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

King William Street (Looking south) - 1963

 

Looking south along King William Street from the corner of Exchange Street.

It looks like people have always sat on the benches in that vicinity, mainly pedestrianised now of course. I've sat there on sunny afternoons myself over the decades, just watching the world go by and chatting to friends.

Fantastic old lamps along the front of the old Town Hall.

Photo courtesy of John Eddleston

The Red Lion at Whitebirk - Early 1920's

Taking a brief break from the Eddleston collection, here's a nice 1920's shot of the Red Lion at Whitebirk, with the road to Rishton winding away top left.

A little difficult to read, but note the ''Nuttall's Ales & Stout'' sign along the top of the pub. In fact that could quite feasibly be a Nuttall's dray driving away from the place (heading in the Blackburn direction), while the single decker bus behind it, heads off to Burnley or somewhere.

A very old building, dating from circa 1680, the Red Lion was originally just a private residence and remained so until the early 19th century.

The building to the left of the pub and the ones at the other side of the road, were the premises of Davies Bros (horse dealers / slaughterers) as far as I can make out. In my 1925 directory, they appeared to own properties at either side of the pub, as well as dwellings in the close vicinity.

Below is a nice old pane of etched glass from Nuttall's. Not from the Red Lion, but from the Bowling Green Inn, in Darwen.  A very rare sight these days and seeing as the Bowling Green has recently been refurbished, I doubt this pane is still in situ (I took the photo back in 2010).

Below is a closer view of the Red Lion and by the time of this image, it was  bearing the Lion Ales (Matthew Brown) signage, so got to be post 1927. Looking at the car just to the left of the pub, it's probably a photo from the 1940's or 50's.

I was last in there, one Saturday afternoon about 12 months ago (summer 2012). It's still a nice pub and always worth a visit.

Top photo and glass pane, courtesy of the CP collection.

Bottom photo courtesy of Cottontown.org.

King William St / Market Hall & Clock - 1963

King William St, again looking north. 

Ever since the 1840's, when the market hall and clock tower were built, this scene must have been captured dozens and dozens of times. There's sketches, drawings, old postcard images and photographs from most decades, but this 1963 one of JE's must have been one of the last (apart from the demolition ones).

Courtesy of John Eddleston 

Preston New Rd / Limefield - c1910

Not the best quality image, but a pleasant view, from a more tranquil time, of the top stretch of Preston New Road, looking towards Billinge End in the far distance. I think the photographer would have been stood at the top of Saunders Road. 

As with a lot of these old postcard images, the lack of traffic is a noticeable feature, with just a couple of horse drawn vehicles in the distance. You can just imagine the clip clop of the horses passing your house and the rumbling, trundling of the occasional tram.

This was quite a well heeled part of town back then (see Matthew Cole's book 'Blackburn's West End') and many of those large properties would have been inhabited by some of  our leading citizens, as would the roads and streets on either side, Crosshill Rd, Granville Rd and St Silas's Rd etc.
Below is another view of part of the same section, but looking in the opposite direction, towards town.

COURTESY OF THE CP COLLECTION   

Ship In A Case (S. S. Viking) - Railway Station

Whenever Blackburn people reminisce about our old Victorian railway station, they very often talk about the old 'ship in a glass case'' which used to sit on Platform 2, just by the ramp that took you down to the entrance hall / booking office.

The ship was actually the S. S. Viking and was one of the passenger ships operated by the Isle of Man Steam Packet Company Ltd.

From what I can gather (off the internet), she was built in 1905, was then sold to the Admiralty in 1915 and converted into a seaplane carrier, then bought back by the IofMSPCo in 1919, used during the years of the Second World War as a troop ship and then scrapped in 1954.

I can't remember when the model in the glass case was removed from the railway station, but I'm pretty sure it disappeared long before the station was modernised a few years ago. I can remember seeing a similar ship in a case at Lancaster railway station, during my busking days (so kind of 1987 - 1989 ish). Whether it was the Viking or another ship, I wouldn't like to say. Maybe someone out there could confirm?.

Top photograph courtesy of Blackburn Library Services - Reference Dept.

Postcard courtesy of the CP collection.

Bottom image courtesy of artist John L Chapman

Blackburn Bus Company vehicles - c 1930

Continuing the public transport theme of the last posting, here are two lovely period shots of local buses.

The top photo is of a 1926 Leyland ''G'' Type and the lower photo of a 1929 Leyland Titan TD1. The bottom photo was taken on Shear Brow, just lower down than Park Ave and Stedd Terrace / Wimberley Street. The little children are stood at the gate to No 36 Shearbrow. I lived with my family at No 24 Shear Brow, just 5 houses further down, from 1967 to approximately 1978-79. When I was going to school from there, all the way to North Rd near Shadsworth, I could have done with that bus stopping outside our house.

That section of Shear Brow, from London Rd up to Eldon Rd, is the steepest part of the brow. Difficult to imagine a Double Deck bus, filled with passengers, climbing that hill. But the destination 'roll' on the front above the cab, clearly says 'Shear Brow'. Perhaps they climbed via a different route, then descended via the brow. Pretty brave driver and passengers in winter time.

Not too sure where the top photo was taken, possibly on Blakeymoor?

BOTH PHOTOGRAPHS COURTESY OF BLACKBURN BOROUGH TRANSPORT DEPARTMENT. 

Steam Tram at the Cemetery Gates

I don't know much about public transport (bit of an admission that, for a time served coach builder), but I like some of these old trams. Here's the Salford Bridge-Cemetery steam tram, parked up outside the cemetery gates. I'll bet they were a sight to see, trundling by, puffing steam out of the engine. Bet they made a bit of a racket too.

The second photo, I have only added to accompany the top image. It says Blackburn & Over Darwen on the side of the trailer car and by the look of the hilly backdrop, it looks like the photo may have been taken in Darwen. 

COURTESY OF THE INTERNET (and of course the Blackburn Corporation Tramways Department)