Tuesday 5 June 2012

Blakey Moor - The Site of the Technical School

This top image shows how Blakey Moor looked just before they built the Technical School on the plot. This photo would have been taken from the corner of Barton St, just by The Jubilee pub. Please note the clock tower of St Paul's school, as a reference and then have a look at the bottom image, taken in the 1950's/1960's to get some perspective.
The square section tower on the left of the photo, rising above the roofline, is St Paul's Church and the large, three storey building on the extreme right is the Golden Ball pub (I think) on the corner of long gone Cannon St.
The foundation stone for the 'Tech' was laid on May 9th 1888 and construction wasn't completed until 1894, although the first students had moved into the unfinished building in 1891. That's not as unusual as it sounds, they were still teaching students while construction work went on around them during the years I worked at the college (1994 - 2008) 
Images courtesy of Blackburn College & The Community Studies Dept, Blackburn Library.
Document courtesy of the CP collection. 

4 comments:

  1. I have information of my ancestors keeping the Cross Keys Hotel at Blakey Moor about 1821. I have four names, William and Henry Stanley and Mary Stanley and Walter Bramley. Does anybody know of the Cross Keys at Blakey Moor? I can't locate it.

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    1. Hi -- I've never seen the Cross Keys Hotel marked on any map, but 1821 is quite early. It isn't listed in the 1893 list either, so I'll assume it had long gone by that time or changed names. Do you know what number it was on Blakey Moor. If you do, we might be able to determine from later records (directories etc) if there was a hotel or pub at the same address in later times. The Jubilee on Blakey Moor for instance was only called that from 1887 onwards, prior to that it was the Cattle Market Tavern.

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    2. Hi again -- After typing the above, I then checked in 'Blackburn's Old Inns' and the Cross Keys is mentioned in there. According to this info, it stood at the northwest end of the moor (so near to Duke St ?).

      It goes on to say it was tenanted by Henry Stanley, who died in 1804, after which the house was put up for sale, along with the adjoining cottages, a smithy and joiners shop etc.

      Then it carries on that it was occupied in 1822 by William Bramley who had married Mary Stanley (daughter of Henry mentioned above). A couple of years after that it was succeeded by Margaret (Peggy) Stanley, who was something of a local character and remembered long after she passed away.

      The above info all courtesy of George C Miller.

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    3. If you look at the upper photo of the Technical School, the one dated 1906, then by my reckoning, northwest Blakey Moor would be those buildings behind the tree on the right of the photo (further along it would become St Paul's St), so one of those premises visible would probably have been the Cross Keys. The school (Blakey Moor School) which is still there, was built in c1911 - 1913, on the plot / line of those buildings.

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