bacuptimes

Felix

P.C.25 Martin was one of Bacup’s most respected police officers. Known as Felix, by local people he earned this nickname as he carried out point duty in Bacup Centre, where he walked backwards and forwards with his hands clasped behind his back just like Felix the Cat a 1920 cartoon character. One of his most […]

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The Schoolroom

The Mechanics School was taken over by Bacup Board School in 1893 with Mr Bell of Burnley submitting plans to build the new Central Board School at Thorn in 1894. The plans were made up of two schools; the infant school could hold up to 500 pupils and the junior school 325 pupils. The infants

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Fred Cooper POW

Warrant Officer Fred Cooper 115 Squadron R.A.F aged 24, a well-known Bacup cricketer and player for Lancashire CCC Second XI, joined the R.A.F on the 24th July 1940. Fred’s parents John and Margaret Cooper of 114 Bankside Lane received word that Fred had been reported missing after flying operations on Wednesday 29th July 1942.   Fred

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Rockliffe House

Rockliffe House was built by John Maden cotton spinner and manufacturer, in 1866 on land once known as Raw Cliffe. John started off life as a humble handloom weaver, born at Bent in the hamlet of Heald. At the age of twenty, he married and, encouraged by his wife, he saved his first £5.00, walking

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Lancashire Neet

A series of annual “Lancashire Neets” were instituted just after the First World War by the Bacup Natural History Society. These evenings began as a night of Lancashire dialect verse and song, and later became plays which took the form of North country comedies, and a long succession of players became so expert that the

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Clogs On Broadway

Thanks for the Memory  by Albert Pattison 1972 This entry won First Prize in a Memories of Bacup Competition in 1972.   Fifty years ago, I was attending the old St Mary’s R.C. School, on Bankside. Bacup at that time was a dimly lit cotton town, composed in the main of pubs, chip shops, cloggers 

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A Highwaymen’s Tale

Once recognized as the Bull & Dog Inn, the establishment known as The Blue Ball Inn now rests as a vacant field. A date stone bearing the initials J.G.B. and the year 1792 marks its historical significance. Remarkably, John Cropper maintained his role as the landlord for nearly three decades, from 1848 to 1877, succeeding

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Boggart Hole Clough

The image captures Hill House Barn farm, situated along Booth Road, an area once popularly referred to as Folly Clough. This nickname originated from the Clough that flowed from Higher Tunstead to the Hare and Hounds. Although water continues in this direction, it is now channelled beneath the road through pipes.     To the

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