Around Preston

Another small Lancashire town, Accrington is just east of Blackburn, and similar in size to Darwen. As well as textiles, Accrington is known for the very strong bricks made from local fireclay. They are called Accrington NORI, possibly because the brick mould said IRON, and when the bricks were made, the letters were reversed. "Accrington Stanley, Who Are They?" Accrington's other claim-to-fame is a famously unknown football team, following an advert for milk in 1989.  Like the other towns I visited recently, the centre of Accrington has a number of impressive buildings, dating from it Victorian zenith. In Darwen they were strung out along one road; here they are rather more scattered, which makes forming a narrative for this blog tricky, so in no particular order... The town hall is neo-classical, but they have chosen to obscure it rather with some very functional market stalls. Across the road is what I guess was a bank. Council offices, possible a former mill - that lo

Darwen is a small market town about twenty minutes from Preston, just south of Blackburn, and on the A666 - the Trunk Road of the Beast. It is another Lancashire that made its fortune with the textile industry, and suffered when that went into terminal decline. However, it seems now to be thriving and has at least some manufacturing sites still there. I used to visit Darwen on a weekly basis when my daughter was football training here with Blackburn Rovers, and I got to know some bits very well. The nearby Sainsbury's in particular. Darwen's most prominent feature is the Jubilee Tower that looks over the town, and I blogged about that a couple of years ago. Here is the view from there looking down at Darwen. The chimney just right of centre is India Mill, and as you approach Darwen from north (and the M65), the chimney is directly ahead of you; it very much dominates the skyline. So we will start there, on the south side of the town, and work our way north. The chimney was desi

Padiham is a small market town about half an hour from Preston, to the west of Burnley. It is a classic Lancashire town with a lot of charm. It has a population of around 10,000. And most of the car parks are free! The main street is a conservation area, and has some fine examples of architecture, many of which are weird shapes to fit the space between twisting roads. This was Barclays Bank at one time. The block behind and to the right curves at it goes down the hill. This is the view from the bottom. Note also the building on the left which comes almost to a point at this end. This is the end of the last building. Another bank, the National Westminster. To the right of that, and set back a bit is the Hand and Shuttle , the name being a reference to the cotton trade that the town was based on. I am not sure if it is still a going concern; it certainly looks very run down, but was reviewed (quite favourably) just six months ago. Further down the road, this building used to be the Liber