Blackburn

redirect [[Template:Infobox England place]]

This article is about Blackburn in Lancashire, England. For other uses of the name, see Blackburn (disambiguation).

Blackburn is a town in Lancashire, England. It is the main part of the Blackburn with Darwen borough, which has a population of 140,200. It was a key centre for the textile industry during the Industrial Revolution and is popularly known as the home of Blackburn Rovers Football Club. Blackburn is situated to the north of the West Pennine Moors.

Blackburn is known to fans of The Beatles as the town featured in the song "A Day in the Life". An article in the Daily Mail about a plan to fill potholes in the town caught John Lennon's eye as he was writing the song, giving birth to the lyric: "I read the news today. Oh, boy. 4,000 holes in Blackburn Lancashire". This lends itself to the title of the unofficial fanzine of Blackburn Rovers, which is called "4,000 Holes".

Contents

Politics

Jack Straw is Member of Parliament for Blackburn.

For general election results, see Blackburn (UK Parliament constituency).

Blackburn is administered by Blackburn with Darwen unitary authority. Blackburn council and its successor have been controlled by the Labour Party since 1945. Blackburn sends one MP to Westminster, the Leader of the House of Commons and former Foreign Secretary, Jack Straw. Previous MPs for Blackburn include former Labour cabinet minister Barbara Castle, who represented the town in Westminster from 1945 to 1979.

In 2005, allegations of vote-rigging and corruption began to grow around the Labour controlled council. A local councillor, Muhammed Hussain, was jailed for rigging an election by stealing postal vote ballots. Straw was challenged in the 2005 general election by his former employee and British ambassador to Uzbekistan, Craig Murray. Murray stood for election in the seat of Blackburn on a platform of opposition to the war in Iraq and electoral corruption. The anti-war vote was split, however, and Jack Straw was returned with a comfortable majority of over 8,000.

Condoleezza Rice and Jack Straw in February 2005.

U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice visited Blackburn along with Liverpool from 31 March to 1 April 2006. The visit reciprocated a trip made by Blackburn MP Jack Straw to Rice's home state of Alabama when he was UK Foreign Secretary. The visit was part of a wider tour of European capitals. Rice's itinary included Pleckgate School, Ewood Park football stadium and the Town Hall in Blackburn. In Liverpool she attended a classical music concert.

Rice's visit was met with protests from anti-war and human rights campaigners, although many local residents turned out in support of the visit. The committee at Masjid Al Hidayah Mosque on Millham Street, Blackburn, in conjunction with Muslim scholars from the region, withdrew an invitation to Ms Rice to visit the mosque due to safety issues.

Blackburn Rovers

The Premier League Football side Blackburn Rovers is based at the Ewood Park stadium. The club has done much to raise the profile of the town, winning the Premier League in 1995 and the League Cup in 2002. The club was established in 1875, and in 1888 became a founder member of The Football League. In 1890 Rovers moved to its permanent home at Ewood Park. Until the formation of the Premier League in 1992, the majority of Blackburn Rovers' success was pre-1930 when they won the league and FA Cup on several occasions.

In the early 1990s Jack Walker, a local boy and life-long supporter who made millions in the steel industry, invested heavily in the club. He lured former Liverpool legend Kenny Dalglish as manager and a number of shrewd player purchases followed, most notably Alan Shearer. This lifted the club back into the first division, just before it became the F.A. Premier League — making Blackburn one of only a handful of clubs to be founders of both the Football League and the Premier League. After finishing runners-up to Manchester United in 1993/1994, Rovers won the championship the following year. A slump followed in the late 1990s, with relegation to League Division One. In 2001, the team secured promotion back into the Premier League, and in 2002 won the League Cup.

History

Workers producing shuttles for the textile industry, circa 1920. Rowland Baguley and Company, based on Addison Street, produced a wide range of shuttles for the home textile industry and for export before it closed in the early 1930s.

In 1887, John Bartholomew's Gazetteer of the British Isles described Blackburn like this:

"Blackburn. parl. and mun. bor., par. and township, NE. Lancashire, 9 miles E. of Preston and 210 miles NW. of London by rail -- par., 48,281 ac., pop. 161,617; township, 3681 ac., pop. 91,958; bor., 6974 ac., pop. 104,014; 4 Banks, 2 newspapers. Market-days, Wednesday and Saturday. It is one of the chief seats of cotton manufacture, besides producing calico, muslin, &c., there being over 140 mills at work. There are also factories for making cotton machinery and steam-engines. B. has been associated with many improvements in the mfr. of cotton, among which was the invention (1767) of the "spinning jenny" which was invented in nearby Oswaldtwistle by James Hargreaves, who died in 1770. There are several fine churches and public buildings. A Corporation Park (50 ac. in area) is on the outskirts of the town. Several lines of railway converge here, and pass through one principal station belonging to the Lancashire and Yorkshire Ry. Co. B. returns 2 members to Parliament." [link]

Strike of cotton mill workers in 1920 in Cowell Street in the Nab Lane area.

Areas

Blackburn consists of a number of areas:

Cherry Tree
Feniscowles
Witton
Mill Hill
Ewood
Fernhurst
Audley
Witton
Shadsworth
Higher Croft
Queen's Park
Shear Brow
Brookhouse
Bastwell
Roe Lee
Pleckgate
Bank Hey
Sunnybower
Brownhill
Revidge
Lammack
Beardwood
Billinge
Wensley Fold
Bank Top
Griffin
Nova Scotia

Features

Blackburn Cathedral sits in the middle of the town centre

Corporation Park
Witton Country Park
Blackburn Cathedral
Blackburn Museum and Art Gallery
Lewis Textile Museum
Blackburn railway station features a 24ft mural by Stephen Charnock, which depicts eight famous faces associated with the town, including Mahatma Gandhi, who visited nearby Darwen in 1931.
Ewood Park football stadium
Blackburn Arena, home of the Blackburn Hawks ice hockey team
Thwaites brewery has produced cask ale in Blackburn for nearly 200 years
A section of the Leeds and Liverpool Canal runs through the town
The River Blakewater, which gives its names to the town, merges with the River Darwen before joining the River Ribble.
Thwaites Empire Theatre

Education

Colleges

Secondary Schools

Al-Islah Schools (independent)
Beardwood High School was formerly known as Billinge High School, changing its name to Beardwood in the late 80's.
Blakewater College, formerly Queen's Park Technology College
Jamiatul-Ilm Wal-Huda UK School (independent)
Our Lady & St John Catholic Arts College
Pleckgate High School
Queen Elizabeth's Grammar School (QEGS) (independent, with 6th form)
St Bede's Roman Catholic High School
St Wilfrid's CofE High School and Technology College (with 6th form)
Tauheedul-Islam Girls' High School (independent)
Westholme school (independent, with 6th form)
Windsmoor House School (independent)
[Witton Park Business and Enterprise College]

Coat of Arms

Arms of the former Blackburn Borough Council

The coat of arms show in the picture here, has many distinctive emblems, these are described below:

Three bees in flight. The bee is an emblem of skill, perseverance and industry. "B" also stands for Blackburn; and further, as the Peel family sprang from this neighbourhood and bears a bee in flight on its shield, the idea naturally suggests itself that Sir Robert Peel had adopted the Blackburn bee.
The shield is silver or white, and thus emblematical of calico, the product of the Blackburn bees during the industrial revolution.
The broad wavy black line represents the Black Brook (the River Blakewater) on the banks of which the town is built.
The silver bugle horn was the crest of the first Mayor of Blackburn, William Henry Hornby. It is also an emblem of strength.
The gold lozenges, or fusils (diamond shaped), are the heraldic emblems of spinning, derived from the Latin "fusus" or "fusilium", meaning a spindle, and they refer to the invention of the spinning jenny in 1764 by James Hargreaves, a native of the district. They also denote the connection of Joseph Feilden with Blackburn, as Lord of the Manor, as he bore lozenges on his shield.
The background of green is there to remind us of the time when Blackburn was one of the royal forests in the time of Edward the Confessor.
The shuttle is the emblem of weaving, the trade which has contributed more than any other to the prosperity of the town.
The dove taking wing with an olive branch in her beak (the emblem of peace) attached to the thread of the shuttle, represents the beneficial results emanating from the art of weaving.

Commerce

The Mall is the main shopping centre in Blackburn with over 130 shops and 400 further outlets close by [Tourism in Blackburn with Darwen: Shopping], Blackburn with Darwen Borough Council, 8 November 2005, retrieved 2 May 2006.. Blackburn Market is a market close to the Mall. A retail park with recent developments is near the town centre.

Famous Blackburnians

The following people were born or brought up in Blackburn:

The arts

Fashion designer Wayne Hemingway spent most of his childhood in Blackburn, moving there after being born in Morecambe in 1961. He attended Queen Elizabeth's Grammar School, Blackburn. "[Wayne Hemingway opens new gallery of past pupils]", Queen Elizabeth's Grammar School, 15 November 2004. Retrieved 14 May 2006.
Film maker Michael Winterbottom was born in Blackburn, and also attended QEGS. "[Essential facts on Queen Elizabeth's Grammar School, Blackburn]", This Is Lancashire, 27 August 2001. Retrieved 14 May 2006.
Actor Ian McShane was born in Blackburn on 29 September 1942 [link].
Kathleen Harrison, one of the greatest British film character actresses of the Forties and Fifties, was born in Blackburn on 23 February 1892. "[Biography for Kathleen Harrison]", The Internet Movie Database. Retrieved 14 May 2006.
Actor Jon Walmsley was born in Blackburn on 6 February 1956. ^{[[Citing sources citation needed]]}
Musician, singer and composer Tony Ashton was born in Blackburn on 1 March 1946. ^{[[Citing sources citation needed]]}
Writer Josephine Cox was born in Blackburn, setting many of her novels in Lancashire. ^{[[Citing sources citation needed]]}
Actor Steve Pemberton was born in Blackburn in 1967. ^{[[Citing sources citation needed]]}
Alfred Gregory, official photographer for the 1953 ascent of Mount Everest by Sir Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay, was born in Blackburn.^{[[Citing sources citation needed]]}
Broadcaster Russell Harty was born in the town on 5 September 1934.^{[[Citing sources citation needed]]}
Wilfred Greatorex, writer and television script editor, was born in Blackburn on 27 May 1922.^{[[Citing sources citation needed]]}
Kathleen Ferrier, Opera Diva and gay icon, born Blackburn 1912, died London 1953

Sports

Four times World Superbike Championship winner Carl Fogarty was born in Blackburn on 1 July 1966. "[Carl Fogarty...On the Spot]", BBC. Retrieved 14 May 2006.
Bill Fox, chairman of Blackburn Rovers and president of the Football League upon his death in 1991, was born in Blackburn on 6 January 1928.^{[[Citing sources citation needed]]}
Blackburn Rovers captain Ronnie Clayton was capped 35 times as an England international.^{[[Citing sources citation needed]]}
Rock climber John Sumner was born in Blackburn on 13 March 1936. Sumner was the pre-eminent exploratory climber in his chosen domain of mid-Wales, climbing cutting-edge routes on the remote crags and cliff-faces south of Snowdonia starting in the mid-1950s.^{[[Citing sources citation needed]]}
England Rugby union player Will Greenwood was born in Blackburn on 20 October 1972.^{[[Citing sources citation needed]]}
The 1985 World Professional Snooker Champion Dennis Taylor moved to Blackburn from Northern Ireland in 1966 at the age of 17. [Dennis Taylor], NorthernShowBiz. Retrieved 14 May 2006.
Keith Duckworth, motor racing engine designer. He designed the Cosworth DFV, which revolutionised Formula One in the 1960s. (1933-2005)^{[[Citing sources citation needed]]}

Business

The industrialist Jack Walker was born in the town on 19 May 1929. The steel magnate ploughed his fortune into his beloved Blackburn Rovers, leading to their Premier League title success in 1995.

Science

Mathematician David Fowler was a leading authority on the history of mathematics in ancient Greece. Born in Blackburn on 28 April 1937, Fowler studied at the Russell School, near Morecambe Bay and Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge.^{[[Citing sources citation needed]]}
Arthur Maitland was a pioneering figure in laser physics research. At the University of St Andrews, he very quickly established a group working on gas lasers, recognising that the gas-discharge laser had enormous potential for practical use. He was born in Blackburn on 7 December 1928.^{[[Citing sources citation needed]]}

Politics

John Morley, 1st Viscount Morley of Blackburn, OM, PC (1838 - 1923), Liberal statesman, writer and newspaper editor
Former Foreign Secretary and Leader of the Commons Jack Straw is MP for Blackburn.

References

Books about Blackburn

External links

[Blackburn with Darwen council site]
[BlackburnWorld] Information gateway for the people of Blackburn with Darwen.
[Blackburn with Darwen Community Websites] Free websites for community groups in Blackburn with Darwen.
[Blackburn Business Net] Information, News, Events and Business Support Resources for Local Businesses .
[Blackburn Online] A website for the people of Blackburn.
[Cotton Town], a website telling the story of the rapid social and economic changes that occurred as Blackburn and Darwen began to expand in line with the United Kingdom textile industry.
[Images Of Blackburn] A photographic look at Blackburn, Lancashire.
[In and around Blackburn] Various photographs from around Blackburn.
Jeremy Seabrook, "[No one asked Blackburn's people what they wanted]", The Guardian, 30 December 2002 (Argues that the far right is feeding on the dislocation of the industrial north )

Shopping

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