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If you're looking for historical
information about Padiham for your studies or simply for pleasure,
please read our bibliography section. It contains a wealth
of information to help you along your way -- click
here to go there >
Padiham. It's difficult to know where
to begin. A reasonably small town in terms of population,
only 20,000 residents. The town has been witness to a rise
& fall scenario, like many other similar towns which were
swallowed up by Government boundary changes in the 1960s.
Padiham for hundreds of years held its own, it survived extremely
turbulent times, the Great Wars to mention just two periods
and for a small town did so with surprising success. However,
as they say, all good things must come to an end...
And they did. The boundary changes made
by the Conservative Government in the 1960s forced Burnley
Borough Council, at the time our larger industrial neighbour
town, to take over Padiham and other small surrounding areas
and villages. Padiham was no longer an independent town, it
became a portion, an area, a part of Burnley. Rather like
Scotland became part of the United Kingdom after the King
of England and his army invaded it.
40 years of overshadow, degradation and
ignoration paid its toll on our little town by the River.
Businesses and shops came and went, traffic turned into a
steady current through our tiny 'B' type road and now prevents
anybody without superior athletic ability from crossing the
road.
Going back to the beginning of the decline,
in the 1960s when Burnley Borough Council had just taken us
over, Padiham was stripped naked of 'unnecessary' cost. The
Padiham Bypass which, begins at the top of Whalley Road is
surrounded by large plots of open land, before Burnley Borough
Council ripped them from the ground in an effort to lower
Padiham's cost of maintenance the land was filled with bright,
cheerful flowers which welcomed travelers to our proud town.
The slow starvation of Padiham chipped
away at its renowned civic pride. What our ancestors worked
so hard to build has, over such a small period of time become
seemingly pointless.
Not true. 2002 saw the start of something
new and exciting. Padiham Town Council was formed after many
years of battling for the right to do so. With nowhere near
as much power or authority as our former Urban District Council,
can Padiham Town Council really do anything for us? Well,
that remains to be seen. However, I can guarantee you one
thing...
It cannot do anything on its own, it
needs us all to regain some of our lost civic pride and join
in the race to make Padiham, not what it used to be, but what
it can be.
Do you know anything interesting
about Padiham's past? E-mail me at: leigh@madassociates.com
and share your knowledge, lest we forget.
A definitive history of Padiham has yet
to be written. However the following list of books and articles
etc., will give a fairly comprehensive range of information
about the town from its Anglo-Saxon origins through the medieval
period to the present day. Nearly all of these books can be
found in Padiham Library, in Reference or on loan, or otherwise
in Burnley Reference Library.
Burnley Library also holds various pamphlets,
commemorative programmes, articles and photographs relevant
to Padiham - ask at the desk in the Reference Library for
information - computer ref. C/PU 05. Padiham Library also
holds some old photographs.
There are also records relating to Padiham
at the Lancashire Record Office, Bow Lane, Preston. For Parish
Records see under PR 2863 and the records deposited by the
Urban District Council Ud Pa.
The Court Rolls of the Honour of Clitheroe
in the County of Lancashire, Vol.II., ed. W. Farrer, 1912.
(BRL)
Census Returns, 1841 - 1901 (on microfilm)
(BRL)
Trades Directories, 1828, 1830, 1834,
1854, 1868, 1872, thence every 3 years to 1960. (BRL)
There is a small selection in PRL from 1879 only.
Minute Books of Padiham Urban District
Council 1894 - 1974. (BRL)
The Registers of the Parish Church of
Padiham, 1573 - 1653, published in 1903 by the Lancashire
Parish Register Society. (BRL)
Transcriptions of Padiham Parish registers
by Dr. J. Laycock, 1573 - 1826 (BRL)
1st edition of OS map, 6" to 1 mile,
1848.
Old Ordnance Survey Maps - Padiham 1909,
Lancashire Sheet 63.04 contains a description of Padiham in
1909 by Jean Siddall, former Burnley Librarian.
OS map of Padiham and district, 25"
to 1 mile, 1893 and others.
Blackburn Mail - some references to Padiham
in late 18C and early 19C.
Padiham Almanack, 1860 to 1865, published
by M.S. Holland, Bookseller, Church Street (in the Lancashire
Record Office,) Preston.
Padiham (1862-3 missing).
Refs: 1860 - UD Pa 89/9, 1861 - UD Pa
89/10, 1864 - UD Pa 89/13, 1865 - UD Pa 89/17.
Padiham Advertiser, various copies on
microfilm in BRL 1918 and 1966 onwards in PRL
Articles and reports in Burnley newspapers
from 1852 (consult Newspaper Index in BRL).
The Victoria County History of Lancashire,
Vol. VI. ed. Farrer and Brownbill, 1911.
The History of the Original Parish of
Whalley and Honour of Clitheroe, 2 volumes by Dr. T.D. Whitaker.
(1872 edition).
The History of Burnley by Walter Bennett,
Vols. I-Iv, 1951, (references to Padiham).
A History of Padiham, by Gill Glenn,
a series of 8 articles in Red Rose Magazine, Vol. 1 No. 1
- Vol. 2 No. 2, 1989-1990. ed. N. Dunnachie. (from medieval
times to early 19th century). The articles have also been
extracted and bound separately. (BRL)
Rural Houses in the Lancashire Pennines,
1560 -1760, by Sarah Pearson, 1985, (includes Foulds House,
Hargrove Farm, Priddy Bank, Stockbridge House, and High Whittaker).
Padiham Urban District Council, 1894-1974,
by Molly Haines and Margaret Jones, 1994.
St. Giles Street, Padiham - the history
of a working class street, by Padiham WEA, edited Gill Glenn,
1986.
Owd Padiham by Duncan Armstrong - 1985,
photographs of Padiham, past and present.
Padiham Jack, by John Knowles, 1996.
(account of his early life in Padiham from 1906 -1926 before
emigrating to Australia).
Padiham, A Town Trail, by Duncan Armstrong,
Richard Catlow and David Ellis, 1976.
Padiham Town Trail, revised edition,
by Hazel Rushton, Christine Bond and Carol Stinton, 1998.
The story of St. Leonard`s school, 1676
- 1966 by Lilian Carr, 1966.
Challenge in Stone, St. Leonards Padiham,
1869 - 1969, by John Travis and Lilian Carr (to commemorate
the centenary of the new church built in 1869).
The History of Wesleyan Methodism in
Burnley and East Lancashire, by Benjamin Moore, 1899, (includes
the history of the foundation of Padiham`s Methodist churches)
(BRL)
Wesley Chapel, Padiham, Jubilee Celebrations
1897 by John Blezard (BRL)
Wesley Chapel Centenary, 1847 - 1947
- a historical sketch of Methodism in Padiham (BRL stack)
History of Unitarianism in Padiham, by
W.E. Jenkins, 1906.
St. Johns Catholic Church, 1981, a centenary
booklet edited by Tom Gill.
Padiham Remembered, Scenes of Padiham
Life 1900 - 1925. Drawings and paintings by Rona Swindlehurst,
2002.
East Lancashire at War by Nick Dunnachie,
1995 (pictures and references to Padiham)
The House and Farm Accounts of the Shuttleworths
of Gawthorpe, 1582 - 1631, edited by John Harland, for the
Chetham Society, 1856 -1858, 4 volumes.
Gawthorpe Hall, Lancashire, published
by the National Trust, 1999 (a history of the building of
the hall and the family)
The Life of Sir James Kay-Shuttleworth
by Frank Mills, 1923. BRL
Rachel Kay-Shuttleworth 1886-1967 - a
Memoir, by Canon G.A. Williams, 1968
The Shuttleworths of Gawthorpe, by Michael
P. Conroy, 1999.
Backcloth to Gawthorpe, by Michael P.
Conroy, 1996.
Gawthorpe Remembered, edited and compiled
by Raymond and Nick Dunnachie (BRL stack - D 41)
The annual publication of the Burnley and District Historical
Society.
Vol. 7 (1987) "The Padiham Field
Naturalist Society, 1872-7" by Margaret Jones.
Vol II (1991-2) "Thomas Ashe, A
Disillusioned Schoolmaster" (master at the charity school
in St. Leonard`s churchyard from 1801-2) by Margaret Jones.
Vol 13 (1994-5) "St. John`s Church,
Padiham," by John Dunleavy.
Vol 14 (1995-6) "William Waddington
and Son, Architects" by Molly Haines.
Vol 15 (1997) "The Strike at Orchard
Mill, Padiham, 1883" by Margaret Jones.
Vol 16 (1998) "Burial Grounds and
Funeral Customs in 19th Century Padiham" by Margaret
Jones.
Vol 17 (1999) "Huntroyde Auxiliary
Military Hospital, 1914-17, based on archive material from
Towneley Hall, by Michael Townend.
Vol 20 (2002) "A Snapshot of Padiham"
- information from the census returns of 1841 and 1851, by
Molly Haines.
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www.padihamlife.co.uk is the original & official Padiham Life website.