The Specialists
Accrington is a proud and unique Lancashire mill town and boasts a vast array of specialist shops which have developed over many years to provide a wonderful shopping experience. Easy access to the shopping areas and free parking facilities are two reasons why Accrington is such a shopping attraction. The diversity of specialist businesses can be seen in the advertisers in these pages. The town itself has been a major force throughout Lancashire history when, as far back as the early 19th century, at least 10 mills made it a leading textile area. The town grew as the textile industry grew and later that century became a world renown centre of engineering. Shops and businesses developed to provide for the growing population. Accrington’s status as an industrial town was indicated with it’s football team, Accrington FC, being one of the founder members of the Football League in 1888. Accrington is the smallest town in England and Wales with a Football League club, but Accrington Stanley is known world wide in football circles.
The town is famed for manufacturing the hardest and densest building bricks in the world, "The Accrington NORI" (iron), which were used in the construction of the Empire State Building and for the foundations of Blackpool Tower. The Haworth Art Gallery contains an outstanding collection of Tiffany glassware presented to the town by Joseph Briggs, The Art Nouveau vases are considered to be the most important such group in Europe. One well-known association the town has is with the 'Accrington Pals', the nickname given to the smallest home town battalion of volunteers formed to fight in the first world war. The Pals battalions were a peculiarity of the 1914-18 war: Lord Kitchener, the Secretary of State for War, believed that it would help recruitment if friends and work-mates from the same town were able to join up and fight together. Strictly speaking, the 'Accrington Pals' battalion is properly known as the '11th East Lancashire Regiment': This month we pay our respects as The Pals' first day of action was Saturday July 1, 1916, which took place in Serre in the north of France. It was part of the 'Big Push' (later known as the Battle of the Somme) that was intended to force the German Army into a retreat from the Western Front, a line they had held since late 1914. The German defences in Serre were supposed to have been obliterated by sustained, heavy, British shelling during the preceding week; however, as the battalion advanced it met with fierce resistance. 235 men were killed and a further 350 wounded — more than half of the battalion — within half an hour. Similarly desperate losses were suffered elsewhere on the front, in a disastrous day for the British Army. After World War I and until 1986, Accrington Corporation buses were painted in the regimental colours of red and blue with gold lining. The mudguards were painted black as a sign of mourning. As a shopping town the main concentration of businesses in the early 1800s were the Church street and Abbey Road areas, but by mid century Abbey Street,
Blackburn Street, Blackburn
Road, Oak Street and Warner Street were all major shopping areas. By the end of the century Burnley Road and Stanley Street had opened up and the shops were more widespread and far more diverse. Some Shops were now being purpose built including the Post Office Arcade in 1894 which was the very latest in modern shopping facilities and a real showpiece. The largest of these purpose built shops was the co-op and Accrington Co-op became the largest in Lancashire. Yes, Accrington has a proud and diverse history which can be appreciated in lots of ways not least by browsing around some of the local shopping areas. See you in Accy.
18.
The world famous Ewbank carpet sweepers have been made in Accrington for over 120 years
Accrington Pipe Band is the oldest civilian pipe band in the world ??
6. Shirley Bassey
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36