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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Brothers In Arms

Meetings In Normandy from the Bacup Times August 1944   An unexpected meeting on the Normandy beachhead was recently the happy experience of two Bacup brothers, Driver James Stevenson 23 R.A.S.C., and A.B. Stevenson 19 Naval Command. Sons of Mr and Mrs Stevenson 16, Co-operation Street. Speaking of the reunion, the younger of the two.

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Happy May Day

Dancing round the Maypole, merrily we go Dancing round the Maypole, singing as we go “I’m the Queen, oh can’t you see I’ve just come from the village green If you wait a little while I will show you the polka-style (Girls: Can you dance the polka?) ‘Yes I can Not with you, with my

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Making A Splash

THE MADEN PUBLIC BATHS, BАСUР Extract from Building News 22 December 1893.   These baths were opened on Saturday last, the 16th inst., by Mr. J. H. Maden, М.Р., having been presented to the borough of Bacup by his late father. The baths have been designed and carried out by Messrs. Mangnall and Littlewoods, architects,

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Deeds Not Words!

Lewis Harcourt was a prominent figure in British politics, serving as the Member of Parliament for Rossendale from 1904 to 1917. His stance against women’s suffrage was a notable aspect of his political career, reflecting the prevailing attitudes of the time towards the issue of gender equality. Harcourt’s early experience as a private secretary to

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The End Of The Line

Described as being “tucked up a winding valley on the fringe of the moors” Bacup was the end of the line when it came to the Bacup branch line, which opened to Bacup on the 1st October 1852. A month earlier, the local newspaper had announced “It is expected that the line of railway from

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