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Blackburn in Lancaster County England History and GeographyBLACKBURN, a parish in the lower division of the hundred of BLACKBURN, county palatine of LANCASTER, comprising the market-town of Blackburn, the chapelries of Balderston, Billingon, Great Harwood, Over Darwen, Salesbury, Samlesbury, Tockholes, and Walton le dale, and the townships of Clayton le dale, Cuerdale, Lower Darwen, Dinkley, Eccleshill, Little Harwood, Livesley, Mellor, Osbaldeston, Pleasington, Ramsgrave, Rishton, Wilpshire, and Witton, and containing 53,350 inhabitants, of which number, 21,940 are in the town of Blackburn, 31 miles (S. E. by S.) from Lancaster, and 210 (N. N. W.) from London. This place takes its name from a small rivulet flowing near the town; and which, from the turbid state of the water, was anciently called Blakeburn, or the yellow bourne. A castle is said to have been built here, probably by the Romans, which, after their departure from the island, was occupied successively by the Britons and the Saxons; but there does not remain any vestige of it at present, nor can even its site be distinctly ascertained. Blackburn was formerly the capital of a district, called Blackburnshire, which for many ages was a dreary and uncultivated waste. In the reign of Elizabeth, it was distinguished as a good market town, and, in the middle of the following century, was celebrated for its supplies of corn, cattle and provisions. The town is pleasantly situated on the northern bank of the river Derwent, over which are three stone bridges, and in a valley sheltered by a ridge of hills, extending from the North-east to the North-west: it consists of several streets, irregularly formed, but containing several well-built, and many respectable, houses; it is well paved, lighted with gas, and amply supplied with water. In 1824, an act of parliament was obtained for constructing a new turnpike road to Preston, crossing the river Ribble at Brockholes, by which the distance is shortened nearly two miles; and under the same act, the town has been greatly improved. There are assembly rooms, a subscription library, a Linn?an Society, and a theatre which was erected in 1818. The manufacture of Blackburn checks, and subsequently that of Blackburn greys, a mixture of linen and cotton, which formerly flourished here to a considerable extent, have been superseded by the manufacture of calico, muslin, and cotton goods: not less than forty thousand pieces of the last are, on the average, made weekly, in which about ten thousand persons are employed: the value of these goods, exclusively of dyeing and printing, is estimated at two millions sterling per annum. There are large factories for the spinning of cotton, printing and dyeing establishments, and extensive bleaching grounds. Some of the earliest and most important improvements in the spinning and manufacture of cotton, originated with James Hargreave, a carpenter in this town, who was the inventor and patentee of the spinning jenny, which has since been so generally adopted. The introduction of machinery into the factories excited a powerful sensation among the workmen of this place, and created such tumultuous proceedings on the part of the populace, who destroyed several of the factories in which it was used, that the inventor was driven from the town, and many individuals who had invested large capitals in the establishment of cotton factories, were so intimidated, that they embraced the earliest opportunity of withdrawing their investments, and removing to places where they might employ them with greater security. There are at present about one hundred thousand spindles in operation in the town and neighbourhood, which produce about thirty-five thousand pounds of yarn weekly. The Leeds and Liverpool canal passes the town, and affords communication with the Mersey, the Dee, the Ouse, the Trent, the Humber, the Severn, and the Thames, forming a most extensive line of inland navigation. The market days are Wednesday and Saturday: the fairs are held on Easter Monday, May 11th and 12th, and October 17th; a cattle fair is also held on the first Wednesday before February 2nd, and on every alternate Wednesday till Michaelmas. The want of a convenient market-place is strongly felt in this populous town; Fleming-square has been recently appropriated for this purpose, but the area is scarcely large enough. One side of the square is occupied by a spacious cloth-hall, erected for the exhibition and sale of Yorkshire woollen cloths, a great quantity of which is brought hither. Blackburn is within the jurisdiction of the magistrates acting for the hundred to which it gives name: two high constables are appointed, one for the upper, and one for the lower division, for which latter, together with Whalley, a court of petty session is held here. Its local concerns are under the superintendance of commissioners appointed by a special act of parliament. This extensive parish, which is fourteen miles in length, and ten miles in breadth, was formerly part of the parish of Whalley; on being separated from which, it was, on account of its sterility, endowed with a fourth part of the tithes of that parish in addition to its own. The living is a vicarage, in the archdeaconry and diocese of Chester, rated in the king's books at £8. 1. 8., and in the patronage of the Archbishop of Canterbury. The church, dedicated to St. Mary, and formerly the conventual church of the monastery of Whalley, was rebuilt in the reign of Edward III., and again in that of Henry VIII., but in 1819 it was taken down, with the exception of the tower, and the chapel of the Duncan family, which contains the altar, and in which baptisms and marriages are still solemnized and the funeral service is performed. A new church was completed in 1826, on the site of the old grammar school, at an expense of £26,000, raised by a rate under an act of parliament passed in 1819: it is a spacious and elegant edifice, partly in the decorated, and partly in the later style of English architecture, with a lofty square tower, highly enriched, and crowned with a pierced parapet and crocketed pinnacles. The interior is lofty in its proportions and elegant in its details; the nave is lighted with a fine range of double clerestory windows, and those in the aisles are enriched with flowing tracery of graceful character. The chapels of St. John and St. Peter are both neat modern edifices: St. Peter's is a chapel of ease; the living of St. John's is a perpetual curacy, in the patronage of the Vicar of Blackburn, in whom is also vested the presentation to the several perpetual curacies in the parish, with the exception of that of Salesbury. At Lower Darwen, Over Darwen, and Mellor, new churches have been erected, the expense of each having been partly defrayed by grant from the parliamentary commissioners; they are all in the later style of English architecture, with towers, and were begun in 1827, and completed in 1829. The church at Lower Darwen contains seven hundred and twenty-three free sittings, and the cost of its erection was £5491. 2. 6.; that at Over Darwen, which contains nine hundred and eighty-five free sittings, was erected at an expense of £6573. 4. 9.; and that at Mellor, which has a spire, and contains six hundred and seventy-eight free sittings, cost £5275. 6. 9. There are two places of worship each for Baptists and Independents, and one each for the Society of Friends, Primitive and Wesleyan Methodists, Swedenborgians, and Unitarians, besides two Roman Catholic chapels. The free grammar school was founded in the reign of Elizabeth, who placed it under the superintendance of fifty governors resident in the town, who are a corporate body, and appoint the master: it is endowed with land in the neighbourhood producing £120 per annum; there are thirty boys on the foundation: the premises, consisting of a school-room and house for the master, are handsomely built of stone. The Rev. Robert Bolton, an eminent divine, and one of the compilers of the Liturgy, was a native of this town, and received the rudiments of his education in the school. In 1764, Mr. John Leyland bequeathed £250 for the instruction of poor girls in reading, writing, sewing and knitting; this sum has been augmented by subsequent benefactions, and at present, ninety girls are instructed and clothed. There is also a National school, supported by subscription, in which eight hundred children of both sexes are tuaght. The general dispensary was established in 1828: there are a ladies' society for the relief of poor women during child-birth at their own houses, a strangers' friend society, and several other charitable institutions. From Lewis's Topographical Dictionary of England 1831, courtesy of Databases 4 Sale |
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