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Welcome To a Web Page all about Burnley, Lancashire England, compiled by Jack Nadin, with a great deal of help from others.
HAPPY VALLEY NO MORE
OUT NOW!
FOR DETAILS OF THIS AND OTHER LOCAL HISTORY BOOKS WRITTEN BY JACK NADIN, SEE MY WHAT'S NEW PAGE.
New local history publication by Jack Nadin, named Happy Valley No More. The history of Hapton Valley Colliery, Burnley, including the explosion there in March 1962, by which nineteen men and boys perished.
Copies can be ordered through these pages, the cost being 6.50p, plus 75p. post and package, please email me.
The book contains over ninety pages, and over thirty photos and sketches, many never before published.
IT APPEARS THAT I NOW HAVE TO WRITE ABOUT THE HISTORY OF BANK HALL COLLIER, BURNLEY'S LARGEST PIT. THIS SHOULD BE OUT IN THE NEXT FEW MONTHS, WATCH THIS SPACE!!
Bank Hall book now out, see whats new for this and other local history books about Burnley, Lanchire.
While this site is being built, I hope to tell you all about Burnley, its past, present, and historic buildings. No longer is Burnley remembered for 'coil, cotton and clogs' Don't forget to sign the guest book. The mills and mines have now gone, and Burnley looks forward to a brighter future. In recent years many new industries have come to the town, to replace the old. 'Burnley is the place to be' according to a phrase recently adopted by the council, and little wonder. We have a town still rich in architecture old and new. Places to visit like the 'Weavers Triangle' the 'Straight Mile' of the Leeds and Liverpool Canal one of the seven wonders of the canal age. WE also have Towneley Hall, Thompson Park, Gawthorpe Hall, Scotts Park, Queens Park, and other places where you can relax. The night life in Burnley is second to none, and if you prefer to more homely 'local' then we have those too. The town centre also sports many fine eating places. Perhaps something Burnley is not renown for is its beautiful country side. Within a ten minute drive from the centre of town, you can be walking the fine open moorland around the lovely village of Worsthorne, or strolling around the wide open reservoirs around the historic village of Hurstwood. We look forward to the future but never forget out past. This is how Barrett's Directory described Burnley in its 1945 edition:--'This town is situated on the banks of the River Brun, at its confluence with the Calder. It is almost surrounded by hills, chief among which is Pendle, about six miles north of the town. The London, Midland and Scottish Railway, and the Leeds and Liverpool Canal pass through the town. The railway stations within the borough, are Bank Top (now the Central Station), Barracks, Rosegrove, Manchester Road, and Towneley. Burnley is six miles from Accrington, twelve miles E.N.E from Blackburn, six miles S.S.W from Colne, twenty eight miles N. from Manchester, forty three miles from Leeds, forty seven N.E. from Liverpool, twenty two from Preston, and 209 M.W. from London. Burnley is a county, parliamentary, municipal, and quarter sessions borough, a market town, which has a public assistance authority. Its first representative in parliament was Mr Richard Shaw, who was returned in 1868. At his death, 1876, Mr Peter Rylands was elected as his successor. On the death of Mr Rylands in 1887, Mr John Slagg was returned, who resigned on account of ill-health in February 1889, and shortly afterwards died. On the resignation, in January 1893, of Mr J.S. Balfour, the Hon. Philip Stanhope was elected, and in his stead was re-elected in July 1895. However on the 4th. October 1900, he was defeated by Mr William Michell, who served as the borough member until 13th. January 1906, when Mr Fred Maddison was elected in his place. On January 15th. 1910, Mr G.A. Arbuthnot won the seat from Mr Maddison, and in December of the same year lots it to Mr P. E. Morrell. On December 14th. 1918, Mr D.D. Irving, the first socialist representative was elected. Mr Arthur Henderson was elected on October 29th. 1924 after the death of Mr Irving. The present member is W.A. Burke. The portions of the town forming the municipal borough of Burnley were amalgamated in the township of Burnley by the operations of the Local Government Act, 1894, and orders of the joint committee and the local government board. In 1911, a provision order came into operation when the whole of Brunshaw and portions of Habergham Eves and Cliviger were added. In 1913, provision was made for the widening of Church Street, St James' Street, Curzon Street, and Accrington Road, also the making of the new road between Kiddrow Lane and Lowerhouse Lane. Improvements to the town have been completed, and include the abolition of slum property, and the erection of new and imposing buildings in Grimshaw Street. The township now covers and area of 4,686 acres. The principal landowners are the Right Hon. Lord O'Hagan, the Right Hon. Lord Shuttleworth, and the Exors of Colonel Hargreaves, James Dugdale Esq. and R.A. Tatton Esq. If you are interested in old Burnley, I have a number of historic word processed reprints available, details of these can be found elsewhere on the Web Site. If you were formerly from Burnley, or even if you still live here, don't forget to visit our 'guest page' and leave some of your memories of the town for others to read. By accessing the page you should be able to read what other people say about 'Burnley, the place to be'. We also except criticism as well as praise, if you have any comments either way, do let us know.
In future local historians will be invited to add to the content of this Lancashire town rich in history. The site will be constantly updated, so keep coming back!.
Family historians may be pleased to note that I have compiled a database containing no less than 30,000 entries of births, deaths, and marriages for Burnley and the surrounding area. This covers no less than one thousand A4 pages. For those interested in family members with coal mining connections, I also have an index of mining deaths containing 20,000 entries. For a nominal fee I will search the indexes for family connections. Please email for further details.
MEDIEVAL BURNLEY
The earliest known document mentioning Burnley is a charter of 1122, by which Hugh de la Val granted the church of St. Peter to the monks of Pontefract Priory. The name Burnley or "Brunley" as sometimes written means "the field by the Brun" or alter-natively "the brown field". The town began as a small farming community that had mature up around a church, in a clearing in the woodland that covered much. of the district in the Middle Ages. The inhabi-tants lived in wood huts scraping a living from crops grown in the town field. They would also grow a few vegetables in their gardens and keep cattle on common land. Close by were several other hamlets, named Westgate, Coal Clough, Fulledge, Burnley Wood and Healey. Together they made up the vill of Burnley, which at this time was part of the Honour of Clitheroe. Following the Norman Conquest, William I granted Clitheroe to Roger of Poitou, and later this passed into the hands of the de Lacy family. The badge of the de Lacys a purple lion, forms part of the coat of arms, even today of the Borough of Burnley. By the 13th century, the Honour of Clitheroe had been divided up into five manors. The vill of Burnley was in the Manor of Ightenhill. This part of the de Lacy estate was controlled from Ightenhill Manor House, which was situated not far from the present Ightenhill Park Lane. The remains of this ancient manor house can still be traced. In the year 1290, a corn-mill was built where all the inhabitants had to have their corn ground near Keighley Green close to the present day town centre . Four years later, in 1294, Henry de Lacy obtained a charter from Edward I granting the right to have a weekly market on Tuesday in their manor of Bruneley .and a fair every year lasting through three days, that is on the eve, day and morrow of the Feast of the Apostles Peter and Paul. The tradition continues to this day. A market cross was erected near the church, named St Peters, the Parish Church of Burnley. It is possible that this was the so called "Paulinus Cross", which stands in the grounds of the Old Grammar School and which is almost certainly not an early Saxon cross as was once thought. Lastly, in 1296, a fulling-mill, where woollen cloth was finished, was built on the banks of the Brun not far from the church, This suggests that the making of cloth was already becoming quite important in the area. Before proceeding with the study of the long history of Burnley's growth and development, it is perhaps advisable to note the landmarks in the town's progress during the first eight-and-a-half centuries of its existence. Founded about the year 800, Burnley had by 1300 shown some indications of its future importance. A weekly market and yearly fair had been established; a fulling mill had been erected; and industries other than farming had been introduced. During the period 1300-1650, growth was more rapid for there was a considerable increase in population with a corresponding expansion of the village groups and the building of numerous cottages and farmhouses in the neighbouring countryside. By 1650, the land had been freed from the control of the lord of the manor, enclosure of the commons had taken place, and ground that even in 1620 had been rough or boggy moorland had been transformed into tillage, well-limed and manured, with new farmsteads testifying to the rising prosperity of the farmers: in addition, the manufacture of textiles had increased substantially and coalmining had provided a new source of wealth. Important social changes had also taken place, for the great religious and political controversies of the 16th and 17th centuries had not passed over Burnley without leaving their mark. Among local families party feeling often ran high, producing strife and bitterness. Zeal and devotion for one cause or the other developed individual strength of character. and inculcated a sense of responsibility. This spirit of self-reliance had been fostered also by the growth of a certain measure of local self-government, which, though limited by the ever-widening authority of the JPs and other county officers, was a source of pride to the townsmen of Burnley. Still greater changes were to come after 1650. The increase of population and the expansion of trade continued with even greater acceleration and the hitherto separate groups of houses at the Top o' th' Town and Westgate merged into one. However, it was not until the Industrial Revolution at the very end of the 18th century that the caused an almost meteoric rise in the size and importance of the town. The 19th century saw the last stages in the develop-ment of Burnley from a remote and inaccessible mediaeval hamlet to a modern and commercial centre.
Extracted from Burnley (a short history) by Brian Hall, and The History of Burnley Part III, by Walter Bennett.
Both Walter Bennett's History of Burnley, Vols. 1,2, and 3 along with Brian Hall's Burnley a short history are still available at Burnley Reference Library. |
BYGONE BURNLEY
BYGONE BURNLEY
At Bank Parade called North Parade in 1838, and for many years thereafter. Almost opposite the old Grammar School, is a building dating from 1695 and now rather dilapidated the "Exors" built their offices on this site in 1873. There are about sixty scholars, about a dozen of whom learn the Classics. The rest are taught little beyond the three Rs, English and Scripture. Mr, Raws combines the headship of the school, with the curate of the parish, which extends from Worsthorne to Padiham Bridge. He has no assistance in the care of the souls, but at the Grammar School is aided by Mr. Robert Irving Blake, whom he sometimes calls usher, and at other times "Writing master". Mr, Blake himself, prefers the term "mathematical master" and uses it when ever possible. This gentleman has no degree, but as he has made several improvements in the methods of treating the "fluxions" which our posterity will term "the Calculas" he must be a man of parts. On our right stands Brown Hill, where Mr. George Holgate, the Banker lives; a great man, whose note are by many natives, preferred to those of the Bank Of England. Mr. Holgate keeps a butler, a coachman, and two grooms, so that if he is not exactly gentry everyone knows that a real gentleman is a person of proper education and standing whose fathers for three generations have borne coat armour, he is next door to it.
A FAMOUS PRACTICE
On our left are two good houses the nearer one will be on the corner of a fine new street when times mend. Mr. Theodore Heelis lives there an attorney, who does not practice, and who hails form somewhere Manchester way on. His neighbour is Mrs Mary Shaw, whose son is a prosperous attorney in South Parade, Some 25 years hence, a young doctor named White will come into this house of Mr. Heelis, the first practitioner in this district to possess a medical degree. When Dr. White dies, his pupil Dr. Briggs will take over the house, and Dr. Mackenzie will follow him, with still other physicians to come. Between the school and the house a footpath begins that leads through the park, and down to the water meetings at Salford, all the way through fields in to see. But when we get clear of the buildings, we can view all Burnley better than from any other spot, so lets us pause and consider the aspect of the town, how it lies, and how far it extends. From the Church to the Cross Keys, nearly all the highway is lined with buildings on both sides, but it is only a "Ribbon development" fully nine tenths of the houses have open fields at the back. Even at the cross roads in the heart of town, The Bull Croft, the Thorn Croft, the Red Lion Croft (to say nothing of Pickup Croft, and the Meadows a little further away) are all fields, Burnley is not only "A country town where one can meet Wi friends and neighbours known wheer one can lounge. To market place An see meadows mown". It is a town where one can stand in the market stead, and talk to the mowers without shouting very hard. Besides the houses which are about the highway, there is a cluster of cottages between Dawson Square, and the Lord Nelson (White Hart later) which is the real Old Burnley the "churche towne" of the parish. By my reckoning it contains about forty houses, certainly fewer than forty five, Then we can see a larger group, containing Keighley Green, Cannon Street, and Fleet Street, perhaps sixty houses here and a group a little larger, about Lane Bridge, and the Canal and Ship Taverns, there are no more.
THE "TIM BOBBIN"
On the new turnpike road to Padiham is no house between Mr. Hopwoods near the foot of Sandygate (It will become the Plane Tree Inn some thirty years on) and the new house (Half farm, half Inn) that Mr. Shuttleworth has built at the top of "The Ridge" and called the Tim Bobbin. In the Park itself, and on the green hillsides, that will later become Stoneyholme, Trinity and Gannow Wards, there are barely a score of farms; most of them have a ploughmans cottage, as well as the farmhouse proper. The hedge bounding the new turnpike, makes a plain line up the hill, let us count the buildings on this side of it, where the land is better, being less moorish. The nearest one is Bankhouse, a farmstead that was a parsonage from 1696 to 1785. The big barn, is far to large for the farm having been built to contain the tithes, one tenth of all the corn and hay grown in the parish, so a smaller barn is used now, and play actors set up in the big barn, who cannot afford to hire Mr. Brooks large room at the Hall Inn. For an excellent treatise on the manners and economy of such players, the curious may refer to Mr. Hogarths famous print.
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BEFORE THE VICTORIAN PERIOD
It was not till the beginning of the present century that Burnley began to rise above the level of a country market town, known in the immediate neighbourhood for its fairs, and a little further afield for its springs of mineral waters, and good for stone and gravel. Lieutenant-Colonel Fishwick calculated that in 1790 it contained no more than 2,000 inhabitants, but we know that by 1801 the number had increased to 4840. The closing years of the century saw great improvement in the means of communication with the outside world, both in the construction of turnpikes and of the canal. Prior to 1754 the only communication was by means of trains of packhorses, along roads which John Wesley in 1788 described as the worst he had ever travelled. In those early days only three roads led out of our little village, one up Sandygate, via Coal Clough Lane, Cog Lane and through Wholaw, giving off a branch along Barracks Road, through Gannow and Rosegrove, to Padiham. Another passed up Gunsmith Lane then called Eastgate, into Fulledge, where it divided, one portion going up Brunshaw and through Mereclough, the other meandering up Burnley Wood and through the Towneley wilderness. A third ran along Hewbrew road to Burnley Lane Head, and so on through Marsden on one hand, and Haggate on the other. What was the character of these roads may be learned from the traces of them that still may be found in and about Towneley. Doubtless hundreds of Burnley people trod one of them last summer, when, through the kindness of Lady O'Hagan, the grounds of Towneley Hall were thrown open to the public. It is the first opening to the right on entering the grounds at Causeway End, and runs down to the original Boggart Brig, some yards lower down the stream than the present bridge. It was along these roads that the lime gals travelled in long lines, carrying loads of lime from Clitheroe, and generally acting as carriers to remote districts. The picture represents Ali Fusser, the last of the drivers of lime gals. In 1754 the Blackburn and Addlingham Turnpike Act, and the Rochdale and Burnley Act, were obtained. By the former the present Colne Road was created, while the latter resulted in the creation of the road to Bacup through Boggart Brig. In 1759 the Halifax and Burnley Turnpike Trust was created, by which the road to Todmorden via Brunshaw and the Long Causeway was made. In 1795 the Burnley and Edenfield Act brought into existence Manchester Road, long known as "Manchester New Road." In 1817 the Burnley and Halifax trustees obtained power to construct a piece of new road from Holme to the Bacup Road above Boggart Brig, and in 1827 the Blackburn and Addlingham Trust obtained power to construct a new road from Accrington via Hapton and Huncoat, leading to the construction of Westgate. The preamble to the first Burnley and Halifax Act gives some idea as to the character of the roads. According to that authority they were rough and incommodious, dangerous to travellers, almost impassable for wheeled carriages owing to the height and steepness of the hills, and so narrow that two carriages could not pass each ether. The construction of these reads must have given a certain impetus to trade, but so small was the traffic that so late as 1846 the united debt on the three turnpike trusts was 58,871 pounds. More important, as far as trade was concerned, was the construction of the Leeds end Liverpool Canal. The Canal Company was formed in 1770, with a capital of 320,000 pounds, for the purpose of connecting the North Sea with the Irish Sea. According to the first plans the canal was projected to run nearer to Pendle, and it was not till 1794 that an Act was passed to enable the Company to construct the canal through Burnley. It was opened from Foulridge to the Bridge in Burnley Lane on May 1st, 1796, but the Gannow tunnel and the rest of the canal were not opened for traffic till May 1801. A great portion of the material for the embankment which forms such an important feature in Burnley topography was excavated where the old warehouse now stands at Finsley Gate. Connected with the outside world by good roads and a capital waterway, Burnley was not long in beginning to show signs of that vitality that has since distinguished it. The population began to increase rapidly, as the tables of the Census Commissioners show.
1801 4,840 population.
1811 6,639.
1821 10,068
1831 12,204
1841 17,520
What was Burnley like in its youthful days? Baines in 1886 thus describes it:- "Burnley itself is comparatively a small township, seated in a narrow fertile wooded vale, and the town consists of stone houses erected principally within the last forty years." Still later a visitor speaks of it as the most "unlovely of towns." how unlovely it still was may be inferred from the fact that in a book of English Topography published in 1816, the residence of the Towneley's is given as "Towneley Hall, near Preston." At that time the number of houses in Burnley is given as 807. In the records of the time there is continual evidence of the increasing importance of the place. The local paper then was the " Blackburn Mail." In the earlier files Burnley is only rarely referred to, while the later numbers make increasing mention of it. Thus in 1826 it is referred to as the "populous manufacturing town of Burnley," and in the same year reference is made to the late improvements there. From the Parish Church to Crow Nest, and the "Top o' town " and "Bottom o' town " had their actual meaning, and marked the limits of the place. The making of Manchester New Road led to building along each side of it, and as the town still extended, embryo streets began to be cut more or less at right angles to these main streets, while little isolated colonies began to appear in the outskirts, at the "Organ Row" in Burnley Wood, at Lane Head, at Finsley Gate, in Healey Wood, etc. Still the surroundings were either purely pastoral or agricultural. Old residents can still point out on the outskirts, meadows and pastures that in their youth were cornfields. The " Meadows," " Pickup Croft," "Burnley Wood," " The Park," "Cow-lane," " Whittlefield," each has its own tale to tell of the condition of Burnley seventy or eighty years ago. As showing the extent of the town in 1824, it may be pointed out that Baines in his Directory gives a list of 26 hostelries in Burnley. Of these 18 were in the present St. James's Street five in Church Street; one (Canal Tavern) in Manchester Road; one (the Ship) in Finsley Gate one (the Sun) in Bridge Street; and the rest in outlying parts, the Bull and Butcher, Hole i' th' Wall, Grey Horse, (now the Grey Mare, Gannow lane) Duke of York, and Tim Bobbin. The Sun Inn remained for long in the possession of the Veevers family. A characteristic story is told of Mr. Miles Veevers, at one time the landlord of the Sun. It is said that he had a garden in Red Lion Croft. This on one occasion had been allowed to get into a bad condition. One evening he casually remarked to a bibulous company, that he had buried a bottle of whiskey in the garden two years before to improve it, and he had forgotten the place. That acted like a charm. Next morning the garden was found to have been carefully turned over. Needless to say the whiskey had not been found. Through the whole length of the town there was a deep fringe of garden ground, almost the whole space between St. James's Street and the Brun being thus occupied. The earliest manufactures in Burnley seem to have been woollen, but the opening of the century saw a great expansion of the cotton trade, so that in a few years it entirely superseded the older manufacture. A woollen fair used to be held yearly on the second Thursday in July. The invention of the spinning machine led to the erection of factories. These at first naturally followed the course of the streams which were required to turn them, but by the beginning of the century the utility of the steam engine for manufacturing purposes was being recognised, and it was coming into rapid use. The first steam engine used in Manchester for cotton spinning was erected in 1789, and before many years one was in use in Peel's Mill at the bottom of Sandygate, burnt down in 1798. By 1836 fully 32 steam engine were in use in the chapelry, one of which, of 170 horse power for use in a coal mine, is specially referred to as of extraordinary size. In 1824 four firms of cotton manufacturers, three of cotton spinners, 18 of spinners and manufacturers, and one of calico printers, attest the hold that the staple trade had been obtained in the town. At the same time the woollen trade was still in existence, as is shown the presence of three worsted spinners and one woollen manufacturer. The great firms of that day the Masseys, Spencers, Moores, Brennands, Hopwoods, Sellers, and Withams are mostly now conspicuous in the list of cotton manufacturers by their absence. The number of spindles was about 60,000, producing weekly some 80,000lbs. of yarn, chiefly from 20's to 40's. The quantity of worsted yarn spun per week was about 7,2601bs., mostly by the great firm of Joseph Massey and Co., of Keighley Green and Bridge Street. At the same time there were about 25,000 or 30,000 pieces of calico woven weekly in the town and district. This was all woven by the hand-loom, and this branch of the cotton trade was essentially a home manufacture. The spinners gave out yarn to be woven at home, and the cloth was duly returned to the mill when finished. In some cases the manufacturers conveyed the yarn to the scattered hamlets, and brought back the cloth ; in other eases the weavers were compelled to tramp backwards and forwards, themselves carrying the bundles of yarn or cloth on their beads. Some few attempts were made to introduce handlooms into buildings by the factory system, as was done by Messrs. Spencer and Moore in what was long known as the "dandy shop " in Keighley Green, but without a great measure of success. The handloom was essentially a home machine, which could be manipulated by the females and younger members of the family. The power loom was made an effective instrument by the inventions of Johnson, Ratcliffe, and Horrocks in 1803 and 1804, and the first steam loom mill in England was erected in Manchester in 1805. When once it was complete it rapidly spread, so that according to a statement made by R. A. Slaney, Esq., in the House of Commons in May, 1830, the number of power looms in use in England was 12,150 in 1820, and this had increased to 45,500 in 1829. In 1833 it was estimated that the number had increased to 85,000. It would seem that the Burnley district, which was to become the greatest loom-making centre in the world, was somewhat tardy in introducing the power loom. According to Baines the first power loom in this district was introduced into the old fulling mill in Colne. |
    
jack@nadin50.freeserve.co.uk
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The Parish Church of Burnley, St Peter's around the mid 19th. century. The church was medieval foundations, but the building here dates from around the Tudor Period. It is shown here before the roof was raised in 1854. In the foreground is the base of the market cross and stocks, now near the 'Cannons' on Colne Road.
If it is coal mining history you are interested in the Burnley area, then contact my other web page on the subject at the address below.
I AM ALSO A KEEN COLLECTOR OF MINING MEMORABILIA, ESPECIALLY THAT CONNECTED WITH LANCASHIRE MINING. THESE MIGHT INCLUDE PHOTOS, SKETCHES, LAMPS, AND ESPECIALLY MINERS' CHECKS, OR TALLIES AS THEY ARE SOMETIMES KNOWN. WHAT TO ANYONE ELSE IS A PIECE OF BRASS, IS TO ME A PIECE ON COAL MINING HISTORY.
IF ANYONE HAS MINERS' CHECKS I'D LOVE TO HEAR FROM THEM.
http://www.jnadin1.50megs.com/ |
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