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Burnley () is a town and the administrative centre of the wider
Borough of Burnley
The Borough of Burnley () is a local government district with the borough status in Lancashire, England. It has an area of and a population of (), and is named after its largest town, Burnley. Other notable settlements include Padiham, Hap ...
in
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, with a 2001 population of 73,021.
[ It is north of ]Manchester
Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The t ...
and east of Preston, at the confluence of the River Calder and River Brun
The River Brun is a river in eastern Lancashire. It is approximately long and has a catchment area (not including the River Don) of .
Course
Thought to begin at the confluence of Hurstwood Brook (draining Wether Edge, Hameldon and supplying ...
.
The town is located near the countryside to the south and east, with the towns of Padiham
Padiham ( ) is a town and civil parish on the River Calder, about west of Burnley, Lancashire, England. It forms part of the Borough of Burnley. Originally by the River Calder, it is edged by the foothills of Pendle Hill to the north-west ...
and Brierfield to the west and north respectively. It has a reputation as a regional centre of excellence for the manufacturing and aerospace industries.
The town began to develop in the early medieval
In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the Post-classical, post-classical period of World history (field), global history. It began with t ...
period as a number of farming hamlets
A hamlet is a human settlement that is smaller than a town or village. Its size relative to a parish can depend on the administration and region. A hamlet may be considered to be a smaller settlement or subdivision or satellite entity to a lar ...
surrounded by manor houses and royal forest
A royal forest, occasionally known as a kingswood (), is an area of land with different definitions in England, Wales, Scotland and Ireland. The term ''forest'' in the ordinary modern understanding refers to an area of wooded land; however, the ...
s, and has held a market for more than 700 years. During the Industrial Revolution
The Industrial Revolution was the transition to new manufacturing processes in Great Britain, continental Europe, and the United States, that occurred during the period from around 1760 to about 1820–1840. This transition included going f ...
it became one of Lancashire's most prominent mill town
A mill town, also known as factory town or mill village, is typically a settlement that developed around one or more mills or factories, usually cotton mills or factories producing textiles. Europe
Italy
* ''Crespi d'Adda'', UNESCO World Her ...
s; at its peak, it was one of the world's largest producers of cotton cloth and a major centre of engineering.
Burnley has retained a strong manufacturing sector, and has strong economic links with the cities of Manchester and Leeds
Leeds () is a city and the administrative centre of the City of Leeds district in West Yorkshire, England. It is built around the River Aire and is in the eastern foothills of the Pennines. It is also the third-largest settlement (by populati ...
, as well as neighbouring towns along the M65 corridor. In 2013, in recognition of its success, Burnley received an Enterprising Britain award from the UK Government, for being the "Most Enterprising Area in the UK". For the first time in more than fifty years, a direct train service now operates between the town's Manchester Road railway station and Manchester's Victoria
Victoria most commonly refers to:
* Victoria (Australia), a state of the Commonwealth of Australia
* Victoria, British Columbia, provincial capital of British Columbia, Canada
* Victoria (mythology), Roman goddess of Victory
* Victoria, Seychelle ...
station, via the newly restored Todmorden Curve
The Calder Valley line (also previously known as the Caldervale line) is a railway route in Northern England between the cities of Leeds and Manchester as well as the seaside resort of Blackpool. It is the slower of the two main rail routes ...
, which opened in May 2015.
History
Toponymy
The name Burnley is believed to have been derived from Brun Lea, meaning "meadow by the River Brun". Various other spellings have been used: Bronley (1241), Brunley (1251) and commonly Brumleye (1294)
Origins
Stone Age
The Stone Age was a broad prehistoric period during which stone was widely used to make tools with an edge, a point, or a percussion surface. The period lasted for roughly 3.4 million years, and ended between 4,000 BC and 2,000 BC, with t ...
flint tools
A stone tool is, in the most general sense, any tool made either partially or entirely out of stone. Although stone tool-dependent societies and cultures still exist today, most stone tools are associated with prehistoric (particularly Stone Ag ...
and weapons have been found on the moors
The term Moor, derived from the ancient Mauri, is an exonym first used by Christian Europeans to designate the Muslim inhabitants of the Maghreb, the Iberian Peninsula, Sicily and Malta during the Middle Ages.
Moors are not a distinct or ...
around the town, as have numerous tumuli
A tumulus (plural tumuli) is a mound of earth and stones raised over a grave or graves. Tumuli are also known as barrows, burial mounds or ''kurgans'', and may be found throughout much of the world. A cairn, which is a mound of stones buil ...
, stone circles
A stone circle is a ring of standing stones. Most are found in Northwestern Europe – especially in Britain, Ireland, and Brittany – and typically date from the Late Neolithic and Early Bronze Age, with most being built from 3000 BC. The b ...
, and some hill forts
A hillfort is a type of earthwork used as a fortified refuge or defended settlement, located to exploit a rise in elevation for defensive advantage. They are typically European and of the Bronze Age or Iron Age. Some were used in the post-Roma ...
(see: Castercliff
Castercliff is an Iron Age multivallate hillfort situated close to the towns of Nelson and Colne in Lancashire, Northern England.
__TOC__
It is located on a hilltop overlooking the valley system of the River Calder and its tributaries, on the ...
, which dates from around 600 BC). Modern-day Back Lane, Sump Hall Lane and Noggarth Road broadly follow the route of a classic ridgeway running east–west to the north of the town, suggesting that the area was populated during pre-history
Prehistory, also known as pre-literary history, is the period of human history between the use of the first stone tools by hominins 3.3 million years ago and the beginning of recorded history with the invention of writing systems. The use of ...
and probably controlled by the Brigantes
The Brigantes were Ancient Britons who in pre-Roman times controlled the largest section of what would become Northern England. Their territory, often referred to as Brigantia, was centred in what was later known as Yorkshire. The Greek geogr ...
.
Limited coin finds indicate a Roman
Roman or Romans most often refers to:
*Rome, the capital city of Italy
*Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD
*Roman people, the people of ancient Rome
*''Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a letter ...
presence, but no evidence of a settlement has been found in the town. Gorple Road (running east from Worsthorne
Worsthorne is a rural village on the eastern outskirts of Burnley in Lancashire, England. It is in the civil parish of Worsthorne-with-Hurstwood and the borough of Burnley. At the 2011 census the village had a population of 1,028.
The vill ...
) appears to follow the route of a Roman
Roman or Romans most often refers to:
*Rome, the capital city of Italy
*Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD
*Roman people, the people of ancient Rome
*''Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a letter ...
road that may have crossed the present-day centre of town, on the way to the fort at Ribchester
Ribchester is a village and civil parish within the Ribble Valley district of Lancashire, England. It lies on the banks of the River Ribble, northwest of Blackburn and east of Preston.
The village has a long history with evidence of Bronze ...
. It has been claimed that the nearby earthworks
Earthworks may refer to:
Construction
*Earthworks (archaeology), human-made constructions that modify the land contour
* Earthworks (engineering), civil engineering works created by moving or processing quantities of soil
*Earthworks (military), m ...
of Ring Stones Camp (), Twist Castle () and Beadle Hill () are of Roman origin, but little supporting archaeological
Archaeology or archeology is the scientific study of human activity through the recovery and analysis of material culture. The archaeological record consists of artifacts, architecture, biofacts or ecofacts, sites, and cultural landscap ...
information has been published.
Following the Roman period, the area became part of the kingdom of Rheged
Rheged () was one of the kingdoms of the ''Hen Ogledd'' ("Old North"), the Brittonic-speaking region of what is now Northern England and southern Scotland, during the post-Roman era and Early Middle Ages. It is recorded in several poetic and ba ...
, and then the kingdom of Northumbria
la, Regnum Northanhymbrorum
, conventional_long_name = Kingdom of Northumbria
, common_name = Northumbria
, status = State
, status_text = Unified Anglian kingdom (before 876)North: Anglian kingdom (af ...
. Local place-names Padiham
Padiham ( ) is a town and civil parish on the River Calder, about west of Burnley, Lancashire, England. It forms part of the Borough of Burnley. Originally by the River Calder, it is edged by the foothills of Pendle Hill to the north-west ...
and Habergham show the influence of the Angles
The Angles ( ang, Ængle, ; la, Angli) were one of the main Germanic peoples who settled in Great Britain in the post-Roman period. They founded several kingdoms of the Heptarchy in Anglo-Saxon England. Their name is the root of the name ' ...
, suggesting that some had settled in the area by the early 7th century; sometime later the land became part of the hundred
100 or one hundred (Roman numeral: C) is the natural number following 99 and preceding 101.
In medieval contexts, it may be described as the short hundred or five score in order to differentiate the English and Germanic use of "hundred" to de ...
of Blackburnshire
Blackburn Hundred (also known as Blackburnshire) is a historic sub-division of the county of Lancashire, in northern England. Its chief town was Blackburn, in the southwest of the hundred. It covered an area similar to modern East Lancashire, in ...
.
There is no definitive record of a settlement until after the Norman conquest of England
The Norman Conquest (or the Conquest) was the 11th-century invasion and occupation of England by an army made up of thousands of Normans, Norman, Duchy of Brittany, Breton, County of Flanders, Flemish, and Kingdom of France, French troops, ...
. In 1122, a charter
A charter is the grant of authority or rights, stating that the granter formally recognizes the prerogative of the recipient to exercise the rights specified. It is implicit that the granter retains superiority (or sovereignty), and that the rec ...
granted the church of Burnley to the monk
A monk (, from el, μοναχός, ''monachos'', "single, solitary" via Latin ) is a person who practices religious asceticism by monastic living, either alone or with any number of other monks. A monk may be a person who decides to dedica ...
s of Pontefract Abbey. In its early days, Burnley was a small farming community, gaining a corn mill
A gristmill (also: grist mill, corn mill, flour mill, feed mill or feedmill) grinds cereal grain into flour and middlings. The term can refer to either the grinding mechanism or the building that holds it. Grist is grain that has been separated ...
in 1290, a market in 1294, and a fulling mill
Fulling, also known as felting, tucking or walking ( Scots: ''waukin'', hence often spelled waulking in Scottish English), is a step in woollen clothmaking which involves the cleansing of woven or knitted cloth (particularly wool) to elimin ...
in 1296. At this point, it was within the manor of Ightenhill
Ightenhill is a civil parish in the Borough of Burnley in Lancashire, England, with a population of 1,975.
Since its creation as Ightenhill Park in 1866 the parish has seen a number of boundary changes. The modern civil parish includes Gawth ...
, one of five that made up the Honor of Clitheroe
The Honour of Clitheroe is an ancient grouping of manors and royal forests centred on Clitheroe Castle in Lancashire, England; an honour traditionally being the grant of a large landholding complex, not all of whose parts are contiguous. In th ...
, then a far more significant settlement, and consisted of no more than 50 families. Little survives of early Burnley apart from the Market Cross
A market cross, or in Scots, a mercat cross, is a structure used to mark a market square in market towns, where historically the right to hold a regular market or fair was granted by the monarch, a bishop or a baron.
History
Market crosse ...
, erected in 1295, which now stands in the grounds of the old grammar school.
Over the next three centuries, Burnley grew in size to about 1,200 inhabitants by 1550, still centred around the church, St Peter's, in what is now known as "Top o' th' Town". Prosperous residents built larger houses, including Gawthorpe Hall
Gawthorpe Hall is an Elizabethan country house on the banks of the River Calder, in Ightenhill, a civil parish in the Borough of Burnley, Lancashire, England. Its estate extends into Padiham, with the Stockbridge Drive entrance situated there. ...
in Padiham and Towneley Hall
Towneley Park is owned and managed by Burnley Borough Council and is the largest and most popular park in Burnley, Lancashire, England. The main entrance to the park is within a mile of the town centre and the park extends to the south east, cov ...
.
In 1532, St Peter's Church was largely rebuilt. Burnley's grammar school
A grammar school is one of several different types of school in the history of education in the United Kingdom and other English-speaking countries, originally a school teaching Latin, but more recently an academically oriented secondary school ...
was founded in 1559, and moved into its own schoolhouse next to the church in 1602. Burnley began to develop in this period into a small market town
A market town is a settlement most common in Europe that obtained by custom or royal charter, in the Middle Ages, a market right, which allowed it to host a regular market; this distinguished it from a village or city. In Britain, small rural ...
, with a population of not more that 2,000 by 1790. It is known that weaving
Weaving is a method of textile production in which two distinct sets of yarns or threads are interlaced at right angles to form a fabric or cloth. Other methods are knitting, crocheting, felting, and braiding or plaiting. The longitudinal th ...
was established in the town by the middle of the 18th century, and in 1817 a new Market House was built. The town continued to be centred on St Peter's Church, until the market was moved to the bottom of what is today Manchester
Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The t ...
Road, at the end of the 19th century.
Industrial Revolution
In the second half of the 18th century, the manufacture of cotton
Cotton is a soft, fluffy staple fiber that grows in a boll, or protective case, around the seeds of the cotton plants of the genus ''Gossypium'' in the mallow family Malvaceae. The fiber is almost pure cellulose, and can contain minor perce ...
began to replace wool
Wool is the textile fibre obtained from sheep and other mammals, especially goats, rabbits, and camelids. The term may also refer to inorganic materials, such as mineral wool and glass wool, that have properties similar to animal wool.
As ...
. Burnley's earliest known factories – dating from the mid-century – stood on the banks of the River Calder, close to where it is joined by the River Brun
The River Brun is a river in eastern Lancashire. It is approximately long and has a catchment area (not including the River Don) of .
Course
Thought to begin at the confluence of Hurstwood Brook (draining Wether Edge, Hameldon and supplying ...
, and relied on water power
Hydropower (from el, ὕδωρ, "water"), also known as water power, is the use of falling or fast-running water to produce electricity or to power machines. This is achieved by converting the gravitational potential or kinetic energy of a wa ...
to drive the spinning machines. The first turnpike
Turnpike often refers to:
* A type of gate, another word for a turnstile
* In the United States, a toll road
Turnpike may also refer to:
Roads United Kingdom
* A turnpike road, a principal road maintained by a turnpike trust, a body with powers ...
road through the area now known as Burnley was begun in 1754, linking the town to Blackburn
Blackburn () is an industrial town and the administrative centre of the Blackburn with Darwen borough in Lancashire, England. The town is north of the West Pennine Moors on the southern edge of the Ribble Valley, east of Preston and north-n ...
and 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 ...
eventually leading to the area of Brun Lea developing into a town, and by the mid 19th century, there were daily stagecoach journeys to Blackburn
Blackburn () is an industrial town and the administrative centre of the Blackburn with Darwen borough in Lancashire, England. The town is north of the West Pennine Moors on the southern edge of the Ribble Valley, east of Preston and north-n ...
, Skipton
Skipton (also known as Skipton-in-Craven) is a market town and civil parish in the Craven district of North Yorkshire, England. Historically in the East Division of Staincliffe Wapentake in the West Riding of Yorkshire, it is on the River Air ...
and Manchester
Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The t ...
, the latter taking just over two hours.
The 18th century also saw the rapid development of coal mining
Coal mining is the process of extracting coal from the ground. Coal is valued for its energy content and since the 1880s has been widely used to generate electricity. Steel and cement industries use coal as a fuel for extraction of iron from ...
on the Burnley Coalfield
The Burnley Coalfield is the most northerly portion of the Lancashire Coalfield. Surrounding Burnley, Nelson, Blackburn and Accrington, it is separated from the larger southern part by an area of Millstone Grit that forms the Rossendale anticli ...
: the drift mines
Drift mining is either the mining of an ore deposit by underground methods, or the working of coal seams accessed by adits driven into the surface outcrop of the coal bed. A drift mine is an underground mine in which the entry or access is above ...
and shallow bell-pits of earlier centuries were replaced by deeper shafts, meeting industrial as well as domestic demand in Nelson, Colne & Padiham, and by 1800 there were over a dozen pits in the modern-day centre of the town alone.
The arrival of the Leeds and Liverpool Canal
The Leeds and Liverpool Canal is a canal in Northern England, linking the cities of Leeds and Liverpool.
Over a distance of , crossing the Pennines, and including 91 locks on the main line. The Leeds and Liverpool Canal has several small branc ...
in 1796 made possible transportation of goods in bulk, bringing a huge boost to the area's economy and the town of Burnley was born. Dozens of new mills were constructed, along with many foundries
A foundry is a factory that produces metal castings. Metals are cast into shapes by melting them into a liquid, pouring the metal into a mold, and removing the mold material after the metal has solidified as it cools. The most common metals pr ...
and ironworks
An ironworks or iron works is an industrial plant where iron is smelted and where heavy iron and steel products are made. The term is both singular and plural, i.e. the singular of ''ironworks'' is ''ironworks''.
Ironworks succeeded bloomeri ...
that supplied the cotton mills
A cotton mill is a building that houses spinning or weaving machinery for the production of yarn or cloth from cotton, an important product during the Industrial Revolution in the development of the factory system.
Although some were driven ...
and coal mines with machinery and cast
Cast may refer to:
Music
* Cast (band), an English alternative rock band
* Cast (Mexican band), a progressive Mexican rock band
* The Cast, a Scottish musical duo: Mairi Campbell and Dave Francis
* ''Cast'', a 2012 album by Trespassers William
* ...
and wrought iron
Wrought iron is an iron alloy with a very low carbon content (less than 0.08%) in contrast to that of cast iron (2.1% to 4%). It is a semi-fused mass of iron with fibrous slag Inclusion (mineral), inclusions (up to 2% by weight), which give it a ...
for construction. The town became renowned for its mill-engines, and the Burnley Loom was recognised as one of the best in the world.
A permanent military presence was established in the town with the completion of Burnley Barracks
Burnley Barracks was a military installation at Burnley in Lancashire, England. Built for cavalry, but later used for infantry and storage, military activities at the barracks declined in the late 19th century.
Background
The time of the French ...
in 1820.
Disaster struck the town in 1824, when first its only local bank (known as Holgate's) collapsed, forcing the closure of some of the largest mills. This was followed by a summer drought, which caused serious problems for many of the others, leading to high levels of unemployment and possibly contributing to the national financial crisis of 1825.
By 1830, there were 32 steam engines
A steam engine is a heat engine that performs mechanical work using steam as its working fluid. The steam engine uses the force produced by steam pressure to push a piston back and forth inside a cylinder. This pushing force can be trans ...
in cotton mills throughout the rapidly expanding town, an example of which, originally installed at Harle Syke Mill, is on display in the Science Museum
A science museum is a museum devoted primarily to science. Older science museums tended to concentrate on static displays of objects related to natural history, paleontology, geology, industry and industrial machinery, etc. Modern trends in mu ...
in London.
Around 1840, a traveller described the town as ugly, stating that: "parts of it were so situated that good architectural effects might have been obtained had the disposition and the resources co-existed".
The Great Famine of Ireland led to an influx of Irish families during the 1840s, who formed a community in one of the poorest districts. At one time, the Park District (modern-day town centre, around Parker St.) was known as Irish Park.
In 1848, the East Lancashire Railway Company's extension from Accrington
Accrington is a town in the Hyndburn borough of Lancashire, England. It lies about east of Blackburn, west of Burnley, east of Preston, north of Manchester and is situated on the culverted River Hyndburn. Commonly abbreviated by locals to ...
linked the town to the nation's nascent railway network for the first time. This was another significant boost to the local economy and, by 1851, the town's population had reached almost 21,000.
The Burnley Building Society
The Burnley Building Society, incorporated in Burnley in 1850, was, by 1911, not only "by far the largest in the County of Lancashire... but the sixth in magnitude in the kingdom". Their motto was By Service We Progress.
History
The Burnley Buil ...
, incorporated in Burnley in 1850, was, by 1911, not only 'by far the largest in the County of Lancashire... but the sixth in magnitude in the kingdom'.
The Cotton Famine
The Lancashire Cotton Famine, also known as the Cotton Famine or the Cotton Panic (1861–65), was a depression in the textile industry of North West England, brought about by overproduction in a time of contracting world markets. It coincided w ...
of 1861–1865, caused by the American Civil War
The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states th ...
, was again disastrous for the town. However, the resumption of trade led to a quick recovery and, by 1866, the town was the largest producer of cotton cloth in the world. By the 1880s, the town was manufacturing more looms than anywhere in the country.
In 1871, the population was 44,320, and had grown to 87,016 by 1891. Burnley Town Hall
Burnley Town Hall is a municipal building in Manchester Road, Burnley, Lancashire, England. The town hall, which is the headquarters of Burnley Borough Council, is a Grade II listed building.
History
In the mid 19th century local council meetin ...
, designed by Holton and Fox of Dewsbury
Dewsbury is a minster and market town in the Metropolitan Borough of Kirklees in West Yorkshire, England. It lies on the River Calder and on an arm of the Calder and Hebble Navigation waterway. It is to the west of Wakefield, east of Hudder ...
, was built between 1885 and 1888.
The Burnley Electric Lighting Order was granted in 1890, giving Burnley Corporation (which already controlled the supply of water and the making and sale of gas) a monopoly in the generation and sale of electricity in the town. The building of the coal-powered Electricity Works
A power station, also referred to as a power plant and sometimes generating station or generating plant, is an industrial facility for the generation of electric power. Power stations are generally connected to an electrical grid.
Many pow ...
, in Grimshaw Street, began in 1891, close to the canal (the site of the modern-day Tesco supermarket) and the first supply was achieved on 22 August 1893, initially generating electricity for street lighting.
The start of the 20th century saw Burnley's textile industry at the height of its prosperity. By 1901 there were 700,000 spindles and 62,000 looms at work in the textile industry. Other industries at that time included: brass and iron foundries, rope works, calico printing works, tanneries, paper mills, collieries and corn mills and granaries. By 1910, there were approximately 99,000 power loom
A power loom is a mechanized loom, and was one of the key developments in the industrialization of weaving during the early Industrial Revolution. The first power loom was designed in 1786 by Edmund Cartwright and first built that same year. ...
s in the town, and it reached its peak population of over 100,000 in 1911. By 1920, the had more than 20,000 members. However, the First World War heralded the beginning of the collapse of the English textiles industry and the start of a steady decline in the town's population. The Bank Parade drill hall was completed in the early 20th century.
There is a total of 191 Listed buildings in Burnley
Burnley is a town in Lancashire, England. Its unparished area contains 190 buildings that are recorded in the National Heritage List for England as designated listed buildings. Of these, one is listed at Grade I, the highest of the t ...
– one Grade I (Towneley Hall), two Grade II* (St Peter's Church and Burnley Mechanics) and 188 Grade II.
World Wars
Over 4000 men from Burnley were killed in the First World War, about 15 per cent of the male working-age population.
250 volunteers, known as the Burnley Pals, made up Z Company of 11th Battalion, the East Lancashire Regiment
The East Lancashire Regiment was, from 1881 to 1958, a line infantry regiment of the British Army. The regiment was formed in 1881 under the Childers Reforms by the amalgamation of the 30th (Cambridgeshire) Regiment of Foot and 59th (2nd Nott ...
, a battalion that as a whole became known by the far more famous name of the Accrington Pals. Victoria Cross
The Victoria Cross (VC) is the highest and most prestigious award of the British honours system. It is awarded for valour "in the presence of the enemy" to members of the British Armed Forces and may be awarded posthumously. It was previously ...
es were awarded to two soldiers from the town, Hugh Colvin and Thomas Whitham
Thomas Whitham VC (11 May 1888 – 22 October 1924) was an English recipient of the Victoria Cross, the highest and most prestigious award for gallantry in the face of the enemy that can be awarded to British and Commonwealth forces.
War servic ...
, along with a third to resident (and only son of the chief constable) Alfred Victor Smith
Second Lieutenant Alfred Victor Smith VC (22 July 1891 – 22 December 1915), known to his family as Victor, was a British Army officer and an English recipient of the Victoria Cross (VC), the highest and most prestigious award for gallantry in ...
. In 1926 a memorial to the fallen was erected in Towneley Park
Towneley Park is owned and managed by Burnley Borough Council and is the largest and most popular park in Burnley, Lancashire, England. The main entrance to the park is within a mile of the town centre and the park extends to the south east, cov ...
, funded by Caleb Thornber, former mayor and alderman of the borough to ensure the sacrifice of the men lost was commemorated. The local school of art created pages of vellum with the names of the fallen inscribed. These were framed in a rotating carousel in Towneley Hall for visitors to see. There were 2000 names inscribed – less than half the number of actual casualties.
During the Second World War, Burnley largely escaped the Blitz
The Blitz was a German bombing campaign against the United Kingdom in 1940 and 1941, during the Second World War. The term was first used by the British press and originated from the term , the German word meaning 'lightning war'.
The Germa ...
, with the only Luftwaffe
The ''Luftwaffe'' () was the aerial-warfare branch of the German ''Wehrmacht'' before and during World War II. Germany's military air arms during World War I, the ''Luftstreitkräfte'' of the Imperial Army and the '' Marine-Fliegerabtei ...
bomb to known to have fallen within the town landing near the conservatory at Thompson Park on 27 October 1940. In early 1941 a network of five Starfish site
Starfish sites were large-scale night-time decoys created during the Blitz to simulate burning British cities. The aim was to divert German night bombers from their intended targets so they would drop their ordnance over the countryside. The sites ...
bombing decoys were established in the rural areas near Burnley, designed to protect Accrington
Accrington is a town in the Hyndburn borough of Lancashire, England. It lies about east of Blackburn, west of Burnley, east of Preston, north of Manchester and is situated on the culverted River Hyndburn. Commonly abbreviated by locals to ...
. A site was located near Crown Point in Habergham Eaves
Habergham Eaves is a civil parish in the borough of Burnley, in Lancashire, England. The parish consists of a rural area south of Burnley, and suburban areas on the outskirts of the town, including a large industrial estate in the north-west co ...
with two on Hameldon Hill
Hameldon Hill is a Carboniferous sandstone hill with a summit elevation of , situated between the towns of Burnley and Accrington in Lancashire, England. It is listed as a "HuMP" or "Hundred Metre Prominence", its parent being Freeholds Top, a ...
, and others in Worsthorne-with-Hurstwood
Worsthorne-with-Hurstwood is a civil parish in the Borough of Burnley, in Lancashire, England. Situated on the eastern outskirts of Burnley, in 2011 it had a population of 2,963.
The parish contains part of the Pike Hill and Brownside suburbs ...
and near Haslingden
Haslingden is a town in Rossendale, Lancashire, England. It is north of Manchester. The name means 'valley of the hazels' or 'valley growing with hazels'. At the time of the 2011 census the town (including Helmshore) had a population of 15,96 ...
.
On 6 May 1941, a stick of eight bombs straddled houses around Rossendale Avenue on the southern edge of town, causing only minor damage. On the night of 12 October the control shelter at the Starfish site near Crown Point suffered a direct hit, killing Aircraftman
Aircraftman (AC) or aircraftwoman (ACW) is the lowest rank in the British Royal Air Force (RAF) and the air forces of several other Commonwealth countries. In RAF slang, aircraftmen are sometimes called "erks".
Aircraftman ranks below leading ...
L R Harwood, and severely injuring four other men.
Although the blackout was enforced, most of the aircraft in the sky above the town would have been friendly and on training missions, or returning to the factories for maintenance. Aircraft crashes did occur, however: In September 1942 a P-38 Lightning
The Lockheed P-38 Lightning is an American single-seat, twin piston-engined fighter aircraft that was used during World War II. Developed for the United States Army Air Corps by the Lockheed Corporation, the P-38 incorporated a distinctive tw ...
from the 14th Fighter Group USAAF
The United States Army Air Forces (USAAF or AAF) was the major land-based aerial warfare service component of the United States Army and ''de facto'' aerial warfare service branch of the United States during and immediately after World War II ...
crashed near Cliviger
Cliviger is a civil parish in the Borough of Burnley, in Lancashire, England. It is situated to the southeast of Burnley, and northwest of Todmorden. According to the 2011 census, the parish has a population of 2,238.
Although the whole parish ...
, and Black Hameldon Hill claimed a Halifax from No. 51 Squadron RAF
Number 51 Squadron is a squadron of the Royal Air Force. Since 2014 it has operated the Boeing RC-135W Airseeker R.1, more commonly referred to as the Rivet Joint, from RAF Waddington, Lincolnshire.
It had previously flown the Hawker Siddel ...
in January 1943, and also a B-24 Liberator
The Consolidated B-24 Liberator is an American heavy bomber, designed by Consolidated Aircraft of San Diego, California. It was known within the company as the Model 32, and some initial production aircraft were laid down as export models des ...
from the 491st Bombardment Group
The 491st Bombardment Group is a former United States Army Air Forces unit. It was activated in October 1943 as a heavy bomber unit, drawing its cadre from the former 17th Antisubmarine Squadron. After training in the United States, the group ...
USAAF
The United States Army Air Forces (USAAF or AAF) was the major land-based aerial warfare service component of the United States Army and ''de facto'' aerial warfare service branch of the United States during and immediately after World War II ...
in February 1945. Lucas Industries
Lucas Industries plc was a Birmingham-based British manufacturer of motor industry and aerospace industry components. Once prominent, it was listed on the London Stock Exchange and was formerly a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index. In August 199 ...
set up shadow factories
British shadow factories were the outcome of the Shadow Scheme, a plan devised in 1935 and developed by the British Government in the buildup to World War II to try to meet the urgent need for more aircraft using technology transfer from the mo ...
, producing a wide range of electrical parts for the war effort. Notably they were involved with the Rover Company
The Rover Company Limited was a British car manufacturing company that operated from its base in Solihull in Warwickshire. Its lasting reputation for quality and performance was such that its first postwar model reviewed by '' Road & Track'' i ...
's failed attempts (and Rolls-Royce
Rolls-Royce (always hyphenated) may refer to:
* Rolls-Royce Limited, a British manufacturer of cars and later aero engines, founded in 1906, now defunct
Automobiles
* Rolls-Royce Motor Cars, the current car manufacturing company incorporated in ...
's later successful ones) to produce Frank Whittle
Air Commodore Sir Frank Whittle, (1 June 1907 – 8 August 1996) was an English engineer, inventor and Royal Air Force (RAF) air officer. He is credited with inventing the turbojet engine. A patent was submitted by Maxime Guillaume in 1921 for ...
's pioneering jet engine
A jet engine is a type of reaction engine discharging a fast-moving jet of heated gas (usually air) that generates thrust by jet propulsion. While this broad definition can include rocket, Pump-jet, water jet, and hybrid propulsion, the term ...
design, the W.2 (Rolls-Royce Welland
The Rolls-Royce RB.23 Welland was Britain's first production jet engine.Janes 1989, p.268. It entered production in 1943 for the Gloster Meteor. The name Welland is taken from the River Welland, in keeping with the Rolls-Royce policy of naming ...
) 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 ...
. Magnesium Elektron
Magnesium Elektron Ltd (MEL or the Mag) is a British materials manufacturer which produces magnesium and zirconium metals and compounds. Since 2018 it has traded as Luxfer MEL Technologies, following a series of mergers and acquisitions. It is stil ...
's factory in Lowerhouse became the largest magnesium
Magnesium is a chemical element with the symbol Mg and atomic number 12. It is a shiny gray metal having a low density, low melting point and high chemical reactivity. Like the other alkaline earth metals (group 2 of the periodic ta ...
production facility in Britain. An unexpected benefit of the conflict for the residents of Burnley occurred in 1940. The Old Vic Theatre Company
The Old Vic is a 1,000-seat, not-for-profit producing theatre in Waterloo, London, England. Established in 1818 as the Royal Coburg Theatre, and renamed in 1833 the Royal Victoria Theatre. In 1871 it was rebuilt and reopened as the Royal ...
and the Sadler's Wells Opera
English National Opera (ENO) is an opera company based in London, resident at the London Coliseum in St Martin's Lane. It is one of the two principal opera companies in London, along with The Royal Opera. ENO's productions are sung in English. ...
and Ballet
Ballet () is a type of performance dance that originated during the Italian Renaissance in the fifteenth century and later developed into a concert dance form in France and Russia. It has since become a widespread and highly technical form of ...
Companies moved from London to the town's Victoria Theatre.
For their actions during the war, two Distinguished Service Order
The Distinguished Service Order (DSO) is a military decoration of the United Kingdom, as well as formerly of other parts of the Commonwealth, awarded for meritorious or distinguished service by officers of the armed forces during wartime, typ ...
s and eight Distinguished Conduct Medal
The Distinguished Conduct Medal was a decoration established in 1854 by Queen Victoria for gallantry in the field by other ranks of the British Army. It is the oldest British award for gallantry and was a second level military decoration, ranki ...
s, along with a large number of lesser awards, were awarded to servicemen from the town. Burnley's main war memorial stands in Place de Vitry sur Seine next to the central library.
Post-Second World War
The Queen
Queen or QUEEN may refer to:
Monarchy
* Queen regnant, a female monarch of a Kingdom
** List of queens regnant
* Queen consort, the wife of a reigning king
* Queen dowager, the widow of a king
* Queen mother, a queen dowager who is the mother ...
, together with Prince Philip
Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh (born Prince Philip of Greece and Denmark, later Philip Mountbatten; 10 June 1921 – 9 April 2021) was the husband of Queen Elizabeth II. As such, he served as the consort of the British monarch from E ...
, first visited the town as well as 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 ...
and the Mullard
Mullard Limited was a British manufacturer of electronic components. The Mullard Radio Valve Co. Ltd. of Southfields, London, was founded in 1920 by Captain Stanley R. Mullard, who had previously designed thermionic valves for the Admiral ...
valve factory at Simonstone near Padiham
Padiham ( ) is a town and civil parish on the River Calder, about west of Burnley, Lancashire, England. It forms part of the Borough of Burnley. Originally by the River Calder, it is edged by the foothills of Pendle Hill to the north-west ...
in 1955.
There were widespread celebrations in the town in the summer of 1960, when Burnley FC
Burnley Football Club () is an English association football club based in Burnley, Lancashire, that competes in the EFL Championship, the second tier of English football, following relegation from the 2021–22 Premier League. Founded on 18 M ...
won the old first division to become Football League champions.
The Queen paid a second official visit to the town in summer 1961, marking the 100th anniversary of Burnley's borough status. The rest of the decade saw large-scale redevelopment in the town. Many buildings were demolished
Demolition (also known as razing, cartage, and wrecking) is the science and engineering in safely and efficiently tearing down of buildings and other artificial structures. Demolition contrasts with deconstruction, which involves taking a ...
including the market hall, the cattle market, the Odeon cinema and thousands of mainly terraced houses. New construction projects included the Charter Walk shopping centre, Centenary way and its flyover, the Keirby Hotel, a new central bus station, Trafalgar flats, and a number of office blocks. The town's largest coal mine, Bank Hall Colliery, closed in April 1971 resulting in the loss of 571 jobs. The area of the mine has been restored as a park.
In 1980 Burnley was connected to the motorway network, through the construction of the first and second sections of the M65. Although the route, next to the railway and over the former Clifton colliery site, was chosen to minimise the clearance of occupied land, Yatefield, Olive Mount and Whittlefield Mills, Burnley Barracks, and several hundred more terrace houses
In architecture and city planning, a terrace or terraced house ( UK) or townhouse ( US) is a form of medium-density housing that originated in Europe in the 16th century, whereby a row of attached dwellings share side walls. In the United State ...
had to be demolished. Unusually this route passed close to the town centre and had a partitioning effect on the districts of Gannow, Ightenhill
Ightenhill is a civil parish in the Borough of Burnley in Lancashire, England, with a population of 1,975.
Since its creation as Ightenhill Park in 1866 the parish has seen a number of boundary changes. The modern civil parish includes Gawth ...
, Whittlefield, Rose Grove and Lowerhouse to the north. The 1980s and 1990s saw massive expansion of Ightenhill
Ightenhill is a civil parish in the Borough of Burnley in Lancashire, England, with a population of 1,975.
Since its creation as Ightenhill Park in 1866 the parish has seen a number of boundary changes. The modern civil parish includes Gawth ...
and Whittlefield. Developers such as Bovis, Barratt and Wainhomes built large housing estate
A housing estate (or sometimes housing complex or housing development) is a group of homes and other buildings built together as a single development. The exact form may vary from country to country.
Popular throughout the United States a ...
s, predominantly on greenfield land
Greenfield land is a British English term referring to undeveloped land in an urban or rural area either used for agriculture or landscape design, or left to evolve naturally. These areas of land are usually agricultural or amenity properties b ...
.
In summer 1992, the town came to national attention following rioting on the Stoops and Hargher Clough council estate
Public housing in the United Kingdom, also known as council estates, council housing, or social housing, provided the majority of rented accommodation until 2011 when the number of households in private rental housing surpassed the number in so ...
s in the south west of the town.
The millennium
A millennium (plural millennia or millenniums) is a period of one thousand years, sometimes called a kiloannum (ka), or kiloyear (ky). Normally, the word is used specifically for periods of a thousand years that begin at the starting point (ini ...
brought some improvement projects, notably the "Forest of Burnley" scheme, which planted approximately a million trees throughout the town and its outskirts, and the creation of the Lowerhouse Lodges local nature reserve
A nature reserve (also known as a wildlife refuge, wildlife sanctuary, biosphere reserve or bioreserve, natural or nature preserve, or nature conservation area) is a protected area of importance for flora, fauna, or features of geological or ...
.
In June 2001, during the 2001 England riots, the town again received national attention following a series of violent disturbances arising from racial
A race is a categorization of humans based on shared physical or social qualities into groups generally viewed as distinct within a given society. The term came into common usage during the 1500s, when it was used to refer to groups of variou ...
tensions between some of its White and Asian residents.
Governance
Burnley was incorporated as a municipal borough
Municipal boroughs were a type of local government district which existed in England and Wales between 1835 and 1974, in Northern Ireland from 1840 to 1973 and in the Republic of Ireland from 1840 to 2002. Broadly similar structures existed in S ...
in 1861, a Parliamentary Borough returning one member in 1867 and became, under the Local Government Act 1888
Local may refer to:
Geography and transportation
* Local (train), a train serving local traffic demand
* Local, Missouri, a community in the United States
* Local government, a form of public administration, usually the lowest tier of administrat ...
, a county borough
County borough is a term introduced in 1889 in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, to refer to a borough or a city independent of county council control, similar to the unitary authorities created since the 1990s. An equivalent ter ...
outside the administrative county of Lancashire. Under the Local Government Act 1972
The Local Government Act 1972 (c. 70) is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that reformed local government in England and Wales on 1 April 1974. It was one of the most significant Acts of Parliament to be passed by the Heath Gov ...
Burnley's county borough
County borough is a term introduced in 1889 in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, to refer to a borough or a city independent of county council control, similar to the unitary authorities created since the 1990s. An equivalent ter ...
status was abolished, and it was incorporated with neighbouring areas into the non-metropolitan district
Non-metropolitan districts, or colloquially "shire districts", are a type of local government district in England. As created, they are sub-divisions of non-metropolitan counties (colloquially ''shire counties'') in a two-tier arrangement. Non-m ...
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 ...
.
Burnley has three tiers of government: Local government
Local government is a generic term for the lowest tiers of public administration within a particular sovereign state. This particular usage of the word government refers specifically to a level of administration that is both geographically-loca ...
responsibilities are shared by Burnley Borough Council
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 ...
and Lancashire County Council
Lancashire County Council is the upper-tier local authority for the non-metropolitan county of Lancashire, England. It consists of 84 councillors. Since the 2017 election, the council has been under Conservative control.
Prior to the 2009 La ...
; at a national level the town gives its name to a seat in the United Kingdom parliament
The Parliament of the United Kingdom is the supreme legislative body of the United Kingdom, the Crown Dependencies and the British Overseas Territories. It meets at the Palace of Westminster, London. It alone possesses legislative supremacy ...
and as a result is subject to the European Parliament
The European Parliament (EP) is one of the legislative bodies of the European Union and one of its seven institutions. Together with the Council of the European Union (known as the Council and informally as the Council of Ministers), it adopts ...
. While the town itself is unparished, the rest of the borough has one further, bottom tier of government, the parish or town council.
Borough Council
Burnley Borough Council is currently governed by a multi-party coalition. The role of mayor is a ceremonial post which rotates annually and for 2020-21 is Wajid Khan ( Labour Party).
The borough comprises 15 wards
Ward may refer to:
Division or unit
* Hospital ward, a hospital division, floor, or room set aside for a particular class or group of patients, for example the psychiatric ward
* Prison ward, a division of a penal institution such as a priso ...
, 12 of which – Bank Hall, Briercliffe
Briercliffe (historically Briercliffe-with-Extwistle) is a civil parish in the borough of Burnley, in Lancashire, England. It is situated north of Burnley. The parish contains suburbs of Burnley (including Harle Syke and Haggate), and the rur ...
, Brunshaw, Coal Clough with Deerplay, Daneshouse with Stoneyholme, Gannow, Lanehead, Queensgate, Rosegrove with Lowerhouse, Rosehill with Burnley Wood, Trinity, and Whittlefield with Ightenhill – fall within the town itself. The remaining three – Cliviger with Worsthorne, Gawthorpe, and Hapton with Park, cover the neighbouring town of Padiham
Padiham ( ) is a town and civil parish on the River Calder, about west of Burnley, Lancashire, England. It forms part of the Borough of Burnley. Originally by the River Calder, it is edged by the foothills of Pendle Hill to the north-west ...
and a number of villages.
County Council
Lancashire County Council
Lancashire County Council is the upper-tier local authority for the non-metropolitan county of Lancashire, England. It consists of 84 councillors. Since the 2017 election, the council has been under Conservative control.
Prior to the 2009 La ...
is currently controlled by the Conservative Party
The Conservative Party is a name used by many political parties around the world. These political parties are generally right-wing though their exact ideologies can range from center-right to far-right.
Political parties called The Conservative P ...
and has been since 2017. They have had only one other term in power between 2009 – 2013, the rest of the time from 1981, the council has been under Labour
Labour or labor may refer to:
* Childbirth, the delivery of a baby
* Labour (human activity), or work
** Manual labour, physical work
** Wage labour, a socioeconomic relationship between a worker and an employer
** Organized labour and the labour ...
control. The borough is represented on the council in six divisions: Burnley Central East, Burnley Central West, Burnley North East, Burnley Rural, Burnley South West, and Padiham & Burnley West.
National
The constituency of Burnley elects a single member of Parliament (MP). Since the general election in 2019, the town has been represented by Antony Higginbotham
Antony Higginbotham (born 16 December 1989) is a British Conservative politician who was elected as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Burnley in the 2019 general election.
Early life
Higginbotham was born in Haslingden, Rossendale, Lancash ...
, its first Conservative Party
The Conservative Party is a name used by many political parties around the world. These political parties are generally right-wing though their exact ideologies can range from center-right to far-right.
Political parties called The Conservative P ...
MP in over 100 years. The constituency had been represented by MPs of the Labour Party since 1935
Events
January
* January 7 – Italian premier Benito Mussolini and French Foreign Minister Pierre Laval conclude Franco-Italian Agreement of 1935, an agreement, in which each power agrees not to oppose the other's colonial claims.
* ...
, apart from 2010 – 2015, when it was represented by Gordon Birtwistle
Gordon Birtwistle (born 6 September 1943) is a British Liberal Democrat politician and former MP. He was the Member of Parliament (MP) for the constituency of Burnley, England, from May 2010 to May 2015. He was Parliamentary Private Secretary to D ...
, a Liberal Democrat
Several political party, political parties from around the world have been called the Liberal Democratic Party or Liberal Democrats. These parties usually follow a liberal democracy, liberal democratic ideology.
Active parties
Former parties ...
. Richard Shaw was the town's first MP in 1868
Events
January–March
* January 2 – British Expedition to Abyssinia: Robert Napier leads an expedition to free captive British officials and missionaries.
* January 3 – The 15-year-old Mutsuhito, Emperor Meiji of Jap ...
. Arguably its most notable MP was former leader of the Labour Party and Nobel Peace Prize
The Nobel Peace Prize is one of the five Nobel Prizes established by the will of Swedish industrialist, inventor and armaments (military weapons and equipment) manufacturer Alfred Nobel, along with the prizes in Nobel Prize in Chemistry, Chemi ...
laureate Arthur Henderson
Arthur Henderson (13 September 1863 – 20 October 1935) was a British iron moulder and Labour politician. He was the first Labour cabinet minister, won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1934 and, uniquely, served three separate terms as Leader of th ...
.
Geography
The town lies in a natural three-forked valley
A valley is an elongated low area often running between Hill, hills or Mountain, mountains, which will typically contain a river or stream running from one end to the other. Most valleys are formed by erosion of the land surface by rivers ...
at the confluence
In geography, a confluence (also: ''conflux'') occurs where two or more flowing bodies of water join to form a single channel. A confluence can occur in several configurations: at the point where a tributary joins a larger river (main stem); o ...
of the River Brun
The River Brun is a river in eastern Lancashire. It is approximately long and has a catchment area (not including the River Don) of .
Course
Thought to begin at the confluence of Hurstwood Brook (draining Wether Edge, Hameldon and supplying ...
and the River Calder, surrounded by open fields, with wild moorland
Moorland or moor is a type of habitat found in upland areas in temperate grasslands, savannas, and shrublands and montane grasslands and shrublands biomes, characterised by low-growing vegetation on acidic soils. Moorland, nowadays, generally ...
at higher altitudes. To the west of Burnley lie the towns of Padiham
Padiham ( ) is a town and civil parish on the River Calder, about west of Burnley, Lancashire, England. It forms part of the Borough of Burnley. Originally by the River Calder, it is edged by the foothills of Pendle Hill to the north-west ...
, Accrington
Accrington is a town in the Hyndburn borough of Lancashire, England. It lies about east of Blackburn, west of Burnley, east of Preston, north of Manchester and is situated on the culverted River Hyndburn. Commonly abbreviated by locals to ...
and Blackburn
Blackburn () is an industrial town and the administrative centre of the Blackburn with Darwen borough in Lancashire, England. The town is north of the West Pennine Moors on the southern edge of the Ribble Valley, east of Preston and north-n ...
, with 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 ...
and 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 ...
to the north. The centre of the town stands at approximately above sea level and east of the Irish Sea
The Irish Sea or , gv, Y Keayn Yernagh, sco, Erse Sie, gd, Muir Èireann , Ulster-Scots: ''Airish Sea'', cy, Môr Iwerddon . is an extensive body of water that separates the islands of Ireland and Great Britain. It is linked to the Ce ...
coast.
Areas in the town include: Burnley Wood
Burnley Wood is a district and former electoral ward of Burnley, Lancashire. In broad terms the area lies between Parliament Street in the north and Hufling Lane in the south, and from the Caldervale Line, railway in the west to Todmorden Road in ...
, Rose Hill, Healey Wood, Harle Syke
Harle Syke is a small village within the parish of Briercliffe, situated three miles north of Burnley, Lancashire, England. It was the home to eleven weaving firms, working out of seven mills. Queen Street Mill closed in 1982, and was converted t ...
, Haggate
Haggate is a small village within the parish of Briercliffe, situated three miles north of Burnley, Lancashire. The village is mostly built around a small crossroads, with routes towards Burnley, Nelson and Todmorden. The first buildings in the ...
, Daneshouse, Stoneyholme, Burnley Lane, Heasandford, Brunshaw, Pike Hill, Gannow, Ightenhill
Ightenhill is a civil parish in the Borough of Burnley in Lancashire, England, with a population of 1,975.
Since its creation as Ightenhill Park in 1866 the parish has seen a number of boundary changes. The modern civil parish includes Gawth ...
, Whittlefield, Rose Grove, Habergham, and Lowerhouse. Although Reedley is considered to be a suburb of the town, it is actually part of the neighbouring borough of 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
* ...
.
To the north west of the town, and home of the Pendle Witches
The trials of the Pendle witches in 1612 are among the most famous witch trials in English history, and some of the best recorded of the 17th century. The twelve accused lived in the area surrounding Pendle Hill in Lancashire, and were charged w ...
, is the imposing 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 ...
, which rises to , beyond which lie Clitheroe
Clitheroe () is a town and civil parish in the Borough of Ribble Valley, Lancashire, England; it is located north-west of Manchester. It is near the Forest of Bowland and is often used as a base for tourists visiting the area. In 2018, the Cl ...
and the Ribble Valley
Ribble Valley is a local government district with borough status within the non-metropolitan county of Lancashire, England. The total population of the non-metropolitan district at the 2011 Census was 57,132. Its council is based in Clitheroe. ...
. To the south west, Hameldon Hill
Hameldon Hill is a Carboniferous sandstone hill with a summit elevation of , situated between the towns of Burnley and Accrington in Lancashire, England. It is listed as a "HuMP" or "Hundred Metre Prominence", its parent being Freeholds Top, a ...
rises to , on top of which are the Met Office
The Meteorological Office, abbreviated as the Met Office, is the United Kingdom's national weather service. It is an executive agency and trading fund of the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy and is led by CEO Penelope E ...
north west England weather radar
Weather radar, also called weather surveillance radar (WSR) and Doppler weather radar, is a type of radar used to locate precipitation, calculate its motion, and estimate its type (rain, snow, hail etc.). Modern weather radars are mostly puls ...
, a 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. ...
...
radio transmitter, and a number of
microwave
Microwave is a form of electromagnetic radiation with wavelengths ranging from about one meter to one millimeter corresponding to frequencies between 300 MHz and 300 GHz respectively. Different sources define different frequency ran ...
communication towers. This site was the first place in the UK chosen for an unmanned weather radar, beginning operation in 1979; it is one of 18 that cover the British Isles. Also since 2007 the three turbines of the Hameldon Hill wind farm have stood on its northern flank. To the east of the town lie the
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, a ...
and the moors of the
South Pennines
The South Pennines is a region of moorland and hill country in northern England lying towards the southern end of the Pennines. In the west it includes the Rossendale Valley and the West Pennine Moors. It is bounded by the Greater Manchester co ...
, and to the south, the
Forest of Rossendale
The Rossendale Valley is in the Rossendale area of Lancashire, England, between the West Pennine Moors and the main range of the Pennines. The area includes the steep-sided valleys of the River Irwell and its tributaries (between Rawtenstall and ...
. On the hills above the
Cliviger
Cliviger is a civil parish in the Borough of Burnley, in Lancashire, England. It is situated to the southeast of Burnley, and northwest of Todmorden. According to the 2011 census, the parish has a population of 2,238.
Although the whole parish ...
area to the south east of the town stands
Coal Clough wind farm
A wind farm or wind park, also called a wind power station or wind power plant, is a group of wind turbines in the same location used Wind power, to produce electricity. Wind farms vary in size from a small number of turbines to several hundre ...
, whose white turbines are visible from most of the town. Built in 1992 amidst local controversy, it was one of the first wind farm projects in the UK. Nearby, the landmark
RIBA
The Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) is a professional body for architects primarily in the United Kingdom, but also internationally, founded for the advancement of architecture under its royal charter granted in 1837, three suppl ...
Award-winning
Panopticon
The panopticon is a type of institutional building and a system of control designed by the English philosopher and social theorist Jeremy Bentham in the 18th century. The concept of the design is to allow all prisoners of an institution to be o ...
''
Singing Ringing Tree'', overlooking the town from the hills at Crown Point, was installed in 2006.
Due to its hilly terrain and mining history, rural areas of modern Burnley encroach on the urban ones to within a mile of the town centre on the south, north west and north east.
The
Pennine Way
The Pennine Way is a National Trail in England, with a small section in Scotland. The trail stretches for from Edale, in the northern Derbyshire Peak District, north through the Yorkshire Dales and Northumberland National Park and ends at Kir ...
passes six miles (10 km) east of Burnley; the
Mary Towneley Loop
The Mary Towneley Loop is a circular route that forms part of the Pennine Bridleway National Trail, along the borders of Lancashire and Yorkshire. The loop was opened in 2002, the first section of the Pennine Bridleway.
It is named in memory ...
, part of the
Pennine Bridleway
The Pennine Bridleway is a National Trail in Northern England.
It runs roughly parallel with the Pennine Way but provides access for horse riders and cyclists as well as walkers. The trail is around long, extending from Derbyshire to Cumbria. ...
, the
Brontë Way
The Brontë Way is a waymarked long-distance footpath in the northern counties of West Yorkshire and Lancashire, England.
Route
The Brontë Way starts at Oakwell Hall in Birstall, West Yorkshire, and finishes at Gawthorpe Hall in Padiham, Lan ...
and the
Burnley Way
The Burnley Way is a 40-mile (64 km) long distance footpath in Lancashire, England. As a circular walk it can be walked from any point, but it is common to start and finish at the Weavers' Triangle Visitor Centre in Burnley. It covers a r ...
offer riders and walkers clearly signed routes through the countryside immediately surrounding the town.
Burnley has a
temperate
In geography, the temperate climates of Earth occur in the middle latitudes (23.5° to 66.5° N/S of Equator), which span between the tropics and the polar regions of Earth. These zones generally have wider temperature ranges throughout t ...
maritime
Maritime may refer to:
Geography
* Maritime Alps, a mountain range in the southwestern part of the Alps
* Maritime Region, a region in Togo
* Maritime Southeast Asia
* The Maritimes, the Canadian provinces of Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, and Princ ...
climate, with relatively cool summers and mild winters. There is regular but generally light
precipitation
In meteorology, precipitation is any product of the condensation of atmospheric water vapor that falls under gravitational pull from clouds. The main forms of precipitation include drizzle, rain, sleet, snow, ice pellets, graupel and hail. ...
throughout the year, contributing to a relatively high
humidity
Humidity is the concentration of water vapor present in the air. Water vapor, the gaseous state of water, is generally invisible to the human eye. Humidity indicates the likelihood for precipitation, dew, or fog to be present.
Humidity depe ...
level. While
snowfall
Snow comprises individual ice crystals that grow while suspended in the atmosphere—usually within clouds—and then fall, accumulating on the ground where they undergo further changes.
It consists of frozen crystalline water throughout ...
occasionally occurs during the winter months, the temperature is rarely low enough for it to build up on the ground in any quantity. The town is believed to be the first place in the UK where regular rainfall measurements were taken (by
Richard Towneley
Richard Towneley (10 October 1629 – 22 January 1707) was an English mathematician, natural philosopher and astronomer, resident at Towneley Hall, near Burnley in Lancashire. His uncle was the antiquarian and mathematician Christopher Townele ...
, beginning in 1677).
Demography
The
United Kingdom Census 2001
A nationwide census, known as Census 2001, was conducted in the United Kingdom on Sunday, 29 April 2001. This was the 20th UK census and recorded a resident population of 58,789,194.
The 2001 UK census was organised by the Office for National ...
showed a total resident population for Burnley
urban area
An urban area, built-up area or urban agglomeration is a human settlement with a high population density and infrastructure of built environment. Urban areas are created through urbanization and are categorized by urban morphology as cities, t ...
of 73,021. The town is the main population centre in the Burnley-Nelson urban area, which had a population of 149,796; for comparison purposes, this was about the same size as
Oxford
Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...
or Swindon.
At that time the racial composition of the wider local government district (the
Borough of Burnley
The Borough of Burnley () is a local government district with the borough status in Lancashire, England. It has an area of and a population of (), and is named after its largest town, Burnley. Other notable settlements include Padiham, Hap ...
) was 91.77% white and 7.16% South Asian or South Asian/British, predominantly from Bangladesh. The largest religious groups were Christian (74.46%) and Muslim (6.58%). 59.02% of adults between the ages of 16 and 74 were classed as economically active and in work.
[Office for National Statistics. 2001 census.]
Accessed 6 September 2007. In the United Kingdom Census 2011, these figures had changed to 87.4% white and 10.7% South Asian or South Asian/British, with 63.6% identifying as Christian and 9.9% Muslim.
[ The Burnley Built-up area, similar but larger than Burnley-Nelson urban area defined in the 2001 census, had a population of 149,422. The ONS annual population survey for the year Apr 2013–Mar 2014 showed that 63.1% of adults between the ages of 16 and 64 were classed as economically active.]
The majority of its Asian residents live in the neighbouring Daneshouse and Stoneyholme districts. In total, the size of its Asian community is much smaller than that in nearby towns such as Blackburn#Demography, Blackburn and Oldham#Demography, Oldham.
In February 2010, the ''Lancashire Telegraph'' reported that Burnley topped Home Office figures for the highest number of burglaries per head in England and Wales between April 2008 – April 2009. This claim (minus the dates) was repeated during one of the questions in the first of the televised United Kingdom general election debates, 2010, 2010 general election debates. However, in May 2010, the NPIA Local Crime Mapping System (believed to be the source of the data in the report) listed a 49.5% drop in this rate on the previous year.
Burnley has some of the lowest property prices in the country, with numerous streets appearing in the annual mouseprice.com most affordable streets in England & Wales report. These streets are concentrated in areas of terrace housing in poorer neighbourhoods adjacent to the town centre. Between 2005 and 2010, approximately £65m of UK government, government funds was invested into these areas through the Elevate East Lancashire housing market renewal company (replaced by Regenerate Pennine Lancashire in 2010).
Economy
In 2013, Burnley was awarded an Enterprising Britain award from the UK Government for being the 'Most Enterprising Area in the UK'. This accolade subsequently received praise from the British Prime Minister, David Cameron, and His Royal Highness, the Prince of Wales.
A series of high-profile regeneration schemes, including: a direct rail link to Manchester, an aerospace supply village and multimillion-pound investment in the former Victorian industrial heartland through a project called 'On The Banks' are radically transforming the economy of the Lancashire town. Although traditional manufacturing has been in decline in the town for several decades, high end advanced manufacturing remains very strong in the town. The Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, Vince Cable, said in 2013: "Burnley in the north of Lancashire is currently now booming economically on the back of manufacturing and proximity to the aerospace industry." Cable praised the town again in 2014 saying: "If every other part of Britain was like Burnley we wouldn't be talking about a recession".
The last deep coal mine, Hapton Valley Colliery, closed in February 1981 and the last steam-powered mill, Queen Street Mill, in 1982. Over the next two decades, Burnley's three largest manufacturers closed their factories: BEP in 1992, Prestige in July 1997 and Michelin in 2002. The town has struggled to recover: its employment growth between 1995 and 2004 placed it 55th of England's 56 largest towns and cities, and as of 2007 it was the 21st most deprived local authority (out of 354) in the United Kingdom. In 2016, a study by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation put Rochdale, Burnley and Bolton at top of a list of the 74 largest UK cities and towns faring worst compared with UK trends. 10.1% of its working age population currently claims incapacity benefit and ESA (national average 6.2%). The largest employment sector in the town is now Health (21%), followed by Manufacturing (16%).
Home shopping firm Shop Direct announced in January 2010 that it was to close its Burnley call centre with the loss of 450 jobs. The company, which owns Littlewoods, Additions Direct, Very, Empire Stores and Marshall Ward, had been in the town for over 30 years, originally as Great Universal Stores but now known as GUS plc.
Modern economic developments have been industrial estates and business parks with the following currently in Burnley: Heasandford, Rossendale Road, and Healeywood Industrial Estates; Network 65, Shuttleworth Mead, Smallshaw & Chestnut, Elm Street, and Gannow Business Parks; and Burnham Gate Trading Estate. A further large business park called Burnley Bridge, on a site near Hapton, Lancashire, Hapton formerly belonging to Hepworth Plastics has recently opened.
Key manufacturing employers today are in highly specialised fields: SAFRAN, Safran Aircelle (aerospace), GE subsidiary Unison Engine Components (aerospace), AMS Neve (professional audio), and TRW Automotive and Futaba-Tenneco UK (automotive components). In 2011 Gardner Aerospace, which made parts for the Eurofighter Typhoon, closed its site, with the loss of 120 jobs. The town has also had a long association with Endsleigh Insurance Services, providing its main training facility and an important call centre. Endsleigh acquired a number of the former Burnley Building Society's properties in the town centre following its merger with the Provincial Building Society and subsequent merger with the Abbey National. It also hosts the head office of The Original Factory Shop chain. In 2004, the Lancashire Digital Technology Centre was opened by Sir Digby Jones on land formerly occupied by the Michelin factory, to provide support and incubation space for start-up technology companies. The rest of the Michelin site has recently been opened as Innovation Drive, a new business park aimed at businesses in the Aerospace and Advanced Manufacturing supply chain.
Continuing the town's historic association with fabric weaving is Ian Mankin Ltd, a company which manufactures high quality, natural woven fabrics and furnishings using only natural, recycled or certified organic fibres, at Ashfield Mill, Active Way, Burnley BB11 1BS, on the northern edge of the Weavers' Triangle. The company also supplies fabrics to the Landmark Trust for use in their restoration of historic buildings across the UK.
Burnley's main shopping area is St James Street, along with the nearby Charter Walk Shopping Centre. The YMCA claimed to have opened the largest charity shop in the UK in 2009, when they temporarily took over the former Woolworths Group (United Kingdom), Woolworths store in the centre. The shopping centre was sold in 2001 by Great Portland Estates to Sapphire Retail Fund, which was 50% owned by David and Simon Reuben, the Reuben Brothers. The centre was bought in March 2011 by Addington Capital following the 2010 collapse of Sapphire Retail Fund. The centre incorporates the council-run market which is open four days a week.
The town centre is home to a large number of high street multiples, along with other shops, including specialist food shops, independent record shops and an independent bookshop. On the edge of the town centre, there are four retail parks; there are also a number of Outlet store, mill shops. Plans have been in place since 2004 to construct a second town centre shopping centre, originally called 'The Oval'. By the time a sufficient number of tenants had signed up to begin construction, the effects of the Late-2000s financial crisis, financial crisis cast doubts over the project. In early 2011 fresh plans were released for a considerably smaller scheme involving a cluster of retail units. The site is now earmarked for a cinema and restaurants and is due to open in 2016 As well as Woolworths, the financial crisis has also led to the closure of several other shops in the last few years, including T J Hughes, Miss Selfridge, and HMV but has gained new high street names in large retail units including Next and River Island. The Market Square is currently under redevelopment with a number of retailers already moved in and more said to be 'signed up' to move in once the development is complete.
As well as traditional motor dealerships, the town is home to the second Motorpoint car supermarket in the UK.
The local brewery, Moorhouse's Brewery, Moorhouse's, which was founded in 1865, produces a range of award-winning beers – including the very popular Pride of Pendle and Blond Witch – and currently operates six pubs in the area. The Worsthorne Brewing Company produces a number of cask ales including Chestnut Mare, Packhorse, Foxstones Bitter, Some Like It Blonde, Old Trout, Collier's Clog and Winter Ales. The Moonstone Brewery is operated within the "Ministry of Ale", Burnley's first Brewpub. Reedley Hallows Brewery, whose ales include Old Laund Booth and Pendleside was launched in 2012 by the former Head Brewer at Moorhouses.
Religion
St Peter's Church, Burnley, St Peter's Church, around which the town developed, dates from the 15th century, and is designated a Grade II* listed building by English Heritage. St Andrew's Church, Burnley, St Andrew's Church on Colne Road was built in 1866–67, to a design by J. Medland Taylor, and was restored in 1898 by the Lancaster, Lancashire, Lancaster architects Austin and Paley. It is designated a Grade II listed building. There are many other places of worship including those for Roman Catholics, Baptists, United Reformed Church, Methodists, Jehovah's Witnesses, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Letter-day Saints and Spiritualist church, Spiritualists.
The chapel at Towneley Hall was the centre for Roman Catholic worship in Burnley until modern times. Well before the Industrial Revolution
The Industrial Revolution was the transition to new manufacturing processes in Great Britain, continental Europe, and the United States, that occurred during the period from around 1760 to about 1820–1840. This transition included going f ...
, the town saw the emergence of many Nonconformist (Protestantism), non-conformist churches and chapels. In 1891 the town was the location of the meeting which saw the creation of the Baptist Union of Great Britain, Baptist Union of Great Britain and Ireland.
Burnley has ten mosques, with the first purpose-built premises opening in 2009. A total of 17 religious buildings or structures are designated as listed buildings – all Grade II by English Heritage.
Landmarks
Leeds and Liverpool Canal
Along the Burnley section of the canal are a number of notable features. The long and up to high almost perfectly level embankment, known as Burnley Embankment, the Straight Mile, was built between 1796 and 1801 (before the invention of the steam shovel), to avoid the need for Locks (water transport), locks. It is regarded as one of the original seven wonders of the British waterways. The much more modern (1980) Whittlefield motorway aqueduct is believed to be the first time a canal aqueduct was constructed over a motorway in the UK.
Weavers' Triangle
The Weavers' Triangle is an area west of Burnley town centre, consisting mostly of 19th-century industrial buildings, clustered around the Leeds and Liverpool Canal
The Leeds and Liverpool Canal is a canal in Northern England, linking the cities of Leeds and Liverpool.
Over a distance of , crossing the Pennines, and including 91 locks on the main line. The Leeds and Liverpool Canal has several small branc ...
. The area has been identified as being of significant historical interest as the cotton mills and associated buildings encapsulate the social and economic development of the town and its weaving industry. From the 1980s, the area has been the focus of major redevelopment efforts.
Singing Ringing Tree
The Singing Ringing Tree (sculpture), Singing Ringing Tree is a wind powered sound sculpture resembling a tree, set in the landscape of the Pennines, south of Burnley town centre.
Completed in 2006, it is part of the series of four sculptures within the Panopticons arts and regeneration project created by the East Lancashire Environmental Arts Network (ELEAN). The project was set up to erect a series of 21st-century landmarks, or Panopticons (structures providing a comprehensive view), across East 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 ...
as symbols of the renaissance of the area.
Designed by architects Mike Tonkin and Anna Liu of Tonkin Liu, the ''Singing Ringing Tree'' is a tall construction comprising pipes of galvanised steel, which harness the energy of the wind to produce a slightly Consonance and dissonance, discordant and penetrating choral sound covering a range of several octaves. Some of the pipes are primarily structural and aesthetic elements, while others have been cut across their width enabling the sound. The Harmony, harmonic and singing qualities of the tree were produced by tuning the pipes according to their length by adding holes to the underside of each.
In 2007 the sculpture was one of 14 winners of the National Award of the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) for architectural excellence.
Towneley Hall
Towneley Hall was the home of the Towneley family for more than 500 years. Various family members were influential in the scientific, technological and religious developments which took place in the 17th and 18th centuries. The male line of the family died out in 1878 and in 1901 one of the daughters, Lady O'Hagan, sold the house together with of land to Burnley Corporation.
The hall contains the 15th-century Whalley Abbey vestments and has its own chapel, which contains a finely carved altarpiece made in Antwerp in about 1525.
Transport
Burnley is served by Junctions 9, 10 and 11 of the M65 motorway, which runs west to Accrington
Accrington is a town in the Hyndburn borough of Lancashire, England. It lies about east of Blackburn, west of Burnley, east of Preston, north of Manchester and is situated on the culverted River Hyndburn. Commonly abbreviated by locals to ...
, Blackburn
Blackburn () is an industrial town and the administrative centre of the Blackburn with Darwen borough in Lancashire, England. The town is north of the West Pennine Moors on the southern edge of the Ribble Valley, east of Preston and north-n ...
and Preston (where it connects to the M6 motorway, M6), and northeast to 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 ...
and 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 ...
. From the town centre, the A646 road, A646 runs to Todmorden, the A679 road, A679 to Accrington
Accrington is a town in the Hyndburn borough of Lancashire, England. It lies about east of Blackburn, west of Burnley, east of Preston, north of Manchester and is situated on the culverted River Hyndburn. Commonly abbreviated by locals to ...
, the A671 road, A671 to Clitheroe
Clitheroe () is a town and civil parish in the Borough of Ribble Valley, Lancashire, England; it is located north-west of Manchester. It is near the Forest of Bowland and is often used as a base for tourists visiting the area. In 2018, the Cl ...
, and the A682 road, A682 (a nearby rural section of which has been classified as Britain's most dangerous road) south to Rawtenstall and north east to 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 ...
and the Yorkshire Dales. The A56 road, A56 dual carriageway skirts the western edge of the town, linking to the M66 motorway heading towards Manchester
Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The t ...
and the M62 Motorway, M62.
Rail services to and from Burnley are provided by Northern (train operating company), Northern. The town has four railway stations: Burnley Manchester Road railway station, Burnley Manchester Road, Burnley Central railway station, Burnley Central, Burnley Barracks railway station, Burnley Barracks and Rose Grove railway station, Rose Grove. A fifth station, Hapton railway station, Hapton, serves Padiham
Padiham ( ) is a town and civil parish on the River Calder, about west of Burnley, Lancashire, England. It forms part of the Borough of Burnley. Originally by the River Calder, it is edged by the foothills of Pendle Hill to the north-west ...
and Hapton, Lancashire, Hapton to the west of the town, but inside the borough. Manchester Road station has an hourly semi-fast service west to Preston railway station, Preston (the nearest station on the West Coast Main Line) and Blackpool North railway station, Blackpool North, and east to Leeds railway station, Leeds and York railway station, York, whilst the Central and Barracks stations provide an hourly stopping service west to Blackpool South railway station, Blackpool South and Preston, and east to Nelson (Lancashire) railway station, Nelson and Colne railway station, Colne.
In May 2015, a direct train service to Manchester and onwards to Wigan Wallgate was reinstated. This provides a direct route to Manchester Victoria station, Manchester Victoria for the first time in over fifty years with the construction of a short section of track at the Hall Royd Junction of the Caldervale Line (known as the Todmorden curve). This has reduced the journey time between Burnley and central Manchester from around 1 hour and 25 minutes via Blackburn and Bolton and 1 hour and 4 minutes via Hebden Bridge to approximately 45 minutes via Todmorden and Rochdale where Manchester Metrolink, Metrolink tram connections via Oldham are possible. In preparation for this new direct service a new Manchester Road station building including a ticket office and waiting rooms has recently been completed, which has made Manchester Road the new principal station for the town
Burnley bus station, designed by Manchester-based SBS Architects, won the UK Bus Award for Infrastructure in 2003. The main bus operator is Burnley Bus Company, with Tyrer Bus operating some tendered town services. Other services are provided by First West Yorkshire (591/592 to Halifax, West Yorkshire, Halifax), Blackburn Bus Company (152 to Preston) and Rosso (bus company), Rosso (483 to Bury, Greater Manchester, Bury). National Express Coaches, National Express operates three coach services to London each day, and one to Birmingham. The X43 The Witch Way, Witch Way service (operated by Burnley Bus Company) runs from Burnley to Manchester
Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The t ...
via Rawtenstall and Prestwich using a fleet of specially branded double-decker buses. The fastest journey takes about an hour.
Burnley does not have an airport, but there are four international airports within an hour's travel of the town: Manchester Airport at , Liverpool John Lennon Airport at , Leeds Bradford Airport at , and Blackpool Airport at .
Since 2009, the Reedley Marina has provided a 100-berth facility, on the Leeds and Liverpool Canal
The Leeds and Liverpool Canal is a canal in Northern England, linking the cities of Leeds and Liverpool.
Over a distance of , crossing the Pennines, and including 91 locks on the main line. The Leeds and Liverpool Canal has several small branc ...
on the northern edge of town.
Sport
The town's sporting scene is dominated by Burnley F.C., Burnley Football Club, nicknamed "The Clarets" and founded in 1882. They were one of the first to become Professionalism in association football, professional (in 1883), and subsequently put pressure on the Football Association to permit payments to players. In 1888, Burnley were one of the 12 founder members of English Football League, the Football League. From the 1950s until the 1970s, under chairman Bob Lord (football chairman), Bob Lord, the club became renowned for its youth policy and Scout (association football), scouting system, and was one of the first to set up a purpose-built Training ground (association football), training ground (Gawthorpe Hall, Gawthorpe). The team currently compete in the EFL Championship, the second tier of Football in England, English football.
The club has played its home matches at Turf Moor since 1883, with average attendances of 20,000 in the Premier League. The club is well supported in the town, and is one of the best supported sides in English football per capita. Burnley have been List of English football champions, champions of England twice, in 1920–21 Burnley F.C. season, 1920–21 and 1959–60 Burnley F.C. season, 1959–60, have won the FA Cup once, in 1913–14 FA Cup, 1913–14, and have won the FA Community Shield, FA Charity Shield twice, in 1960 FA Charity Shield, 1960 and 1973 FA Charity Shield, 1973. When the team won the 1959–60 Football League, the town of Burnley became one of the smallest to have an English first tier champion. It is one of only five English league clubs to have been champions of English football league system, all four professional league divisions (along with Wolverhampton Wanderers F.C., Wolverhampton Wanderers, Preston North End F.C., Preston North End, Sheffield United F.C., Sheffield United and Portsmouth F.C., Portsmouth).
There are two members of the Lancashire League (cricket), Lancashire Cricket League in the town. Burnley Cricket Club play their home matches at Turf Moor, their ground being adjacent to the football ground, while Lowerhouse Cricket Club play at Liverpool Road. England Cricketer James Anderson (cricketer), James Anderson started his career at Burnley Cricket Club and TV Weather forecasting, weatherman John Kettley used to play for them.
Burnley is also home to Burnley Rugby Club (formerly Calder Vale Rugby Club 1926–2001). They field three senior sides, with teams at most junior age groups, and play at Holden Road, the site of Belvedere and Calder Vale Sports Club.
Rugby League is represented in the town by Burnley and Pendle Lions RLFC. They train and play their home games at Prairie Sports Village. They are in the North West Men's Merit League.
Burnley Tornados is the American Football club in the town.
Burnley held greyhound racing and motorcycle speedway, speedway at Burnley Greyhound Stadium, Towneley Stadium, that existed from 1927 until 1935.
Burnley has good public sporting facilities for a town of its size. The £29m St Peter's Centre (opened in 2006) offers Swimming pool, swimming, Squash (sport), squash courts and a Gym, fitness suite, while the nearby Spirit of Sport complex includes a large sports hall, and several indoor courts and outdoor synthetic pitches. There is an outdoor athletics track at Barden Lane, where the Burnley Athletic Club meets. For golfers, there are both 9-hole and 18-hole municipal golf courses at Towneley Park
Towneley Park is owned and managed by Burnley Borough Council and is the largest and most popular park in Burnley, Lancashire, England. The main entrance to the park is within a mile of the town centre and the park extends to the south east, cov ...
, along with an 18-hole pitch and putt course. Burnley Golf Club have a private course, established in 1905 above the town in Habergham Eaves. There are tennis courts at Towneley Park, and at the Burnley Lawn Tennis Club, as well as eleven Bowls, bowling greens around the town, and a £235,000 skate park at Queens Park, which opened in 2003. There are also basketball, caving and judo clubs in the town. In 2001, the private Crow Wood Leisure Centre was established in countryside on the edge of the town, offering a combination of fitness facilities, racquet and equestrian sports. In 2013 Crow Wood opened its own day Spa, the Woodland Spa, which was named Day Spa of the Year at the Professional Beauty Awards 2014, just one year after opening.
Culture and entertainment
Museums and galleries
On the outskirts of the town there are galleries in two stately homes, the Burnley council-owned Towneley Hall
Towneley Park is owned and managed by Burnley Borough Council and is the largest and most popular park in Burnley, Lancashire, England. The main entrance to the park is within a mile of the town centre and the park extends to the south east, cov ...
and Gawthorpe Hall
Gawthorpe Hall is an Elizabethan country house on the banks of the River Calder, in Ightenhill, a civil parish in the Borough of Burnley, Lancashire, England. Its estate extends into Padiham, with the Stockbridge Drive entrance situated there. ...
in Padiham
Padiham ( ) is a town and civil parish on the River Calder, about west of Burnley, Lancashire, England. It forms part of the Borough of Burnley. Originally by the River Calder, it is edged by the foothills of Pendle Hill to the north-west ...
, which is owned by Lancashire County Council and managed by the National Trust for Places of Historic Interest or Natural Beauty, National Trust. There are also two local museums: the Weavers' Triangle Trust operates the Visitor Centre and Museum of Local History in the historic surroundings of the Weavers' Triangle, while the Queen Street Mill, Queen Street Mill Textile Museum is unique as the world's only surviving steam driven cotton weaving shed.
Mid Pennine Arts were instrumental in the Panopticons project and run exhibitions and creative learning projects across the town and wider area.
Parks
There are several large parks in the town, including Towneley Park
Towneley Park is owned and managed by Burnley Borough Council and is the largest and most popular park in Burnley, Lancashire, England. The main entrance to the park is within a mile of the town centre and the park extends to the south east, cov ...
, once the Medieval deer park, deer park for the 15th century Towneley Hall, and three winners of the Green Flag Award, Queens Park, Burnley, Queens Park which hosts a summer season of brass band concerts each year, and Thompson Park which has a boating lake and Ridable miniature railway, miniature railway. The other parks include Scott Park, Ightenhill Park and Thursby Gardens. A greenway route linking Burnley Central Station along a former mineral line and incorporating the former Bank Hall colliery and reclaimed landfill site at Heasandford extends out of the town towards Worsthorne at Rowley Lake. The lake was constructed in the 1980s as a means to divert the river Brun away from former mine workings that were causing significant pollution of the river.
Activities
There is a modern 24-lane ten pin bowling centre on Finsley Gate, operated by 1st Bowl. A 9-screen Multiplex (movie theater), multiplex cinema opened in 1995 (with 3 3-D film, 3D screens as of 2010), operated by Reel Cinemas. The town's theatre, named after its former use as a Mechanics Institute, hosts touring comedians and musical acts and amateur dramatics. In 2005, Burnley Youth Theatre moved into a second, purpose-built £1.5 million performance space next to Queen's Park, one of only two purpose-built youth theatres in the UK.
Festivals
Each year Burnley hosts the two-day Burnley International Rock and Blues Festival, which started as the Burnley National Blues Festival in 1988. The renamed festival moved from Easter to the early Bank Holiday, May Bank Holiday. The festival introduced a new logo, website and branding in a bid to attract new and younger audiences, and to encourage cross-town participation with a 'Little America' theme. It is one of the largest blues festivals in the country, drawing fans from all over Britain and beyond to venues spread across the town. In the 1970s the town was also an important venue for Northern soul and several local pubs still hold regular Northern soul nights. In recent years the town has also hosted the annual Burnley Balloon Festival in Towneley Park
Towneley Park is owned and managed by Burnley Borough Council and is the largest and most popular park in Burnley, Lancashire, England. The main entrance to the park is within a mile of the town centre and the park extends to the south east, cov ...
and a science festival at UCLan's local university campus. A travelling funfair, funfair is usually held around the second weekend in July at Fulledge Recreation Ground, which is also the venue for the town's main Guy Fawkes Night celebration.
Nightlife
Major bars and nightclubs in Burnley include Panama's, Genesis, Projekt, BB11, Koko's, the Mix, Pharaoh's, The Jungle, Mr Green's, Mojitos, Remedy, Smackwater Jack's Bar, Inside-Out and Sanctuary Rock Bar. There are also chain-owned bars, such as Wetherspoons and The Walkabout (pub chain), Walkabout. Lava & Ignite, which was a leading nightclub, closed in 2014.
Curzon Street in Burnley was also the site of the legendary Angels (nightclub), Angels nightclub.
Burnley has a small gay scene, centred on the Guys as Dolls showbar in St James Street. In 1971 the granting of a licence to the town's first gay club, The Esquire, caused considerable controversy, with Tory Deputy council leader, Alderman Frank Bailey, suggesting that the building be bought by the corporation to stop the plan.
Bénédictine and hot water, known locally as "Bene 'n' Hot" is a popular drink in east Lancashire, after soldiers stationed in Normandy during the First World War brought back a taste for the drink. The Burnley Miners' Club is the world's largest consumer of the French liqueur, and has its own Bénédictine Lounge.
Media
Local radio for Burnley and its surrounding area is currently provided by Capital Manchester and Lancashire (formerly 2BR) and BBC Radio Lancashire.
There are two local newspapers: the ''Burnley Express'', published on Tuesdays and Fridays, and the daily ''Lancashire Telegraph'', which publishes a local edition for Burnley and 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
* ...
. Two free advertisement-supported newspapers, ''The Citizen'' and ''The Reporter'', are posted to homes throughout the town.
Burnley was one of seven sites chosen to be part of Channel 4's The Big Art project in which a group of 15 young people from all over the town commissioned artist Greyworld to create a piece of public art. The artwork, named "Invisible", is a series of UV paintings placed all around the town centre displaying public heroes.
Appearance in television and cinema
Parts of the 1961 British film ''Whistle Down the Wind (film), Whistle Down the Wind'', and the two 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. ...
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television series ''All Quiet on the Preston Front'' and ''Juliet Bravo'', were filmed in the town. Burnley Fire Station was the location of Social Services in the first series of ''Juliet Bravo'', and Burnley Library was used for exterior shots of the magistrates' court (England and Wales), magistrates' court in the series. Numerous locations in the town were used in the 1996–1998 BBC comedy drama ''Hetty Wainthropp Investigates''. Ashfield Road, which runs between the Burnley College and DIY superstore, was used as a film location in the 1951 film ''The Man in the White Suit''.
Queen Street Mill textile museum was used for a scene in the 83rd Academy Awards, 2010 Oscar-winning film The King's Speech, and for scenes in the 2004 BBC Adaptation (arts), dramatisation of Elizabeth Gaskell's ''North and South (1855 novel), North and South'', as well as ''Life on Mars (UK TV series), Life on Mars'' (S1 E3; 2006). It has also featured in the following BBC documentaries: Fred Dibnah's ''Industrial Age'' (E2; 1999), Adam Hart-Davies' ''What the Victorians Did for Us'' (E1; 2001), and Jeremy Paxman's ''The Victorians'' (2009), as well as ''Who Do You Think You Are? (British TV series), Who Do You Think You Are?'' (Bill Oddie episode), ''Flog It'' and UKTV History's ''The Re-Inventors'' (2006).
Towneley Hall featured in the BBC comedy drama ''Casanova (2005 TV serial), Casanova'' (2005) and the BBC antiques quiz ''Antiques Master'' is currently filmed there.
The canal embankment featured in the 2007 ITV (TV network), ITV documentary ''Locks and Quays'' (S2 E9) and two families in Burnley have been featured in the ITV series ''60 Minute Makeover'' (S6 E28 and S7 E70).