Blackburn Day 2.

Oops, this should have been before the last blog.

We got a leaflet from the Tourist Information that is in the indoor market. I liked the fact that the market was linked with the new massive shopping centre in the middle of tow.

This building looks as though it should be next to the canal but it was in the centre of the town and shows just how much the town was industrial in the past. There seems to be a lot of Victorian industrial buildings that have a certain something, but not too much off it! I'm not sure what it is but it seems that many of them, even done up, would not be 'top class' buildings with that certain something!!

However St George's Hall is a monumental place. The foundation stone was positioned by an electric 'appliance' in 1913 operated by King George V from the steps of the old Town Hall at some distance! The building included a lecture hall, an assembly hall and the main hall. WWI delayed the completion until 1921. Overlooking the front of the Hall is William Gladstone. This is the the third site of the statue that was first unveiled in 1899. It was placed here in 1983.

This is called the Victoria Building and was built as a Jubilee tribute to Queen Victoria as the front of the original technical college.

The motifs are highly detailed and represent matters of art and science.

This is not a church but the Cotton Exchange. Maybe cotton was worshiped with more ardour than religion at the time. It was opened in 1865 and being very practical too, out of hours it was used for public meetings and concerts. From 1912 to 2006 there was a cinema.

On the side of the Old Town Hall was this sign. I wonder when it dates from. I knew that cars were run on gas in WWI and maybe WWI but when does this come from?

Up the hill again we passed Thwaites Brewery. It was founded in 1807 and has continued to brew on the same city centre site until now. They rare due to move to a smaller brewery in Mellor about 5 miles away. This happened after selling much of its brewing to Marstons who now brew Wainwrights and Lancaster Bomber elsewhere. Thwaites still brew beer for it's own houses.

Just up the hill, at the back of Eanam Wharf I found the Thwaites Brewery Stables. Horses were used for deliveries until 1927 but they were reintroduced in 1959. They currently have 4 horses and are regular winners for heavy horses classes. As you can see the stables are the original ones and need alot of money spending on them. In fact they are moving out with the new brewery. I do hope a new use can be found for these unique buildings as horse transport relics are few and far between.

This Eanam Street and it has the original setts on the road. On the right is one of the two three storey warehouses and on the left is the wharf managers house and workshops a little further away. 

I love the round end of the workshops. It seems that the people that own the site at the present are selling up and a new company has been set up to protect the site for the future. 2016 was the 200th anniversary of the completion for the canal from end to end and many events were held here.

The canopied warehouses are very similar to those at Burnley.

Under the canopy there is a cast iron milestone suspended up a post, out of the way of the feet of many workers. The buildings are all rented out to different people at the moment and so lack a unifying look. Maybe the new company will sort that out.