Blackburn
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BLACKBURN, a town, a township, a parish, a subdistrict, a district, and a hundred in Lancashire. The town stands on the river Blackwater, 9 miles E by S of Preston, and 12½ N by W of Bolton. The Leeds and Liverpool canal passes through it; and railways go from it N, S, E, and W. The country around it possesses little scenic interest, yet is sheltered by hills on the NE and NW; and it lay for ages wild and barren, but has been much improved by cultivation. The town is large; was very prosperous up to the juncture of the cotton distress in 1862; and has owed most of its importance to modern manufactures. Cottonmills and print works are numerous, and employ a large proportion of the inhabitants. The value of cotton goods produced prior to 1862 exceeded £2,000,000 a year. The cotton-spinning was much advanced by an invention of James Hargrave, a native, originally a carpenter; and the cotton-printing was introduced by the family of Sir Robert Peel. Some woollen cloth also is made; considerable industry is carried on in breweries, foundries, and machine-works, particularly in the manufacture of weaving-machinery; and much business is done in connexion with neighbouring factories, corn mills, paper-mills, and collieries. Weekly markets are held on Wednesday and Saturday; and fairs on the Wednesday before 2 Feb., on every alternate Wednesday thence till Michaelmas, and on Easter Monday, 11 and 12 May, 29 Sept., and 17 Oct. The town has a head post office, a telegraph station, four banking offices, and three chief inns; and publishes four weekly newspapers. It is a seat of courts. and a polling-place; it was constituted, by the act of 1832, a parliamentary borough sending two members to parliament; and it was made municipal in 1851, with government by a mayor, twelve aldermen, and thirty-six councillors. Acres, 3,610. Real property, in 1860, £170,703. Direct taxes, in 1857, £26,354. Electors in 1868, 1,894. Pop. in 1841, 36,629; in 1861, 63,126. Houses, 11,306.
John Marius Wilson, Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales (1870-72) more ...
Archives and Libraries
Blackburn Central Library,
Town Hall Street,
Blackburn
BB2 1AH
Cemeteries
St John the Evangelist Church of England, Blackburn |
St Mary (Cathedral) Church of England, Blackburn |
St Paul Church of England, Blackburn |
St Peter, Blackburn, Church of England |
Islington, Particular Baptist, Blackburn |
Chapel St Independent, Blackburn |
Whalley New Road Cemetery, Blackburn |
Clayton St Wesleyan Methodist, Blackburn |
Paradise Lane United Methodist Free Church, Blackburn |
St Alban, Blackburn, Roman Catholic |
Paradise Lane Society of Friends, Blackburn |
Census
Details about the census records, and indexes for Blackburn.
Churches
There are more than 30 churches identified in this place. Please click here for a complete list.
You can also perform a more selective search for churches in the Blackburn area or see them printed on a map.
Church Records
The following items have been produced by the LFH&HS.
- A marriage index for St Mary the Virgin, 1813-1837.
- A birth/baptism register index is available for Islington Particular Baptists 1772-1837.
- A birth/baptism register index for Chapel Street Congregational, Oct 1777 - Aug 1837.
- St John - Grave Occ list 1781-1950.
- Islington Particular Baptists burials, Sept 1764 - June 1837.
- Monumental Inscriptions, Non-Conformist chapels.
Civil Registration
The Register Office covering the Blackburn area is Blackburn.
Gazetteers
Ask for a calculation of the distance from Blackburn to another place.
Click here for a list of nearby places.
1868 - The National Gazetteer of Great Britain and Ireland
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"BLACKBURN, a parish, municipal and parliamentary borough, and important seat of manufacture, in the hundred of Blackburn, in the county palatine of Lancaster, 23 miles to the N.W. of Manchester, and 209 miles from London by road, or 177¾ miles by the North-Western railway. It may also be approached viâ the Great Northern and Midland railways. It is a station on the western division of the Lancashire and Yorkshire railway, a branch of which also runs from Blackburn to Clitheroe. By the Leeds and Liverpool canal, which passes near the town, communication is opened with the principal rivers of the country, and the eastern and western seas. The parish, which is of great extent, being about 14 miles in length and 10 miles in breadth, is situated on the river Derwent, and comprises the chapelries of Balderston, Bamber Bridge, Over Darwen, Lower Darwen, Feniscowles, Great Harwood, Langho, Mellor, Salesbury, Samlesbury, Tockholes, Walton-le-Dale, and Witton, and the townships of Blackburn, Billington, Clayton-le-Dale, Cuerdale, Dinkley, Eccleshill, Little Harwood, Livesey, Osbaldeston, Pleasington, Ramsgrave, Rishton, and Wilpshire. The surrounding country, forming anciently the district called Blackburnshire, which included the present hundred of Blackburn, is for the most part barren, and remained till recently uncultivated. A ridge of high ground runs through the parish in a direction from north-east to north-west, extending from Whalley to Billinge Hill, at which point it has an elevation of about 630 feet. That part of the parish which lies on the north-west side of the hills, sloping to the river Ribble, has the best soil and most agreeable scenery. Clay soils predominate, and rest chiefly on sandstone. Coal is obtained in abundance, and some limestone. A mine of alumstone, which was formerly worked, has long been neglected. The staple business of Blackburn is the cotton manufacture, which has long been established there. In the 17th century the "Blackburn checks," a united fabric of linen and cotton, were well esteemed; and subsequently the manufacture of "Blackburn greys," a cloth not bleached before printing, flourished here. The number of hand-loom weavers is comparatively small, and they are employed mostly in the cheap muslin manufacture.
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"WENSLEY-FOLD, a township in the parish of Blackburn, county Lancaster, 2 miles N. of Blackburn. It is bounded on the S. by the river Derwent."
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Historical Geography
In 1835 the parish of Blackburn contained the townships of Blackburn, Walton le Dale, Cuerdale, Samlesbury, Balderstone, Osbaldeston, Clayton-le-Dale, Salesbury, Dinckley, Billington, Mellor, Ramsgreave, Wilpshire, Pleasington, Livesey, Tockholes, Lower Darwen, Over Darwen, Little Harwood, Great Harwood, Rishton, Witton, Yate with Pickup Bank and Eccleshill.
You can see the administrative areas in which Blackburn has been placed at times in the past. Select one to see a link to a map of that particular area.
Maps

View a map of the boundaries of this town/parish.
You can see maps centred on OS grid reference SD682279 (Lat/Lon: 53.746496, -2.483671), Blackburn which are provided by:
- This place shown on an OpenStreetMap map.
- Google Streetview
- StreetMap (Current Ordnance Survey maps)
- OpenStreetMap
- Bing (was Multimap)
- OldMaps (Old Ordnance Survey maps.)
- Old Maps Online (Other old maps.)
- National Library of Scotland (Best site for old maps)
- Vision of Britain (Click "Historical units & statistics" for administrative areas.)
- English Jurisdictions in 1851 (Unfortunately the LDS have removed the facility to enable us to specify a starting location, you will need to search yourself on their map.)
- Magic (Geographic information) (Click + on map if it doesn't show)
- Elgin Road Works
- GeoHack (Links to on-line maps and location specific services.)
- All places within the same township/parish shown on an Openstreetmap map.
- Nearby townships/parishes shown on an Openstreetmap map.
- Nearby places shown on an Openstreetmap map.
Poor Houses, Poor Law etc.
The Workhouse site has an interesting description of Blackburn workhouse.
Probate Records
For probate purposes prior to 1858, Blackburn was in the Archdeaconry of Chester, in the Diocese of Chester. The original Lancashire wills for the Archdeaconry of Chester are held at the Lancashire Record Office.
You can also see Family History Societies covering the nearby area, plotted on a map. This facility is being developed, and is awaiting societies to enter information about the places they cover.