Blackburn is known to fans of The Beatles as the town featured in the song "A Day in the Life". An article in the Daily Mail about a plan to fill potholes in the town caught John Lennon's eye as he was writing the song, giving birth to the lyric: "I read the news today. Oh, boy. 4,000 holes in Blackburn Lancashire". This lends itself to the title of the unoffical fanzine of Blackburn Rovers, which is called "4,000 Holes".
In 1887, John Bartholomew's Gazetteer of the British Isles described Blackburn like this:
"Blackburn. parl. and mun. bor., par. and township, NE. Lancashire, 9 miles E. of Preston and 210 miles NW. of London by rail -- par., 48,281 ac., pop. 161,617; township, 3681 ac., pop. 91,958; bor., 6974 ac., pop. 104,014; 4 Banks, 2 newspapers. Market-days, Wednesday and Saturday. It is one of the chief seats of cotton manufacture, besides producing calico, muslin, &c., there being over 140 mills at work. There are also factories for making cotton machinery and steam-engines. B. has heen associated with many improvements in the mfr. of cotton, among which was the invention (1767) of the "Spinning Jenny" by James Hargreaves, who died in 1770. There are several fine churches and public buildings. A Corporation Park (50 ac. in area) is on the outskirts of the town. Several lines of railway converge here, and pass through one principal station belonging to the Lancashire and Yorkshire Ry. Co. B. returns 2 members to Parliament." [1]
The coat of arms show in the picture here, has many distintive emblems, these are described below:
Three bees in flight. The bee is an emblem of skill, perseverance and industry. “B” also stands for Blackburn; and further, as the Peel family sprang from this neighbourhood and bears a bee in flight on its shield, the idea naturally suggests itself that Sir Robert Peel had adopted the Blackburn bee.
The shield is silver or white, and thus emblematical of calico, the product of the Blackburn bees.
The broad wavy black line represents the Black Brook (Blakewater) on the banks of which the town is built.
The silver bugle horn was the crest of the first Mayor of Blackburn, William Henry Hornby , It is also the emblem of strength.
The gold lozenges, or fusils (diamond shaped), are the heraldic emblems of spinning, derived from the Latin “fusus” or “fusilium,” meaning a spindle, and they refer to the invention of the “Spinning Jenny” in 1864 by James Hargreaves, a native of the district. They also denote the connection of Joseph Feilden with Blackburn, as Lord of the Manor, as he bore lozenges on his shield.
The background of green is there to remind us of the time when Blackburn was one of the Royal Forests in the time of Edward the Confessor.
The shuttle is the emblem of weaving, the trade which has contributed more than any other to the prosperity of the town.
The dove taking wing with an olive branch in her beak (the emblem of peace) attached to the thread of the shuttle, represents the beneficial results emanating from the art of weaving.
Famous Blackburnians
The following people were born or brought up in Blackburn:
The arts
Fashion designer Wayne Hemingway spent most of his childhood in Blackburn, moving there after being born in Morecambe in 1961. He attended the local private school for boys (QEGS - see above) [2].
Actor Ian McShane, famous for playing antiques dealer Lovejoy in the BBC drama series of the same name, was born in Blackburn on 29 September 1942 [3].
Kathleen Harrison, one of the greatest British film character actresses of the Forties and Fifties, was born in Blackburn on 23 February1892. She found a new audience on television in the Sixties with the hugely successful comedy-drama Mrs Thursday.
Musician, singer and composer Tony Ashton was born in Blackburn on 1 March1946. A gifted organist, Ashton came to fame with his trio Ashton, Gardner & Dyke , best known for their 1971 smash hit "Resurrection Shuffle". He also played on sessions with Jon Lord of Deep Purple and with Jerry Lee Lewis.
Writer Josephine Cox was born in Blackburn, setting many of her novels in Lancashire. Her annual sales in Britain total nearly one million copies.
Actor Steve Pemberton was born in Blackburn in 1967 and is most famous for co-writing and co-starring in BBC television comedy series The League of Gentlemen. He has variously been involved in theatre production, performance and direction, and is a founder member of 606 Theatre .
Broadcaster Russell Harty was born in the town on 5 September1934. He will probably be best remembered for an edition of his chatshow in which he was physically assaulted by the black American singer, Grace Jones.
Wilfred Greatorex , writer and television script editor, was born in Blackburn on 27 May1922.
Sports
Four times Superbike World Championship winner Carl Fogarty was born in Blackburn on 1 July1966.
Bill Fox , chairman of Blackburn Rovers and president of the Football League from 1998 until his death in 1991, was born in Blackburn on 6 January1928.
Blackburn Rovers captain Ronnie Clayton was capped 35 times as an England international.
Rock climberJohn Sumner was born in Blackburn on 13 March1936. Sumner was the preeminent exploratory climber in his chosen domain of mid-Wales, climbing cutting-edge routes on the remote crags and cliff-faces south of Snowdonia starting in the mid-1950s.
Arthur Maitland was a pioneering figure in laserphysics research. At St Andrews University, he very quickly established a group working on gas lasers , recognising that the gas-discharge laser had enormous potential for practical use. He was born in Blackburn on 7 December1928
Matthew Cole , "Blackburn's Shops at the Turn of the Century" [11]
M. Baggoley, "Blackburn in Old Photographs", Sutton Publishing, 1996[12]
External links
Cotton Town, a website telling the story of the rapid social and economic changes that occurred as Blackburn and Darwen began to expand in line with the United Kingdom textile industry.
