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[edit] History
There is evidence of civilization in the area from the Stone Age up through the Norman conquest of England, although the division of Lancashire into hundreds had occurred prior to the conquest. In 1122 a charter granted the church of Burnley to the monks of Pontefract Abbey. In its early days, Burnley was a small farming community, gaining a grist mill for grinding corn (or wheat) in 1290, a market in 1294, and a fulling mill for the preparation of woollen yarns in 1296. At this point, the settlement of 50 families was within the manor of Ightenhill, one of five that made up the Honor of Clitheroe, then a far more significant settlement. Little survives of early Burnley apart from the Market Cross, erected in 1295. Over the next three centuries, Burnley grew in size with about 1200 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 in Padiham and Towneley Hall. In 1532, St Peter's Church was largely rebuilt. Burnley's grammar school was founded in 1559, and moved into its own schoolhouse next to the church in 1602. Weaving was established in the town by the middle of the 17th century. Burnley began to develop in this period into a small market town and in 1617 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 Road, at the end of the 18th century. [edit] Industrial RevolutionIn the second half of the 18th century, the manufacture of cotton began to replace wool. Burnley's earliest known factories – dating from about 1750 – stood on the banks of the River Calder, close to where it is joined by the River Brun, and relied on water power to drive the spinning machines, known as spinning jennies. The first turnpike or toll road through Burnley was begun in 1754, linking the town to Blackburn and Colne, and by the early 19th century, there were daily stagecoach journeys to Blackburn, Skipton and Manchester, the latter taking just over two hours. The 18th century also saw the rapid development of coal mining on the Burnley Coalfield: the drift mines and shallow bell-pits that had existed from earlier centuries were replaced by deeper shafts, meeting industrial as well as domestic demand locally, and by 1800 there were over a dozen pits in the modern-day centre of the town as well as more on the outskirts. The arrival of the Leeds and Liverpool Canal in 1796 made possible transportation of goods in bulk, bringing a huge boost to the town's economy. Dozens of new mills were constructed, along with many foundries and ironworks that supplied the cotton mills and coal mines with machinery and cast and wrought iron 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 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 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 in London. The Irish Potato Famine led to an influx of Irish families during the late 1840s, who formed a community in one of the poorest districts. At one time, the Park district (the modern-day town centre, around Parker Street) was known as Irish Park. In 1848 the East Lancashire Railway Company's extension from Accrington 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 Cotton Famine of 1861–1865, caused by embargoes on raw cotton in place during the American Civil War, was again disastrous for the town. The resumption of trade at the end of the war 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. 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, in Grimshaw Street, began in 1891, close to the canal. 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 1910, there were approximately 99,000 power looms in the town, and the peak population of over 100,000 was reached in 1911. 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. [edit] World WarsOver 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, a battalion that as a whole became known by the far more famous name of the Accrington Pals. During the Second World War there was a bombing decoy nicknamed "Manchester on the moors" at Heights Farm. Burnley escaped the bombing, largely because it was near the limit of German bomber range and close to higher value targets in Manchester. Lucas Industries set up shadow factories, producing a wide range of electrical parts for the war effort. Notably they were involved with the Rover Company's failed attempts (and Rolls-Royce's later successful ones) to produce Frank Whittle's pioneering jet engine design, the W.2 produced at Rolls-Royce Welland in Barnoldswick in Yorkshire. Magnesium Elektron's factory in Lowerhouse became the largest magnesium production facility in Britain. Burnley's main war memorial stands in Place de Vitry sur Seine next to the central library. [edit] Late 20th centuryThe Queen, together with Prince Philip, first visited the town as well as Nelson and the Mullard valve factory at Simonstone near Padiham in 1955. 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 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 terraced houses had to be demolished. Unusually this route passed close to the town centre and had a partitioning effect on the districts of Gannow, Ightenhill, Whittlefield, Rose Grove and Lowerhouse to the north. The 1980s and 1990s saw massive expansion of Ightenhill and Whittlefield. Post-war growth in Burnley, as in many other towns in Lancashire, has included the arrival of many groups of immigrants from India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and from the islands of the Carribbean. [edit] GovernanceBurnley was incorporated as a municipal borough in 1861, and became, under the Local Government Act 1888, a county borough outside the administrative county of Lancashire. Under the Local Government Act 1972 Burnley's county borough status was abolished, and it was incorporated with neighbouring areas into the non-metropolitan Borough of Burnley. Prior to becoming a municipal borough, the community was a township in the ancient parish of Whalley. See a description of the township of Burnley from British History Online (Victoria County Histories), published 1911. While the town itself is unparished, the rest of the borough has one further, bottom tier of government, the parish or town council. The borough comprises 15 wards, 12 of which – Bank Hall, Briercliffe, 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 and a number of villages. For further information see the Wikipedia article on the Borough of Burnley. This article includes a map showing the locations of the many named settlements now within Burnley Borough. [edit] Research Tips
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