A HISTORY OF LANCASHIRE 



to erect Burnley and part of Habcrgham Eaves into 

 a parliamentary borough," but it was not till the 

 Reform Act of 1867 that this was effected, one 

 member being assigned." The boundaries of the 

 municipal borough were extended in 1 871,'' and the 

 area nn divided into eight wards.'' A school board 

 was in that year formed for the borough." The 

 borough was further extended in I 889 to include parts 

 not only of Habergham Eaves as before, but also of 

 BriercliiFe, Ightenhill Park and Reedley Hallows ; and 

 a division into twelve wards "" was made, so that the 

 council now consists of a mayor, twelve aldermen and 

 thirty-six councillors. It was declared a county 

 borough in 1889, and in 1S94 the old township 

 boundaries were obliterated and new townships 

 formed ; thus the borough area became the township 

 of Burnley,"" the small rural part of the old town- 

 ship which lay outside it to the south-east becoming 

 independent under the name of Brunshaw township.'" 

 The parliamentary borough is somewhat larger than 

 the municipal borough, the boundaries dift'ering in 

 many places. The borough has a commission of the 

 peace, and quarter sessions were granted in 1893. 



The municipal buildings include town hall, 

 police court "" and baths ; they were erected in 

 1885-8. The buildings previously used became the 

 Technical School, which continues and develops the 

 work begun by the Mechanics' Institution, estab- 

 lished in 1834. A new Technical Institute building 

 was opened in 1909. Electric lighting and power 

 works were opened in 1893,'°' and an ice factory 

 with cold storage accommodation in 1901. There 

 are three parks — Queen's Park, Scott Park and 

 Townley Park — and twelve gardens and recreation 

 grounds. 



Burnley is the head of a Poor Law Union,'" com- 

 prising Burnley, Padiham, Nelson, Colne and a wide 

 district extending north-east and east to the border 

 of the county. It is also the centre of the rural 

 district council for the same part of the countv. 



The church of ST. PETER "^ stands 

 CHURCH at the north-east end of the town in a 

 I'jw situation on the south bank of the 

 River Brun, here flowing in a series of curves and 

 partly inclosing on three sides the neck of land on 

 which the building is situated. The church consists 

 of chancel with north and south chapels and south 

 vestry, nave with north and south aisles, south porch 

 and west tower, but only the tower, which is of I 5 th- 

 century date, is ancient. Of the former church 

 which stood on the same site little is known, but 

 in 1532-3 it was evidently in a state of dilapidation, 



as in an agreement of that date Thomas Sell.irs and 

 Nicholas Craven undertook within four jears 'to 

 rebuild the north and south hylings with 1 8 buttresjes, 

 every buttress having a funnel upon the top according 

 to the fashion of the funnels upon the new chapel of 

 Our Lady at Whalley.' The said ' hylings ' were to 

 be battled after the battling of the said chapel, and 

 the cost of the whole was to be ;(^6o. At this time 

 the present tower was standing, but whether the rest 

 of the building was of I 5th-century date or older 

 can only be conjectured.""'' Instead of the north and 

 sjuth aisles being rebuilt, however, as agreed upon in 

 the contract, the north aisle and nave were actually 

 reconstructed and the south aisle remained in its 

 original state, ' low and narrow, indeed a disgrace to 

 the rest of the church,'"" till 1789. A gallery had 

 been erected at the west end in 1735, the population 

 of the town having undergone a considerable increase ; 

 the south aisle was pulled down in 1789, and rebuilt 

 the following year in its present form uith a gallery 

 over it. In 1803 the north aisle was again rebuilt 

 with a gallery over, uniform with the new south aisle, 

 and the tower was raised 30ft. In 1854. the roof 

 was removed, and an arcade of five arches with 

 clearstory over was erected on the nave piers, with 

 two arches of less height to the chancel, the roof of 

 which is lower, and to which there is no clearstory. 

 The piers were of great height and had formerly 

 supported a longitudinal beam carrying the roof of the 

 nave and aisles. A general restoration of the building 

 was at the same time carried out, all the old squ.irc 

 pews being removed and the present open benches 

 substituted. A three-decker pulpit which stood in 

 front of the chancel was also removed, the galleries 

 refronted, their staircases rearranged, and the organ, 

 which stood at the ea^t end behind the pulpit, 

 blocking the chancel window, was removed to the 

 west end. In 1873 the chancel was lengthened, 

 and a vestry with organ chamber over added on the 

 south side, and a new south porch was built in 1889. 

 In 1903 the south and west galleries were removed 

 and an addition was made to the vestry. Apart, 

 therefore, from the lower part of the tower, the 

 exterior of the church is wholly modern, the oldest 

 part dating only from 1790, and the interior simi- 

 larly shows structurally little or nothing of anti- 

 quarian interest, except the piers, which belong to 

 the 16th-century rebuilding, and the older tower 

 arch. 



The church is built throughout of wrought stone, 

 the walls of the aisles (which are continuous to nave 

 and chancel) being lofty and pierced with two tiers 



'^ Baines, Lunci. (ed. 1836), iii, 252. 



^ Pink and Beaven, Pari. Rcfrc. of 

 Lanes. 346. 



" Act 34 & 35 Vict. cap. 154. The 

 extensions were chiefly in tiie norLh-east, 

 beyond Hcysandforth to the workhouse ; 

 and in the west to Gannow, Hargher 

 Clough and Cole Clough. A smaller 

 addition was m.ide in the south-east. 



'5 The wards were : St. Andrew's, 

 Bank House, Trinity, Gannow, Healey, 

 Fulledge, St. James's, St. Peter's. 



^ LarJ. Gaz, 7 No-.-. 1871. 



"•" The wards are named : St. Andrew's, 

 Danes House, Stonvholme, St. Peter's, 

 St. Paul's, Fulledre, Burnley Wood, 

 Hcjley, Trinity, \\'h:ttlefield, Gannow 

 and Lowerhousc. The present boundaries, 



as settled in 1 898, are fully set forth in 

 the Tear-book issued by the Corporation. 



"" Local Govt. Bd. Order 31666. 



'"^ Ibid. The Cen'us Bjp. 1901 gives 

 the areas of the new townships thus : 

 Burnley, 4,005 acres, including 65 of 

 inland water ; Brunshaw, 406 acres. 



^•^ The court-house was formerly on 

 Keighley Green. 



"« Act 53 & 54 Vict. cap. 187. They 

 have been greatly extended from time to 

 time since, 



'"^ A workhouse was built in 1822 in 

 Royle Road, where the railway crosses 

 the Calder. The present workhouse, to 

 the north of the town, in Briercliffe Road, 

 was built in 1876. 



>»«See Whitaker, fThalUy, ii, 158; 



448 



Lanct. Churches (Chet. Soc), loi ; Hist, 

 of the Parochial Church of Burnley, by 

 It. T. Wilkinson, 1856, which has been 

 used in the following description ; also 

 The Founding of Burnley Parish Church, 

 by John Allen, 1903. 



i"'-' The founding of the Towneley 

 chantry in the 14th century might lead 

 to the supposition that parts of the build- 

 ing were of that period, but there is no 

 sufRcient architectural evidence remaining 

 for determining the old plan. Wilkinson 

 {Hisi. Burnley Ch. 3) says 'the original 

 plan appears to have been cruciform, the 

 chancel forming the head, and the Towne- 

 ley and Stansfield chapels the right and 

 left arms of the cross respectively.' 



'* Wilkinson, op. cit. z. 



