welcome to

Bacuptimes

Welcome to the brand new Bacuptimes website. You’re probably here because you clicked on a link from my old website, which was 20 years old and had run its course. If you have any questions about Bacup’s history or a specific interest in it, please feel free to use the contact form and I will be happy to assist you. Otherwise, we hope you enjoy reading our new Bacupian Blog 🙂

The Giddy Meadow was the name once given to the small cluster of houses that made up the village of Bacup at the end of the eighteenth century when the first recording of Bacup’s inhabitants was made. The population at this time stood at 1,456 and the number of houses stood at 306 growing to over 3,301 by 1863.

 

By the time the cotton famine or cotton panic began in 1861 caused by the American Civil War, over 35 mills, a railway, churches, chapels, municipal and other buildings had been built along with several back-to-back and back to earth houses.

 

The once clear fish-filled River Irwell soon became an open sewer, its river bed filled with ashes from the mills along its banks and from the houses erected to house the men women and children that worked in those mills. A skyline of chimneys belching out smoke 24 hours a day replaced the skylines of clean fresh moorlands and trees.

 

With no backyards, the only door to the world for some faced their neighbours as did the lavatories and coal places, row upon row of dustbins hugging the walls in monotonous uniformity.

Latest Posts

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Sacred With Their Own Life's Blood
In June 1931, 236 people from three Rossendale Boroughs embarked on a journey of over 900 miles to the...
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Outside the Bacup Police Station
The Bacup Court House
  On July 29, 1857, the Bacup Court House was inaugurated at Bankside, hosting its first petty session...
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Willie Foster
Bacup's Own Olympian
As we approach the 2024 Olympics I thought I would share the story of our very own Bacup Olympian Willie...
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Felix aka P
Felix
P.C.25 Martin was one of Bacup’s most respected police officers. Known as Felix, by local people...
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St Saviours School
The Schoolroom
The Mechanics School was taken over by Bacup Board School in 1893 with Mr Bell of Burnley submitting...
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Fred Cooper
Fred Cooper POW
Warrant Officer Fred Cooper 115 Squadron R.A.F aged 24, a well-known Bacup cricketer and player for Lancashire...
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Sourhall
Sourhall Smallpox Hospital
Article Taken from the Bacup Times 1901   Situated at the foot of Flower Scarr Hill above Todmorden...
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Legend of Stubbylee Hall
About the year 850. A.D. on the site of Stubbylee Hall once stood a beautiful monastery, richly decorated...
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APPROACH ROCKCLIFFE HOUSE
Rockliffe House
Rockliffe House was built by John Maden cotton spinner and manufacturer, in 1866 on land once known as...
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