BLACKBURN  , a municipal,

county and parliamentary borough of Lancashire, England, 210 M . N.W, by N. from London, and 241 N.N.W. from Manchester, served by the Lancashire & Yorkshire and the London & North Western railways, with several lines from all parts of the county . Pop . (1891) 120,064; (1901) 127,626 . It lies in the valley of a stream called in early times the Blackeburn, but now known as the Brook . The hills in the vicinity rise to some 900 ft., and among English manufacturing towns Blackburn ranks high in beauty of situation . Besides numerous churches and chapels the public buildings comprise a large town hall (1856), market house, exchange, county court, municipal offices, chamber of commerce, free library, and, outside the town, an infirmary . There are an Elizabethan grammar school, in modern buildings (1884) and an excellent technical school . The Corporation Park and Queen's Park are well laid out, and contain ornamental waters . There is an efficient tramway service, connecting the town with Darwen, 5 M. south . The cotton industry employs thousands of operatives, the iron trade is also very considerable, and many are engaged in the making of machines; but a former woollen manufacture is almost extinct . Blackburn's speciality in the cotton industry is weaving .

Coal, lime and building stone are abundant in the neighbourhood . Blackburn received a charter of incorporation in 1851, and is governed by a mayor, 14 aldermen and 42 councillors . The county borough was created in 1888 . The parliamentary borough, which returns two members, is co-extensive with the municipal, and lies between the Accrington and Darwen divisions of the county . Area, 7432 acres . Blackburn is of considerable antiquity; indeed, the 6th century is allocated to the original foundation of a church on the site of the present parish church . Of another church on this site Cranmer was rector after the Reformation . Blackburn was for some time the chief town of a district called Blackburnshire, and as early as the reign of Elizabeth ranked as a flourishing market town . About the middle of the 17th century it became famous for its " checks," which were afterwards superseded by a similar linen-and-cotton fabric known as " Blackburn greys." In the 18th century the ability of certain natives of the town greatly fostered its cotton industry; thus James Hargreaves here probably invented his spinning jenny about 1764, though the operatives, fearing a reduction of labour, would have none of it, and forced him to quit the town for Nottingham . He was in the employment of Robert Peel, grandfather of the prime minister of that name, who here instituted the factory system, and as the director of a large business carefully fostered the improvement of methods . See W . A .

Abram,

History of Blackburn (Blackburn, 1897) .