41 Facts About Blackburn: Find Out About The Old English Town

Blackburn is a town located in East Lancashire, United Kingdom.

The town is famous for its football club, Blackburn Rovers and many more world-famous people. It's also renowned for being a large mill town.

Blackburn has a good reputation for being home to athletes like Sam Murray, Holly Bleasdale, Sophie Hitchon, and famous Blackburn Rovers players like David Dunn, Simon Garner, and more. It also has one of the largest open urban spaces in the country, the Witton Country Park.

Read on to know more about Blackburn.

Facts About Blackburn

Blackburn is a large town with a size of 1.7 sq mi (4.4 sq km) area, located in Lancashire, England.

• A person from Blackburn is called a Blackburnian.
• The possible origin of the name 'Blackburn' is from the combination of River Blakewater and the Old English word 'burn' that means 'stream.'
• If you're traveling to Blackburn from London, the distance is 224.3 mi (361 km) which takes about 4-4.5 hours by car.
• While the city of Preston is the administrative center of Lancashire, Blackburn is the largest municipality of East Lancashire.
• While mainly a city has cathedrals, Blackburn is one of the very few towns in England to have a new cathedral.
• The Witton Country Park is the largest public park in the town and one of the largest parks in the country.
• The two colleges of the town are St Mary's Sixth Form College and Blackburn College.
• Blackburn has a Technical School that's part of Blackburn College. The Prince and Princess of Wales laid the foundation stone of the school.
• When laying the foundation stone, a time capsule was kept inside the college wall by the Prince of Wales.
• William Abram, a local author, cited the town's old name as 'Blake Burne' in one of his books about the town.

Blackburn's History

Blackburn has a lot of history incorporated with the town, starting from becoming an incorporated town to being the first town to take mass fingerprints and more.

• Blackburn was incorporated as a town and given a mayor in 1851.
• After June Anne Devaney was murdered in May 1948, Blackburn became the first town that took mass fingerprints to identify the killer.
• Queen Victoria statue was erected on the Boulevard in 1905. It was initially meant to be erected on Corporation Park.
• The oldest pub in the town, The King's Head, was located on the corner of Freckleton Street. King Street burned down in a fire in 2003.
• Darwen Street is the earliest historic center of Blackburn that includes a Roman road course that used to run northwards between Ribchester and Manchester.
• Behind the railway road of the town lies the 'All Hallows Spring,' where there used to be a Roman Temple that led to an Anglo-Saxon Church, which later became the Parish Church.
• Manufacturing textile in Blackburn dates back to the mid-13th century. Later in the early 19th-century, anti-power loom 'Luddite' riots started, and the mob destroyed Bannister Eccles' Jubilee Factory on Jubilee Street, Sons' Park Place factory, and more.
• The 1868 general election result was declared null and void on March 16, 1869, owing to allegations of bribing voters.
• The name of Blackburn appeared as 'Blachebourne' in the Domesday Book.
• As per William Abram, a local author, Blackburn Hundred was once known as Blakeburneshyre.

Blackburn's Soccer Team

The most important sport the people of the town enjoy is football. Blackburn Rovers have had quite the success from finding the Football League to winning the FA Cup six times.

• A group of schoolboys founded Blackburn Rovers from Shrewsbury Old Boys and other schools in 1875.
• The blue and white jersey of Blackburn Rovers was adopted from the quartered shirts of Malvern College.
• Blackburn Rovers was one of the first founding members of the Football League in 1888.
• The motto of Blackburn Rovers is 'Arte et Labore' which means 'By skill and hard work' in Latin.
• Blackburn Rovers played in the Football League until 1992 when the top teams left, and the Premier League began.
• Since the Football League went on till 1930, Blackburn Rovers had won the FA Cup six times and the Football League once.
• Blackburn Rovers won the Premier League only in the season 1994-95.
• Blackburn Rovers won the English Football League Cup or the Carabao Cup in 2002.
• Some notable Blackburn Rovers players that Premier League fans would recognize are Alan Shearer, David Dunn, Simon Garner, and more.
• The East Lancashire Derby happens between Blackburn Rovers and their long-standing rival team Burnley.

Famous Things In Blackburn

Blackburn has produced many famous people apart from many famous places, from an opera singer to Olympic medal-winning players and successful Blackburn Rovers players, authors, and more.

• Blackburn is mainly famous for being a large mill town for its cotton weaving industry.
• Lancashire has many clubs, Lancashire County Cricket Club, East Lancashire Cricket Club, and more. Among these, East Lancashire Cricket Club plays its home games in Blackburn.
• Carl Fogarty, the World champion motorcyclist, lives in Blackburn.
• Snooker player Denis Taylor and politician Baroness Barbara Castle have been residents of Blackburn.
• Blackburn Harriers and Athletic Club produced three Olympic 2012 finalists - Sam Murray, Holly Bleasdale, and Sophie Hitchon.
• 'A Day In The Life,' a song by the Beatles, includes a line that says: 'Four thousand holes in Blackburn, Lancashire.'
• A tiny Yorkie held the record for history's smallest dog from Blackburn. He weighed only 4 oz (113 gm).
• The famous football half-time snack producer, Holland's Pies, is based in Blackburn.
• The largest CD makers of England, Philips, and Dupont Optical, are based in Blackburn.
• The inventor of the spinning mule, Samuel Crompton, lived in Blackburn.
• Deemed as the second most famous woman after the Queen, Kathleen Ferrier, the opera singer who once lived in Blackburn.