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Burnley

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For other meanings see Burnley (disambiguation)
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Burnley is a large market town in the east of Lancashire in north-west England with a population of around 74,000. To the west of Burnley lies Padiham and Accrington with Nelson and Colne to the north. The surrounding borough of Burnley has a population of around 90,000. The local radio station for Burnley and its surrounding area is 2BR. Burnley is the main town in the Burnley-Padiham-Nelson-Colne conurbation which has an estimated population of over 160,000

To the north west of Burnley lies Pendle Hill, home of the Pendle Witches, whose summit stands 557m (1827ft) above sea level.

The member of parliament for Burnley is Kitty Ussher (Labour).

Contents

History

Burnley's origins lie in at least 1122 when the parish church of St Peter was first mentioned but probably goes back further. The town was granted a market over 700 years ago. Burnley grew up as an industrial town in the 19th century, with its economy being based upon textile manufacturing (cotton spinning and weaving), coal mining, and engineering. Most of the cotton mills, all of the coal mines, and some of the engineering firms have now closed, although some mills remain as a reminder of Burnley's industrial history. It has recently emerged that there were plans made by the German Army to invade the town during the Second World War due to its industrial might.Burnley Express Newspaper - September 2005

Burnley received national attention in June 2001 due to disturbances arising from social problems - mainly racial tensions but also social deprivation in White and Asian Communities. See the [Burnley Task Force report] (pdf) for more information. The population of Burnley includes around 5,500 people of South Asian heritage and many of these are concentrated in the poorest areas of Burnley, one of which, Daneshouse, is in the top 1% of the most deprived wards in Britain. The town has also seen growing success of the far right-wing British National Party in local elections in the borough.

Burnley Football Club

Main article: Burnley F.C.

Burnley Football Club, nicknamed the Clarets, are founder members of The Football League, have played at Turf Moor since 1883 and currently compete in the English Championship (previously Division 1). There is a rivalry between Burnley and Blackburn football clubs.

Nightlife

Burnley has a lively nightlife, drawing clubbers from all over the North-West. The town is dominated by the club Lava-Ignite; Lava is usually an over-25s only bar, however, with Ignite being over-18s.

Other major bars and nightclubs include XS - a large club usually associated with dance, Calamity Jane's (cowboy themed), Smackwater Jacks (known as Smacks), Posh, Hellbound@Graffiti and Sanctuary (associated with the alternative music scene). There are two main pubs for gay people to relax without prejudice, The Garden Bar and The Plane Tree. There are also chain-owned bars, such as Wetherspoons and Walkabout.

Burnley is also a venue for one of the UK's largest Blues festivals. This two day event occurs annually, and takes place across the many pubs in Burnley, with the festival drawing many Blues fans from all over the country. For more info see [Burnley National Blues Festival - 14/4/2006 - 16/4/2006]

Shopping

Burnley along with Blackburn, Preston and Blackpool is one of the main shopping centres in Lancashire. The town has a market open six days a week, a large shopping centre called Charter Walk which is light and airy with big name shop ranging from River Island and Miss Selfridge to Toni & Guy and Argos. There are also several retail parks including a large Tesco store built on stilts (with a car park undernesth). Future developments include 'The Oval' a large shopping centre with 32 large new shops expected to include Debenhams, GAP, H&M and others.

Transport

Burnley has four railway stations, Manchester Road station, Central Station, Barracks station and Rosegrove station. Manchester Road station is the best served with routes to Preston and Blackpool in the West and Leeds and York in the East. it also serves well for away football supporters as it has direct links into the town centre.

The town also has good bus links into Manchester: the Witch Way service runs from Nelson to Manchester, stopping at Burnley. The bus station is located in the town centre. It is a new structure made out of steel and glass, which has won awards for design. These awards include the prestigious Bus Industry Award for Infrastructure, won in 2003.

Gawthorpe Hall
Enlarge
Gawthorpe Hall

Places of interest

Education

Some of the secondary schools in Burnley are listed below. One of the outcomes of the Burnley Task Force report as the finding that the schooling system in Burnley could be partially to blame for many racial problems and ultimately the 2001 disturbances. In the end it was decided that new "super schools" should be built to replace all 7 of the current schools.

This work is due to begin in September, with Gawthorpe High school being the first school to be demolished and will last approximately 3 years. The 7 schools will be compressed into 5 super schools overall and they will be unlike normal high schools. The 5 schools will actually be like one school but separated into 5 evenly spread out schools, in effect they will be like a university, each school will have its own specialised area of teaching and students wanting to study certain subjects may move about within the 5 schools. Each school will still have its own ethos and uniforms to keep them individual but will overall offer more to students as they can learn what they want to from an early age.

Overall the project is expected to cost upwards of £50 million and is unique to Burnley though it is expected the idea of uni-high schools will catch on and more will be built.

For more detailed information, including artist impressions and the phases of transition see [http://www.lancashire.gov.uk/education/bsf/index.asp]

Famous people from Burnley

Curiosity

In various Len Deighton thrillers the hero is unnamed and comes from Burnley. In the film version of The Ipcress File, however, he is called Harry Palmer and is played by cockney Michael Caine.

Notes

External links

 

From Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Original article here. Support Wikipedia by contributing or donating.
All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License See Wikipedia Copyrights for details.

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