Every month, the Heritage Centre submits an article on aspects of local history to a local free magazine, the 'PR Pointer' that is distributed across Longridge and Preston.
Copies of the current and previous articles can be seen below.
July 2024
After last year’s successful debut, the volunteers at the Heritage Centre are preparing to take part once again in the national Heritage Open Days event in September. England’s largest festival of history and culture will this year have the theme of ‘Routes – Networks – Connections’ so we are busy looking into Oliver Cromwell’s route through Longridge to the decisive Battle of Preston, the railway network linking Longridge to Preston and Whittingham, a balloon flight (that didn’t quite make it to Longridge!) in 1849, the network supporting the pre-industrial textile industry and much more under the heading ‘Romans to Railways’. Our open day here will be Saturday 7th September, more details to follow next month.
In the meantime our corridor display will feature a look at the history of the Goosnargh and Longridge Agricultural Show (GLAS), which dates from around 150 years ago and this year will be held on the show field on Lower Lane on Saturday 6th July. Following on from this we will celebrate all the wonderful things to do in Lancashire through the summer, from days out at the seaside to field days and festivals. All we need is the weather!
Our picture shows a busy corner of Blackpool full of trippers enjoying their day at the seaside in the early 1900s. This is the original location of ‘Uncle Tom’s Cabin’ which was Blackpool’s first centre for amusements and inspired many more to follow. Unfortunately, erosion of the coast caused much of the building to collapse soon after this photo was taken and the business moved to Queen’s Promenade.
We will be in the Community Tent at the GLAS with a display and a selection of our local books, maps and small gifts for sale, including our new leaflet on the Longridge Blue Plaque Trail. Why not come and visit us?
The Longridge Heritage Centre is open between 10 and 2, Monday to Friday. Our corridor displays are on view during the Station opening times of 9 to 4, Monday to Saturday
June 2024
Parades and Processions
The people of Longridge have enjoyed a good parade through the streets of the village for decades if not centuries. The tradition started with the Whitsuntide walks when Sunday School scholars marched to church accompanied by bands and then, after the service, continued to another venue (inside or out) for a tea and further entertainment. An early report of such a procession appears in the Preston Chronicle in June 1846. Whit Monday at that time was not on a fixed date as is our late May Bank Holiday, but was a religious festival with timing determined by Easter.
Another excuse for a parade was Longridge Guild Day in August. In 1890 crowds came to Longridge on special trains to join in the festivities. The congregations of the Catholic and Protestant churches held their own processions and services then came together to follow a common route before separating again for refreshments.
Parades were also held to mark one-off events – recruitment of men to the First World War, peace celebrations. Until very recently, the annual Civic Sunday in Longridge was marked by the Mayor inviting all residents of the village to join them in a walk round the streets and ending in a local church for a service of thanksgiving and dedication. By 2013 attendance by uniformed organisations was dwindling and soon afterwards the tradition came to an end.
The main parade through our streets now is for Field Day in June each year, when floats lavishly decorated by schools and other community groups share the streets with Field Day Queens, dancers, musicians, gymnasts, fancy dress and other displays.
The current Heritage Centre corridor display features photos of Longridge parades over the past 100 years and can be seen during Station opening times of 9 to 4, Monday to Saturday.
April 2024
Longridge stone – the building blocks of West Lancashire
Longridge Fell is formed of millstone grit sandstone, an excellent building material which has been quarried since at least the 1700s and possibly earlier. Known as Longridge Brown, the stone was at first used for building in the village itself. As knowledge of its fine properties spread, quarrymasters forged links with developers across the county to create a thriving market and an expansion in the number and size of quarries spreading up the Fell.
Huge blocks of stone were at first transported to Preston docks by horse drawn ’lurries’ pulled by teams of up to 16 horses for onward shipping. Quarry owner Thomas Fleming was one of the main promoters of the 1840 gravity railway to Preston, converted to steam locomotion in 1848, which facilitated the export of the stone around Lancashire. The major civic buildings in Preston are constructed of our stone, as are the town halls of Blackburn and Lancaster, Bolton parish church and the Liverpool, Fleetwood and Preston docks.
At the height of production the main quarries were Broomhill (off Tan Yard), Railway, Spencer’s and Nook Fold (now together the location of the Beacon Fell View Holiday Park), and Copy or Green Bank , now the site of holiday homes and a well-used ‘bouldering’ climbing face. On the other side of the ridge was Lord’s Delph, close to Billington’s Farm.. The quarries at one time employed 400 men. The railway ran beyond the town as far as Lord’s Delph and through a tunnel under Higher Road to serve the quarries at Tootle Heights; trucks had to be winched by rope through this as engines became too large to get through.
The demand for Longridge stone collapsed by 1918, due to competition from Yorkshire and Wales, the costs of carriage and the increasing use of bricks in building. The last of the quarries closed shortly after the Second World War, although Copy Quarry reopened briefly in the 1970s to supply hardcore for the construction of the M55 to Blackpool. Slightly further afield, Leeming Quarry at Kemple End is still operating and supplied the slab of stone used to mark 100 years since the end of WW1 in the Longridge Rec.
Our pictures shows workers at Nook Fold in 1899 and a line drawing of the local quarries
Our next corridor display will give more detail about our quarrying past. To learn more about the history of Longridge, its industries and commerce, why not buy a copy of ‘Our Heritage’, an A – Z guide to our town, available from the Heritage Centre.
The Longridge Heritage Centre corridor displays can be seen during Station opening times of 9 to 4, Monday to Saturday. The Centre is open between 10 and 2, Monday to Friday. We sell a selection of cards, books, maps, local photographs and small gifts.
March 2024
Victorian and Edwardian Longridge
Our corridor display opening at the end of February is a pictorial celebration of Longridge through the Victorian and Edwardian eras.
Until the middle years of the 19th century, Longridge was a village of mainly home workers – hand loom weavers and nail makers. The only industry of any scale was quarrying, which had been carried out on Longridge Fell on the outskirts of the settlement for centuries. The stone was transported away by horse and cart until 1840, just one year after Victoria came to the throne, when the railway down to Preston opened. This was operated by gravity and hauled back to Longridge by horse power. The population of the village in 1841 was 1652. Steam trains came to the line in 1848 and opened the way for transporting raw materials, especially coal and cotton, up to Longridge. Very soon the cotton mills were built and started production – Stonebridge in 1850, Cramp Oaks (Crumpax) a year later, Victoria in 1862 (shown in our picture) and finally Queens in 1875.
These mills needed workers and workers needed housing. The characteristic terraces off Berry Lane and elsewhere in Longridge began to appear in 1860 and house building continued apace throughout the next decade and beyond. The population increased, at first slowly, but between 1861 and 1871 it grew by 50% to just over 3000. In 1901, the year Victoria died, 4304 people were recorded in the census. These residents needed services and during the last 4 decades of Victoria’s reign schools and churches were built, The Longridge Co-op was formed, the railway station opened to serve passengers (who had previously had to buy their tickets at the Towneley Arms), a gas works came into production and the whole social network of a thriving community was built up. Longridge Urban District Council was created in 1894 to run the affairs of the town.
The Edwardian era lasted just under 10 years from 1901 until 1910. This was a time of stability in Longridge. The population remained at just over 4300, the mills were thriving and life seemed set to continue in this vein indefinitely. The people of Longridge could not have foreseen the disruption to their lives to come in 1914.
The Longridge Heritage Centre corridor displays can be seen during Station opening times of 9 to 4, Monday to Saturday. The Centre is open between 10 and 2, Monday to Friday. We sell a selection of cards, books, maps, local photographs and small gifts.