Don't turn a blind eye to Nelson.

It is not somewhere that many would choose to explore I suspect, but Nelson has a spot in my heart as my Dad had threatened to call me Horatio as I was born on Trafalgar Day, 21st October, the date Nelson lost his life at the said Battle. He then softened to Nelson, and after further discussion neither was adopted for me. I have a secret trip in mind where I visit every pub in the country called the Nelson, Victory or Trafalgar. May be one day when I get a bus pass and it become cheaper.

Nelson has more of interest even than that as the town could be said to have also been named after a pub! Originally there were three small villages Marsden, Hebson and Bradley. From the mid 1700's there was one mill and a couple of coal mines. once the Leeds Liverpool Canal opened, and then the railway arrived in 1849 many more mills were built and industry hit town. What is now Brierfield Station was called Marsden and what is now Nelson station was called, Nelson Inn, Great Marsden, after the Lord Nelson Inn that is still there. As industry grew, as well as the housing the three villages merged and the name Nelson was selected out of the three to distinguish it from Marsden at the east end of the Standedge Tunnel in Yorkshire! So it could be said to have been named after a pub!!

It is also the original home of Jellie Babies and Victory V's. One of the things that you ofetn read about the town is that it has the cheapest housing in England, but the rows of terraces look very well constructed and easily updated, as many have been.

At the corner of Market Street, Scotland Street and Leeds Road is this impressive Santander Bank building. The building was put up in 1913 on the site of of some small shops. It was moved back from the original line to create a more impressive square, and to make more space the burgeoning automobile. It has maintained it's original purpose as it was built for the Union Bank that had been created in Manchester in 1836 and was to remain based in that city until 1856 when it started to open other branches. It  became affiliated with Barclay's Bank in 1919, but was kept separate and marketed as the Union Bank until 1940 when it was fully absorbed. The banking chamber was an octagonal shape lit from the glass dome above. There were five public rooms and access to the tower too. 

By the Union bank building above stand the Nelson Shuttle that was erected in 2011. It is 12m high and is of weather steel to get the same look as a wooden shuttle that was used in the cotton mills of the industrial period. It was made by David Palmer, who was based at Reedley Marina and it took him about 100 days to construct the 5 tonne piece. It is surrounded by granite blocks which have sayings in the local dialect, such as 'If fowkspak' as thi thowt, ther'd be few friends', or 'if folk spoke as they thought, they would have few friends'.

This building was erected as the Nelson and District Weavers Association Institute and Assembly Hall in 1904. Nelson was a bit different to many Lancashire mill towns as they carried out weaving rather than spinning. The Nelson Weavers were founded in 1870 and affiliated in 1894. It wasn't until 1966 that they sacrificed their independence by merging with the Burnley Weavers Assoc. and then in 1984 joined in with the Transport and General Workers Union. Once it became redundant it was taken iver by the Pendle Council and was named after Sidney Silverman, an MP for Nelson for over 30 years. In 2008 it was old to the local Ghosia Mosque who are using it as a cultural and educational centre. It is also available for use by all the community. It has retained the name of Silverman Hall and the original features of the building will be retained.

This is the first of only a very few memorials raised to commemorate the sacrifice made by local Boy Scouts in WWI. It was designed by Job Davis and erected in 1919. The Boy Scouts were only created in 1910! The model was a local scout John Abraham Moore who was thought of as an ideal scout. The sculpture has the uniform of the day and is standing to attention. The yorkshire grit stone piece cost £150. 105 ex scouts were killed in the conflict from the area and 156 from one troop had signed up. It was refurbished and moved to the present site in 1998 and was listed as Grade II in 2015.

Nelson was incorporated as a town in 1864 and so became a Victorian New Town. It became a Borough in 1890. Strangely enough there is no information on the internet, that I can find about the history of the Town Hall on Market Street. 

The fact that it must be the Town Hall is evidenced by this glass work in an upper window. I assume that it is still the Town Hall as although Nelson lost it Borough status on the formation of Pendle Council in 1974, and Pendle Borough Council has their own Hall in Nelson too, but not here. It is a lovely building and is a demonstration of the Town pride and wealth at the time.

Right next door to the Town Hall is the Carr Road Wesleyan Peace Memorial Institute. I think was like the church rooms for the Wesleyan Methodist Church that was almost next door along with accompanying school room.. It was built in 1863/64 and must have been lost in later years. A church stands there today which is a joint Catholic and Methodist church that was built in 2002.

On the wall of the Institute is a memorial to those lost in WWI that were associated with the chamber, interestingly with two civilians that were killed whilst on munitions work. In 1888 the Church had lost 5 young lady Sunday school teachers when on an excursion organised by the Co-Operative Holiday Association when they were drowned on Derwent Water. I wonder if there is a memorial to them somewhere.

The old public library in Nelson was opened in 1908 thanks to a £7000 donation from the Carnegie Foundation. It is a fine building in the Edwardian Baroque style. A stone mason died during its construction. It had lending, newspaper and reference rooms on ground floor and then in the basement there was a lending and reading room for juveniles, and upstairs a ladies/committee room and stores. It was closed in 1918/19 due to the flu outbreak. It started as a closed system where the books were selected from a catalogue and obtained by the staff until 1925. It ceased as a library in 1974 and became the Council Surveyors offices. Then in 2012/13 it was refurbished and split up into smaller rooms, but has now been restored once again and is for offices etc.

A typical terrace street running down to the canal, you can just see the bridge at the end. In the distance is Pendle Hill

A nice '10 foot' as they would call it in Hull with the original facilities' in the back garden. The rear access is still used for the washing and for the kids to play safely away from the traffic.

All in all there are many buildings that make a trip up from the canal well worth the walk, along with the very numerous take away's if you don't fancy cooking.