at the side of it. The Market House, as it was called, opened on 28 January 1848. It opened every day except Sunday, and was famous for stalls selling black puddings and sarsparilla. Unfortunately, the old Market House and Clock Tower were cleared away in the 1960s when the new Market Hall opened.
An extract from from"Heart of Lancashire Photographic Memories".
Blackburn means ‘on the black
stream’.The town guards the
entrances to the river valleys we
have been looking at in earlier
pages - the Ribble, the
Hyndeburn and the Hodder -
and was the starting point for
journeys into these areas and
over to Yorkshire. For over a
century, Blackburn was known
as ‘the biggest weaving town in
the world’; it boasted over
80,000 looms in 130 mills. It
was the arrival of the
Leeds/Liverpool canal in 1810
that turned a hand-loom cottage
industry into the giant of the
Industrial Revolution. Coal was
mined in Darwen, and there was
an alum mine at Pleasington.
An extract from from"Heart of Lancashire Pocket Album".
A group of children sit outside the Technical School, now part of Blackburn College, but founded during Queen Victoria’s Golden Jubilee celebrations. A competition produced this French Renaissance style building, which was submitted by the Manchester architects, Smith, Woodhouse and Wiloughby. The Prince of Wales laid the foundation stone in 1888 and the building eventually opened to students three years later.
An extract from from"Lancashire - A Second Selection Photographic Memories".