Future Events
Talks, walks and archive visits we are planning for the coming months, with the local history of Blackburn at their centre.
Illustrated talks
Our illustrated talks are the core of the programme. Each one takes a single place, building, or working trade in the Blackburn area and follows it through the documents, maps and photographs that survive.
Speakers are invited from within the society and from neighbouring local history groups. Dates and venues are confirmed in our newsletter and on the news page before each meeting.
Field notes from the valley edge: the landscape that shaped the mill settlements is still legible in its hedgerows and footpaths.
Walks on foot
Guided walks follow old routes between farms, chapels and mill sites. We stop at each point to read the ground, the stonework and the boundary lines against a map of the same place from an earlier century.
Walks are gentle and suitable for most walkers. Please wear sensible footwear and allow time for stops.
A footpath that has carried workers to the looms for generations, still open and still worth walking.
Archive visits
Members are invited to small group visits to local record collections. We look at parish registers, old street plans and photographs, and we learn how to read handwriting and dates that do not always agree.
- Bring a pencil and a notebook; pens are not allowed near original documents
- Arrive a few minutes early so the group can be registered together
- Note the reference of every document you handle
- Ask before photographing any item
A boundary wall and a reading table: most of our archive work begins with a single stone and a single entry.
Summer outings
In the warmer months we arrange outings to places that are hard to reach on foot alone, including a visit to a restored cottage and a stroll through a former estate. Each outing ends with a short discussion over tea.
Meadow edges in late summer, where the old field patterns are easiest to see from above the grass.
For more about how to take part, read our past events or contact the society.
Join the society