Royal Vist - King George V - 10th July 1913

A royal visit to Blackburn.

King George V and his entourage were here on 10th July 1913 to lay the foundation stone of the public halls, now better known to us as King George's Hall. Here the cavalcade can be seen crossing the Boulevard in the direction of the Railway Station.

It would be October 1921 before the halls were finally opened, the main delay being the Great War of 1914 - 1918.

Sadly I would estimate that a proportion of the people in this crowd, especially the men, would not have survived to see the completion of the halls. Although many would do and as with future generations of Blackburn folk, they would in later decades have attended ceremonies, dances, concerts, pantomimes, plays and a variety of other performances, functions and events held there.

Courtesy of the CP Collection

Penny St looking towards Salford - 1963

This is the bottom end of Penny St, looking down towards Salford at the very bottom, with a glimpse of Railway Rd (where the bus is emerging from). 

On the left of the photo you can see a little bit of the canopy over the entrance to the Odeon cinema and just past the Fleece pub, is the junction of Starkie St.

Note the Dutton's OBJ advertisement on the gable facing us. Quite a popular drink back then, in their dumpy little half pint bottles. The Dutton's brewery is just out of sight, to the left around the corner at the bottom, as is their pub, the Lord Nelson, which had the illuminated OBJ man on it.

(photos of the Lord Nelson will follow, in time)

Photo courtesy of John Eddleston

Station Road (Railway Road) - c1905

A 1905 view of of Railway Road, or Station Road as it was back then. Taken from Salford Bridge, the group of people to the right would have been stood on the White Bull corner. Beyond them we can see the railway station in the distance, the corner of The Adelphi Hotel, Telegraph House with its dome on this side of High Street and the canopied shops down to the corner where the Hake Boat chippy would eventually be.

With the exception of Telegraph House, if you were to stand in the same place as the photographer did back then, you would probably get a similar view today.

COURTESY OF THE CP COLLECTION