Tourist guide to Burnley

1:28pm Tuesday 24th July 2007

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BURNLEY market area has now been pedestrianised and is now a really safe focus for shoppers.

The market area itself is surrounded by a centre containing many well-known high street stores. Here then is a perfect blend between ancient and modern and a thriving balance between races and religions.

Burnley's market charter was first granted in 1293 and the market was based around the site now occupied by the old Grammar School and the parish church of St Peter.

The church had its own market granted by the Monks of Pontefract Priory in 1122.

At the time the settlement was known as Brunlea or Brunley, meaning a field alongside the River Brun.

The church is still surrounded by the river on three sides and nearby is the school building built by the church authorities.

Like many successful settlements, Burnley developed because of its available water.

The later development of Burnley proved to be dependent not upon "natural" water but because of the Leeds and Liverpool Canal, which cut through the town in the late 18th century.

Throughout the 19th century Burnley became one of the world's largest producers of cotton with many mills built alongside the canal.

The Wharf close to Manchester Road was completed in 1796 and consisted of a tollhouse and a substantial complex of warehouses.

This has developed into a visitor's centre focused on a pub and the Weaver's Triangle.

This is an area of canal with a series of displays providing a portrait of 19th century Burnley.

This is the place to soak up the history of the canal, a weaver's house, a Victorian school classroom and a display of a fairground and an account of the local wakes weeks.

On the northern outskirts of the town at Harle Syke is the Queen Street Mill which has been restored to its industrial prime.

Some 300 looms are powered by a 500 horsepower steam engine called "Peace" which is a noisy machine to be so called.

The Burnley mills generated lots of brass and the civic pride of the town is celebrated in its Town Hall, completed in 1888, and the Mechanics Institute situated close by.

This was built in 1855 and has been restored as a splendid arts and information centre (01282 664400).

There is free parking for evening performances.

Burnley's early history can be celebrated by a visit to Towneley Art Gallery and Museum, which is open free of charge every day except Saturday.

The oldest part of Towneley dates from the mid 14th century and there are two sweeping spiral staircases.

The central block of the house and the north east wing were completed by the middle of the 15th century.

The house was built in a period of some conflict and this explains why the original walls are six feet thick.

In more peaceful times the family concentrated on pleasures rather than protection and this accounts for the splendour of the Minstrels' Gallery, the Long Gallery and other wonderful features.

On the outside of the hall are some 380 acres of walks and woodlands, a nature centre and a craft museum adapted from the old brew house.

Set around the grounds there is a deer pond and an underground icehouse designed to ensure that the winter freeze-up povided the family with supplies at a time when nobody had refrigerators.

The last member of the Towneley family to reside at the hall was Lady O'Hagan, who sold the house to the town council on very generous terms.

Since 1903 Towneley has been a splendid museum and art gallery.

Lady O'Hagan is buried in the churchyard of St John's in Cliviger and nearby is the grave of General Scarlett who successfully led the Charge of the Heavy Brigade in 1854.

The ill-fated Light Brigade got the publicity but it was the Heavy Brigade's victory which kept the sea lanes open during the Crimean War.

General Scarlett was a friend of the Towneley family and his estate was at Bank Hall, which later became Burnley's maternity home and was close to a substantial coal mine.

The Towneleys were staunch Roman Catholics and they suffered greatly during the Civil War of the 1640s.