Blackburn

I visited Blackburn on a sunny day in October - a couple of hours after Rovers were soundly thrashed 1-0 by Watford! A couple of these images are from an earlier visit in December 2022, when it was rather colder and there was snow on the ground. Thematically this was a repeat of Burnley last week, with a walk along the Leeds Liverpool Canal, then back through the city centre.

As last week, I started at a well-preserved wharf. This is Eanam Wharf.


But today I walked along the canal in the direction of Liverpool, rather than Leeds. Here is the view looking that way.


Great reflections with little wind and bright weather. This is the bridge under Cicely Lane.


More reflections!


The canal is above the height of the city, and at one point you get a good view of Blackburn - over Asda.


There are four locks on this section, this is the first.


The third lock.


This is the view from beyond the lock, looking back, with the fourth lock in the foreground.


A photo here shows what it looked like when the canal was still used industrially - but sadly undated. 
There is now a canal "service station" here - the facilities are just off camera to the left.

Directly after the fourth lock, the canal goes under the A666 - the trunk road of the beast - and this is the view on towards Liverpool.


However, our walk heads along the road, towards the centre of Blackburn. This area is called Nova Scotia for reasons I cannot determine. And to be honest, off the canal, it is not the most scenic of areas, so we will skip ahead to Wainwright Bridge.

This was built in 2007-08, and takes the A666 over the railway, avoiding the centre of Blackburn, though it was only connected to the orbital road in 2016. In 2020 it was painted in Blackburn Rovers colours.


Rather than cross it, I continued into the centre, going under the railway, where someone had the bright idea of putting a major road junction under the bridge.



The road crosses the Blakewater River, which was previously known as the Blackwater River, and is where Blackburn gets it name. Maybe not the best feature of the city...


Heading up to the cathedral, they are a couple of interesting buildings. The Vic, and on the right Heatley Arcade.


This was the post office - now a Wetherspoons.


The cathedral. Blackburn became a diocese in 1926, and the parish church of St Mary's, built in 1826, was converted to a cathedral. It was heavily extended, and only considered completed in 1977.


From the side, on a rather colder day.


And finally a view across the the "cathedral quarter". The statue of Queen Victoria in the centre was erected in 1905, after she had died, and was unveiled by her daughter Princess Louise.




















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