The River Blakewater

Blackburn, originally a village dating back to around the 6th century and mentioned in the Doomsday book, was a settlement on the banks of a small river called the Blakewater. The name Blakewater derives from 'black water', though this name probably described its appearance before heavy pollution took a hold in the early 1800s when sewage was discharged into the river and it became a source of infection for epidemics such as scarlet fever, cholera and typhus.

In 1849, Charles Tiplady a printer and alderman of Blackburn in the 1800's, in a letter to the Preston Guardian, called public attention to the polluted state of the Blakewater Brook at that time, and contrasted it with the purity of the Brook in his boyhood. He wrote:

“Then, how beautiful to stroll, by its devious courses, along the fields to Brookhouse; to the rookery at Little Harwood Hall; and on to the confines of the Sour Milk Hall farm. Then, following its mazy current, we came to Whitebirk. There we sat down on its banks, listening to the sweet carolling of the birds; ever and anon refreshing ourselves with copious draughts of the pure liquid, and pulling our homely crust of ‘pie and other prog’ from our pockets, feasted right merrily. Ah, those were happy days! But now, poor old Brook, how art thou fallen!”

The river improved in the later 1800s as more sewage treatment plants were built but probably not to a condition fit for drinking. The river is a central feature of Blackburn's coat of arms where it appears as a black wavy line symbolising the origins of the town on the banks of the Blakewater at Blakey Moor.

In times of average rainfall it is no more than a stream. It is quite insignificant and people mostly ignore that it is there. It meanders down from the local hills to follow a course through the centre of town. It passes my cycling route in the vicinity of Little Harwood and trundles off townwards mainly out of site. For a lot of its course it is covered. It disappears under bridges, behind mills walls and down beneath culverts as it passes through Blackburn. The river is covered by main roads such as Ainsworth Street before going west to join up with the River Darwen at Witton.

Since the river disappeared in the 1960's underneath extensive culverts, it has now been realised that many of those changes, which gave priority to motorised traffic, are no longer suitable for the future needs of the town. In its master plan for the development of the town centre, Blackburn with Darwen Borough Council, has as one of its goals 'the opening up parts of the River Blakewater'. This will be an interesting part of an extensive regeneration plan that includes 'ribbons of green'.

Little Harwood has a tributary brook that is also culverted. Passing through Little Harwood you certainly wouldn't know it was there. It then joins Knusden Brook under Philips Road before reappearing as the River Blakewater to go under the railway line and past Cob Wall to town. Little Harwood Brook was recently the site of lengthy roadworks in Robinson Street where the culvert was repaired over a period of many months.

This also involved part of Philips Road near to where Little Harwood Brook joins Knusden Brook. Now it seems it is the turn of Philips Road proper to have extensive road repairs. The sign indicates more than 6 months of disruption to traffic (including bikes!). You can see from the old photographs where the river was culverted in the 1960s how extensive this work can be. Perhaps it's too narrow? Look forward to some updates on progress in the coming months.

Some content was provided by Blackburn with Darwen Borough Council and Lancashire Evening Telegraph for use in the Cotton Town digitisation project

Nice day for a ride

Today, for a change, it hasn't been raining and the sun has been shining. The temparature has been hovering about 15C, which although on the cool side, is great for a bike ride. The view above is looking down the Calder valley towards Whalley with Longridge Fell and Kemple End in the distance.



I managed to double my usually weekly mileage in one fell swoop just by exploring routes round our neighbouring east Lancashire towns. From Whalley, via Great Harwood, through Clayton-le-Moors to Accrington (home of the famous Accrington Stanley and the historic Accrington Pals).



It struck me how unoriginal some of the street names are. Clayton Street in Clayton, Church Street in Church. I quite liked the play on words for a shop in Clayton - it was called Clayton l'Amour. Something else struck me as I passed through the urban landscape, how so many pubs are closed or for sale - a sign of the times. More of this in a future post.



From Church (west of Accrington), I picked up the Hyndburn Greenway, A track that provides access to the canal towards Rishton. Rather nice too. Fine views from here although the aqueduct over the M65 motorway was rather noisy. From Rishton, I took the Greenway towards Blackburn joining the canal path halfway before returning home. Oh, I forget to mention the reason for the trip. To buy a door. Who says shopping on a bike can't be fun?

'Lock 'em up'

Is this sort of thing blighting your neighbourhood? There were three of these placards along my commute chained to either lampposts or in this case a tree. Most seem to have been destroyed. We must be a nation of horders to need all these lock-ups. You'll notice it is lying down in the picture. When the council chaps come to cut the grass they move it out of the way but don't remove it. Not their job, see.

Bike commuter mugged at knifepoint

Previously, I showed a route available to commuters on the west of Blackburn, taking the Leeds and Liverpool canal towards Rishton. Last week I also had a look the other way along that route. Access points to the canal around the Whitebirk area on the east of Blackburn are plentiful with access possible from the main A6119 shown here, Phoenix park and the Greenbank areas.

Travelling towards Blackburn has a distictly different feel from the route through the countryside towards Rishton and Accrington. In the Blackburn direction the towpath is more enclosed with a mixture of modern industrial units and large old mills combined with numerous road bridges.

This not only makes it a less fluid ride, but it also introduces hazards with sharp bends in the path. What is also noticable, is the graffiti, wasteland and industrial decay leading to a less secure feeling as I rode along. I did see another cyclist and a couple of other folk.

It was near these access points that, yesterday around 7am, Andy Seward, a commuting cyclist from Rishton, was robbed of his bike, rucksack and phone by two hooded men armed with a knife. More details from the Lancashire Telegraph here..

This route is of key importance to the local cycling strategy but crimes like this will completely put off potential cyclists from using the route. The more people use it, the safer it will feel but one feels much more has to be done to reassure users that it is safe.

Gone in 60 Seconds - The Bike Crime Wave

Tomorrow, Tuesday 24th July at 19:30, ITV1 The London Programme, shows a documentary on bike crime and the methods used to steal bikes. The program will apparently give an insight into how thieves are stealing bicycles from city centres. If you're about to buy a lock for your bike, it could be worth waiting until you've seen the program and then you know what you're up against.