History of the Town and Council
Our history
Memorable Town History Moments
Based on the History of Burnley by W.Bennett M.A.
Early Years
1000 to 1100
The 'Tun' of Burnley
Ormerod Road, Healey, Towneley, Westgate, Coalclough and Fulledge are amongst the first recorded farmsteads in our area.
These tofether formed a ‘tun’ and eventually took the name of Burnley from the hamlet which fortune had favoured most.
The People of Burnley
In the eleventh century, and for the next 300 years or so, the tun or ‘town’ consisted of some fifty or sixty families, or about three hundred men, women and children. They struggled to wrest a living from the primeval forest, moor and marsh.
Although the people benefitted from the protection of the ‘judge-protector’ lord they were compelled to plough, sow, weed, reap and mow land that belonged to him.
1294
6th June 1294
The Market and Fair
King Edward 1, granted a charter to Henry de Lacy, the Lord of the Manor, permitting Burnley to have a weekly market on Tuesdays and a fair every year for three days June 28th, 29th and 30th, those days being the eve, day morrow of the Feast of the Apostles Peter and Paul.
The Market Cross, located at the bottom of Ormerod Road, was erected in 1295.
Farmers brought in cows, sheep and pigs, Pedlars brought in salt, pepper, ointments, drugs, combs, dishes, cutler, mirrors and other items to tempt the housewives of the district
The Fair and Wakes Week
For many years before the market was held, people had kept ‘the wake’, that is, they held vigil on the evening of the night before St Peter’s Day (29th June) where church ales were drunk with much rejoicing!
The excitement of the market was far exceeded by the yearly fair where the market was much larger and miracle or mystery plays were performed, representing the lives of saints or other biblical stories often with jokes and coarse humour.
1323
The Halmot Court
Nothing has done more to develop, among English citizens, a sense of self reliance and self control than the ancient practice of making every township responsible for the good conduct of every one of its members.
The people of Burnley learned how to organise their community, preserve order and defend their rights.
A Constable was appointed, to collect rent and taxes, ensure the laws relating to ale, bread , meat & leather were obeyed and compel all plague infected persons to be quarantined.
1400 to 1500
The Halmot Court in Burnley
Life in Burnley during this period showed steady development. Population increased, wealth was slowly accumulated and above all a form of self government was being evolved.
Thhis growth of a free and independent spirit in the control of the town was helped by the important changes in land tenure that virtually freed the land from the control of the lord.
Thus to all intents and purposes the people of Burnley had become masters of their own destiny.
The Burnley Vestry
Burnley Parish consisted of four townships Burnley, Habergham Eaves, Cliviger and Briercliffe with Worsthorne with each township being a unit of local government.
The Town Committee was elected at a meeting where all the residents could attend.Each appointed its own churchwarden who controlled the parish as a whole.
They collected ‘church rates’ to provide for the church, maintain order, lighting, the repair of roads, burials, the grammar school and the poor of the parish.
Improvement Act 1819
This Act of Parliament transferred the powers of the Vestry and the Town Committee to a body of Commissioners defined by the Act as those who owned property with a rental value of £50. or more, or resided in a house rented at £100 per year.
The citizens, who until then had all shared in the choice of representatives, were less than impressed by the theft of their democratic rights, which were already under threat following the Peterloo massacre.
Such a method of choosing Committee members was doomed to failure even before it began and was never followed until its repeal in 1861
The Merestone
The Act defined the ‘exact’ position of the town centre of Burnley as the middle of the street opposite the great Front Door of the Black Bull Inn (now Burtons) and before any meeting of the Committee took place a stone (called the Merestone) must be placed at this point.
Should the Merestone get broken or removed then another stone should be placed on the same spot.
The town area was defined as that enclosed by a circle of One Thousand Three Hundred and Twenty Yards radius with the Merestone as its centre
This radius is 60 chains based on “Gunter’s Chain” developed in the 1620 to make land measurement a standard length! A mile is 80 chains in length.
The Improvements
- A Commissioner may not take part in any works in which he has a financial interest
- Officers should be employed as Town Clerk, Treasurer, Rate Assessors, Rate Collectors, Surveyors, Watchmen and others necessary to ensure the act could be fulfilled
- The Commission would be responsible for Lighting, Watching, Paving and Cleansing the Highways, Streets, Public Passages and Places situated with the area of the Town
- All present and future pavements in the Markets, Streets, Squares, Ways and Lanes, and other public Passages and Places that exist, or will be built, within the town limits, shall be swept, gathered and collected of all the Dirt, Dust, Dung, Ashes and Filth and shall be the property of the Commission.
- For those places not covered by the Act and where the occupiers of adjoining premises neglect or refuse to comply with cleansing them the Commissioners are empowered to serve Notice, in writing, on the occupiers to repair, pave, cleanse, scour and drain such Lanes, Courts, Passages and Places within the next two days or, if not complied with, reimburse the Commissioners if they have to have it done.
- All properties shall have the street number displayed on the property.
- Failure to display the property number would incur a £5 fine (equivalent to £600 today!)
- No person may obstruct or impede any pavement with a Carriage or any other Matter or Thing
- No person shall let off any Serpent or Rocket. or throw any Cracker, Squib or other Fireworks
Improvement Acts 1846 & 1854
The Act of 1846 was a pivotal piece of Legislation that transformed the administration of Burnleu during the Victorian era. It shifted power from a disorganised mix of committees to elected Commissioners who were empowered tom manage town amenities inckluding the regulation of water and gas supplies.
The 1854 Act provided for the establishment of the Cemetry and Fire Services
The First Burnley Council 1861
October 24th.1861 saw a major turning point in the governance of Burnley occurred when the town was granted a Charter of Incorporation elevating it from a town managed by improvement commissioners to a municipal borough.
For the first time a Mayor, Aldermen and Burgesses of the borough were elected.
Initially operating out the old Fire Station on Manchester Road, they subsequently moved to Elizabeth Street for 20 years until the Town Hall was completed in 1888
County Borough of Burnley 1889
The County Councils Act of 1888 proposed that the honour of County Borough status would be conferred on a limited number of boroughs with populations of more than 100,000 people.
Even in those days the people of Burnley ‘punched above their weight’ and the then Town Clerk, Mr Southern, initiated a conference in London of those smaller boroughs with only 50,000 residents or so, and were able to ‘persuade’ the Government to change its mind!
As a County Borough, Burnley was able to control highways ang highway bridges within the Borough, issue all manner of licences, give scholarships and supervise technical education, administer the Contagious Diseases Act, Adulteration of Foods Act etc.
We received the revenue from licences and Government Grants for roads etc.
The Council went on to provide our own Water Reservoirs with water supply to individual homes, build a Town Gas Manufacturing plant supplying gas for lighting, cooking and heating to residents, a Power Station providing electricity to residents, manufacturing and road lighting and Sewage Systems to keep the town free from disease.
We were self sufficient, controlled our own destiny and the future looked bright.
Burnley Corporation (Extension) Act 1889
Of equal importance as becoming a County Borough, this Act increased the size of the town from 1.731 acres to to some 4,015 acres which stood until Ightenhill & Habergham Eaves added a further 700 acres in 1925..