Blacko is a village and

civil parish In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government below districts and counties, or their combined form, the unitary authority ...

in the

Pendle Pendle may refer to: * Borough of Pendle in Lancashire, England ** Pendle (UK Parliament constituency) * Pendle Hill in Lancashire, England ** Forest of Pendle, hilly landscape surrounding the hill * Pendle College of the University of Lancaster * ...

district of

Lancashire Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated Lancs) is the name of a historic county, ceremonial county, and non-metropolitan county in North West England. The boundaries of these three areas differ significantly. The non-metropolitan county of Lancashi ...

, England. Before local government reorganisation in 1974 the village lay on the border with the

West Riding of Yorkshire The West Riding of Yorkshire is one of three historic subdivisions of Yorkshire, England. From 1889 to 1974 the administrative county County of York, West Riding (the area under the control of West Riding County Council), abbreviated County ...

. The parish has a population of 672. The village is on the old turnpike road from

Nelson Nelson may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Nelson'' (1918 film), a historical film directed by Maurice Elvey * ''Nelson'' (1926 film), a historical film directed by Walter Summers * ''Nelson'' (opera), an opera by Lennox Berkeley to a lib ...

Gisburn Gisburn (formerly Gisburne) is a village and civil parish within the Ribble Valley borough of Lancashire, England. Historically within the West Riding of Yorkshire, it lies northeast of Clitheroe and west of Skipton. The civil parish had a pop ...

( A682). The village enjoys views towards

Boulsworth Hill Boulsworth Hill is a large expanse of moorland, the highest point of the South Pennines of south-eastern Lancashire, England, separating the Borough of Pendle from Calderdale. Its summit, Lad Law, is 1,696 ft (517 m) above sea level, ...

to its southeast, the former cotton town of Nelson, about two miles to its south and

Pendle Hill Pendle Hill is in the east of Lancashire, England, near the towns of Burnley, Nelson, Colne, Brierfield, Clitheroe and Padiham. Its summit is above mean sea level. It gives its name to the Borough of Pendle. It is an isolated hill in the Pe ...

to its west across the valley of

Pendle Water Pendle Water is a minor river in Lancashire, England. Rising on Pendle Hill, Pendle Water cuts a deep valley between Barley Moor and Spence Hill where it feeds into the reservoirs of ''Upper'' and ''Lower Ogden''. Upon exiting the lower rese ...

. The parish adjoins the Pendle parishes of

Middop Middop is a rural hamlet and civil parish in Lancashire, England. It is in Ribble Valley district. Middop is near the villages of Rimington and Gisburn and approximately north-east of its post town, Clitheroe. In the 2001 United Kingdom census ...

Bracewell and Brogden Bracewell and Brogden is a civil parish in the West Craven area of the Borough of Pendle in Lancashire, England. According to the 2001 census it had a population of 238, increasing slightly to 244 at the 2011 census. The parish includes Brace ...

Salterforth Salterforth is a village and civil parish within the Borough of Pendle in Lancashire, England. The population of the Civil Parish at the United Kingdom Census 2011, 2011 census was 637. It lies on the List of B roads in Great Britain, B6383 road ...

Foulridge Foulridge (pronounced ) is a village and civil parish in Pendle, Lancashire, close to the border with North Yorkshire in England. It is situated just beyond Colne, on the route from the M65 to Skipton, and is an important stopping point on summ ...

Colne Colne () is a market town and civil parish in the Borough of Pendle in Lancashire, England. Located northeast of Nelson, north-east of Burnley, east of Preston and west of Leeds. The town should not be confused with the unrelated Colne Val ...

Barrowford Barrowford () is a large village and civil parish in the Pendle district of Lancashire, England. It is situated to the north of Nelson on the other side of the M65 motorway, and forms part of the Nelson conurbation. It also comprises the area of ...

, Roughlee Booth and Barley-with-Wheatley Booth. Parts of the parish, west of the village are included in the

Forest of Bowland The Forest of Bowland, also known as the Bowland Fells and formerly the Chase of Bowland, is an area of gritstone fells, deep valleys and peat moorland, mostly in north-east Lancashire, England, with a small part in North Yorkshire (however ro ...

Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty An Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB; , AHNE) is an area of countryside in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland, that has been designated for conservation due to its significant landscape value. Areas are designated in recognition of thei ...

(AONB).

History

Spring Field Mill was probably built around 1850 for cotton weaving and powered originally by a

beam engine A beam engine is a type of steam engine where a pivoted overhead beam is used to apply the force from a vertical piston to a vertical connecting rod. This configuration, with the engine directly driving a pump, was first used by Thomas Newco ...

. Later the mill was extended and horizontal engine installed and it reached its fullest extent by 1910. Closed in the 1970s, the building survived into the 2000s, however a small housing estate now occupies the site. Overlooking the village is Stansfield Tower (also known as Blacko Tower), which was built around 1890. A local grocer, Jonathan Stansfield, built this circular rough stone tower to provide himself with a view over

Ribblesdale Ribblesdale is one of the Yorkshire Dales in England. It is the dale or upper valley of the River Ribble in North Yorkshire. Towns and villages in Ribblesdale (downstream, from north to south) include Selside, Horton-in-Ribblesdale, Stainfo ...

from the top, but the height fell somewhat short. A

Bronze Age The Bronze Age is a historic period, lasting approximately from 3300 BC to 1200 BC, characterized by the use of bronze, the presence of writing in some areas, and other early features of urban civilization. The Bronze Age is the second pri ...

axe, believed to be 3,500 years old, was found near the tower in 1952. The village has won the small village category of the Lancashire

Best Kept Village A best kept village is a village that has won one of the annual county competitions in the United Kingdom for its tidiness, appropriateness, and typicality. The competitions have been nationally organized by the Campaign to Protect Rural England ...

competition in 2002 and 07, and the champion village category in 2011, 13, 15 and 16.

Governance

The part of Blacko parish historically in Lancashire was once part of

township A township is a kind of human settlement or administrative subdivision, with its meaning varying in different countries. Although the term is occasionally associated with an urban area, that tends to be an exception to the rule. In Australia, Ca ...

in the ancient parish of Whalley. This became a

in 1866, however in 1894 the urban areas became an

urban district Urban district may refer to: * District * Urban area * Quarter (urban subdivision) * Neighbourhood Specific subdivisions in some countries: * Urban districts of Denmark * Urban districts of Germany * Urban district (Great Britain and Ireland) (hist ...

and Blacko was created from the remainder, forming part of the

Burnley Rural District Burnley was a rural district of Lancashire, England from 1894 to 1974. It was named after but did not include the large town of Burnley, which was a county borough. The district and its council was created in 1894 under the Local Government Act ...

until 1974. The area around Admergill formed part of Brogden township in

Barnoldswick Barnoldswick (pronounced ) is a market town and civil parish in the Borough of Pendle, Lancashire, England. It is within the boundaries of the historic West Riding of Yorkshire, Barnoldswick and the surrounding areas of West Craven have been a ...

's ancient parish and later the

Skipton Rural District Skipton was a rural district in the West Riding of Yorkshire from 1894 to 1974. It was named after Skipton, which constituted an urban district on its southern border. The district was expanded in 1937 by taking in the parishes of Steeton with ...

, in the

. Along with part of Barrowford, the parish forms the Blacko and Higherford ward of

Pendle Borough Council Pendle may refer to: * Borough of Pendle in Lancashire, England ** Pendle (UK Parliament constituency) * Pendle Hill in Lancashire, England ** Forest of Pendle, hilly landscape surrounding the hill * Pendle College of the University of Lancaster ...

. The Village also is home to Blacko Events Committee, which regularly hold fundraising events including the Annual Blacko Show, which is held on the recreational site every September. The committee raise funds which then is put back into the community. One noticeable community project was the donation of funds to the Parish Council, to provide new play equipment on the recreation ground, which then went on to win Pendle community Networks Play Setting of the Year Award.

Demography

According to the

United Kingdom Census 2011 A Census in the United Kingdom, census of the population of the United Kingdom is taken every ten years. The 2011 census was held in all countries of the UK on 27 March 2011. It was the first UK census which could be completed online via the Inter ...

, the parish has a population of 672, an increase from 595 in the 2001 census.

People

Stone Edge (historically Stonehedge) was home to a branch of

Burnley Burnley () is a town and the administrative centre of the wider Borough of Burnley in Lancashire, England, with a 2001 population of 73,021. It is north of Manchester and east of Preston, at the confluence of the River Calder and River Bru ...

Towneley family The Towneley or Townley family are an English (UK) family whose ancestry can be traced back to Anglo-Saxon England. Towneley Hall in Burnley, Lancashire, was the family seat until its sale, together with the surrounding park, to the corporatio ...

, some of whom emigrated to

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth ar ...

in the 17th century. As well as exporting the Towneley name, their descendants also included both

George Washington George Washington (February 22, 1732, 1799) was an American military officer, statesman, and Founding Father who served as the first president of the United States from 1789 to 1797. Appointed by the Continental Congress as commander of th ...

and Robert E. Lee. Blacko was the childhood home of Lancashire

comedian A comedian or comic is a person who seeks to entertain an audience by making them laugh. This might be through jokes or amusing Amusement is the state of experiencing humorous and entertaining events or situations while the person or a ...

Jimmy Clitheroe James Robinson Clitheroe (24 December 1921 – 6 June 1973) was an English comic entertainer. He is best remembered for his long-running BBC Radio programme, ''The Clitheroe Kid'' (1956–72). Early years Jimmy Clitheroe was born in Clitheroe, ...

(1921–73), famous for his

BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...

...

History

Governance

Demography

People

See also

References

External links