This is Lynwood Road, which runs down from Revidge Rd to below Granville Rd. This photo would have been taken from just below the junction of St Silas' Rd. My mum & dad used to live further up than here on the same side the kids are on, but behind the photographer.
Kathleen Ferrier (famed contralto) also lived on this street at number 57, just a little further up than Sacred Heart School. There's a blue plaque on her house to this day. Kathleen moved into Lynwood Rd when she was just 18 months old (1914), when her father was appointed as headmaster at St Paul's School. Both her parents were Blackburnian's, but had lived in Higher Walton (where Kathleen was born) when her father was headmaster at the school there.
This image of Lynwood Rd dates to around 1905.
COURTESY OF THE CP COLLECTION
KATHLEEN FERRIER ALBUM SLEEVE
( COURTESY OF THE INTERNET )
Strange why all the street lamps are on one side of the street. I've often wondered if it was something to do with the Gas Company only being able to afford to lay one gas main per street, or simply that gas lamps were in short supply !
ReplyDeleteI think your first theory is probably right. I've never given it any thought before, never even noticed that all the lamps were on one side of the street (though I did on this photo).
ReplyDeleteA little bit off topic, but in roughly the right location, I was shocked to hear that St Silas' school was knocked down last week (located between New Bank Road, St Silas' Road, Clematis Street and Azaleas Road). I'm pretty shocked as it was a grand old Victorian buuilding with lots of character...its worth a look on Google Streetview whilst it's still online for those who don't know it! (apologies for posting twice)
ReplyDeleteYeah I saw that Lorcan. One of the contributors to the 'Photographs of Blackburn Lancashire' group on Facebook put a few photos of it under demolition on Saturday. I don't think she put them on that actual group (Ruth Martin, she's called), but she has some on F/B. I made a comment on the thread, basically just asking if it was St Silas's, as she hadn't left a caption under her photos. Another woman left a comment after me and others, saying it was a depressing place to teach in and a depressing place to learn in and she was glad to see it going, so I assume she was a teacher there at some point.
ReplyDeleteI was also sad to hear the old school had gone: I was a pupil there in the early 1970s and have very happy memories of the main hall, the classrooms with high ceilings, the stone stairs to the head teacher's office worn away by years of the good and mischievous trudging up there, passing through a big cloakroom. All gothic stone and dirty glass but very welcoming.
ReplyDelete