Cotton Town
Cotton Town is Blackburn with Darwen Library and Information Service’s digital history website. The website contains a wealth of information about the area, and, thanks to a dedicated team of Community History Volunteers, continues to be updated regularly with new images and articles. Some resources have been published on the website. Select Resources from the home page to see what is available.
Community History
Blackburn Central and Darwen Library hold numerous resources and archives covering the industrial, municipal, religious, political and social history of Blackburn with Darwen. Most of the collection’s books, directories & maps, range from the mid-19th Century onwards.
The Community History library is located on the second floor of Blackburn Central Library and on the ground floor of Darwen Library and is freely available for the public to access during library opening hours.
Some archive and Special Collections are held in ‘reserve’ and may be subject to ‘supervised’ access. Prior notification is required to access these collections. Please see contact details below.
Community History Resources & Special Collections
It is just not possible to list all the various collections. The following selection is a snapshot of some of the main resources and archives held in our collection. Please contact the library to find out more about our collections.
Blackburn Union Workhouse and Hospitals Records:
Blackburn Library holds a range of Blackburn Union Workhouse minute books however records relating to inmates are retained by the Archive Service, Preston. Similarly, hospital patient records are also held by the Archive Service (contact details below).
Cemetery records:
Blackburn, Darwen and Pleasington Municipal Cemeteries on microfilm.
Census:
Enumerator’s returns on microfilm for 1841, 1851, 1861, 1871, 1881, 1891 & 1901
Council Minutes:
County Borough of Blackburn
Diaries:
Several diaries have been transcribed and have been published on Cotton Town.
Electoral Rolls:
From 1868 (incomplete)
Ephemera & Broadsheets:
Miscellaneous collection of posters, handbills, political squibs, adverts. The list of catalogued ephemera is available to view on Cotton Town.
Maps:
A wide range of Ordnance Survey maps plus County Borough of Blackburn maps and plans.
Military Records:
The Military Image Gallery on Cotton Town.
Newspapers:
Although there are short runs of other newspapers held on microfilm the following is a list of the main newspapers held at Blackburn Central Library:
- 1793 – 1829: The Blackburn Mail
- 1835 – 1904: The Blackburn Standard
- 1855 – 1980: The Blackburn Times (weekly)
- 1886 – to present: The Northern Daily Telegraph/Evening Telegraph/Lancashire Evening Telegraph/currently Lancashire Telegraph
- Darwen Library holds The Darwen News & The Darwen Weekly Advertiser plus other newspaper short runs.
Photographs:
Photograph collections are held at both Blackburn and Darwen Library however the majority of photographs have been digitised and published in the ‘Library Image Gallery’ on Cotton Town.
Additionally, there are two other Image Galleries on Cotton Town relating to negative collections held by Blackburn Library ‘The Shaw Collection’ and ‘The Talbot Collection’.
Photographs: Image reproduction:
The Library does not offer a commercial image reproduction service however will consider research and other requests to provide images (copyright permission permitting) on a case-by-case basis.
Police Records:
Appointments 1854 – 1889, 1889-1907
School Records:
School Board & Education Minutes.
School Admission & Logbooks. Incomplete.
‘Special Collections’:
Please make an appointment to view items from these collections.
- James Dunn
- Dorothy Whipple Archive
- Jessical Lofthouse
- Foster, Yate & Thom
- Lees Hall Temperance Collection (Elizabeth Ann Lewis)
- William Wolstenholme
- Woodfold Estate (Thwaites)
- Blackburn Music Society Archive
Town Directories & Telephone Directories:
A wide range of directories from the late 19th Century including an incomplete set of Barrett’s Directories of Blackburn & District, 1874 – 1966 (published every 3-4 years).
1814, 1818, 1854 Blackburn Directory entry plus 1912 Parochial Street Directory available to view on Cotton Town.
- Telephone Directories from 1952 onwards.
Free Online resources available in the library only:
- Ancestry
- Find My Past
- British Newspaper Archive
Enquiries and Charges
Assistance and advice will be given free of charge to all visitors to the Community History library.
A charge, however, is applied for those who are unable to undertake their own research. A basic assessment is free of charge in order to advise whether the Library holds records relevant to the enquiry otherwise the following fee applies:
£17 Search (up to half an hour)
£30 per hour thereafter (2 hours maximum)
Microfilms:
Free to use. Please sign in at the desk or book ahead to reserve.
The following charges apply for printing from the microfilm printer:
- 40p per A4 microfilm print (portrait or landscape)
- A3 per A3 microfilm print (portrait only)
Digital Device Charge:
dependent on permission to copy.
- £3 charge for use of personal device
- £5 charge for use of personal device
Photocopy and Printing:
- 10p per copy x A4 black and white
- 20p per copy x A3 black and white
- 40p per copy x A4 colour
- 80p per copy x A3 colour
Scanned documents & email attachments:
Items/documents scanned by the public copy/print/scan device will be sent free of charge. If a high-resolution image is used there is a £2.50 minimum charge for one item (up to A4) and thereafter 50p per scan.
Postage:
Minimum charge £2 for standard postage (United Kingdom) for up to A4 documents. Excess charges may apply if the document is larger than A4 or requires payment by weight or overseas postage.
Donations
We welcome contributions of articles and images for Cotton Town
We are quite happy to scan and return photographs but appreciate permission to publish images on the website.
Donations of images, ephemera, and books for the Community History Library are also welcome in line with the Library’s ‘Stock Selection’ criteria.
Archive Service:
Archive Service, Bow Lane, Preston, Lancashire, PR1 2RE