Around Preston

 Horwich is a small town about 5 miles northwest of Bolton that sprung to prominence at the end of the nineteenth century, when the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway built their workshops here. To quote Wiki. In 1881 the population of 3,761 lived in 900 houses and had remained stable for fifty years. The arrival of the railway works and other industries, including W.T. Taylor's cotton mill, was to dramatically change this. A rapid increase in population followed, so that by 1891 it stood at 12,850. The Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway was one of the biggest railway companies before WW1. They built the works in Horwich in 1886, and the first building was Rivington House, the only bit still standing, albeit in a truncated state. During WW2 it was used to make about 500 tanks, but the site closed in 1983, after not quite a century. A marker stands at the entrance to the site, next to the war memorial. A short branch off the railway from Manchester to Preston led to a station A...

I was in Rochdale anyway, and had a short time to look around. Not sure if I really did it justice. I am counting this as near Preston; it is only 40 minutes away and used to be in Lancashire. Rochdale is on the river Roch; curiously the river is pronounced "roach". Much of the river is culverted, but there is a 200' section that is open in the centre of town. This gives a nice starting point. I think this has been deculverted; old maps indicate this area was the centre for Rochdale trams at one time. The curved building at the back in HSBC bank. This seems to be a sole survivor in an area that had a lot of banks at one time. Across the river was the Union Bank of Manchester, now the Old Bank Karaoke Bar. To the right of HSBC, and set back a bit was the Royal Bank of Scotland, now a Hogarths pub. It is not just banks. The cinema has also become a pub. Built in 1938, the new name, Regal Moon, recalls the original name, Regal Cinema. Butts Mill stood on the site previously....