Author: Roving Mick

Few people in Blackburn realise where they live was once a centre of coal mining.  This was one reason why the Leeds Liverpool Canal was routed this way, connecting these latter large cities with mining towns such as Wigan, Burnley and our own Blackburn.

Due to the Industrial Revolution, coal was needed on a vast scale and this led to most of Blackburn’s mines being worked until their black gold was either exhausted or they became economically unprofitable.  It created a problem of what to do with these empty coal mines.  Some were able to become quarries, providing valuable building material to construct cotton mills and housing for our town’s expanding population.  But with so many redundant mines, various uses of them were put into place, including dumping building spoil and other waste material.  After all, out of sight, into mine.

Sadly during these changing times, many people became victims of this Industrial Revolution.  Death and disease were an occupational hazard, almost as a way of culling Britain’s expanding population when their usefulness had run its course.  Many people came and died in Blackburn.  Those who died of infectious diseases, such as fever, or could not be identified, were laid to rest in these redundant coal mines.  They became known as fever pits.

This seems a convenient solution, but nature is not as simple as that.  These bodies decomposed and returned to earth.  But not everything went back to nature so easily.  Due to these corpses’ reasons for expiring, no scavenging was allowed to be carried out because of a risk of catching and spreading fever and diseases.

Normally gold teeth would have been prised from corpses’ mouths, along with removal of rings, ear rings, chains etc.  This was not allowed in fever pits and gold items passed into the soil along with their hosts.  Gold, unlike other metals, does not corrode and can lay in the ground until it is eventually discovered by treasure hunters or metal detectorists.

One such fever pit was believed to have been in a redundant mine in Blackburn.  It was somewhere near what is now Shadsworth Industrial Estate.  But records have been lost over time pinpointing its exact location.  Local folklore tells of this particular mine being very difficult to work due to Knuzden Brook, which goes on to become the River Blakewater, causing subsidence and making it very dangerous for miners.  This led to its closure even though coal reserves were not totally exhausted.

Unconfirmed reports have been received recently of discoveries of gold in the Knuzden Brook.  This has not only led to an influx of metal detectorists, but gold panners too, although permission needs to be granted before treasure hunting is permitted.  We might find ourselves in a situation where Blackburn could be a new Klondike.  After all, both the Klondike River and Knuzden Brook both begin with the letter K, as in knife.

It would be strange if one form of fever could lead to another – here in Blackburn.  This might create a situation of Fever Pit to Gold Fever.

A recent BBC Countryfile programme featured flax growing in Blackburn and production of linen being spun from this homegrown product.

Unfortunately due to an air of excitement following the success of their project, the makers of this programme failed to discuss what should be done to dispose of clothing replaced by this new linen alternative.  A suggestion has been put forward to use an unusual but organic method of disposing of unusable and spoilt clothing material – feed it to the butterfly of the night – our humble clothing moth.

Adult moths themselves don’t actually feed on your gear; they haven’t got mouthparts.  It’s Junior, i.e. their larvae who does all the munching – they do have this necessary equipment.  They gain nutrients from natural and animal fibres, being particularly attracted to moist and dirty clothes, so should have no difficulty finding plenty of material in lots of households.  They also like dark and undisturbed areas, so what better environment could you find than a wardrobe?

This endless battle between humans and moths has been raging for thousands of years.  Shakespeare tells us that:

‘All the wool that Penelope spun in Ulysses’ absence did but fill Ithaca full of moths’.

So you can imagine what kind of state his clothing was in Ulysses’ wardrobe when he returned home twenty years after fighting this war in Troy and his subsequent trip home, known as the Odyssey.  All for Helen – the face that launched a million moths!

After the Ancient Greeks, it is possible their conquerors and ours too, the Romans, may have brought clothes moths to our shores.  Not everything the Romans did for us was beneficial – although we did end up with a textile industry, which might have helped the situation.  But clothing moths soon got stuck into King Cotton.  This led to a continuing war which continues to this day.  Every form of technology, including chemical and biological warfare has been used to outwit our destructive clothing moth enemies.

There are around 2,500 species of moth found in Britain.  But only two, the common clothes moth (also known as the webbing clothes moth) and the Case-bearing clothes moth, cause damage to fabrics.  Most of us know all about what it’s like to come across moths living in our wardrobes.  There is nothing worse than digging out your best suit for some one-off function only to find big holes in its fabric, thanks to moths having made a meal out of it.

Now we have a chance to utilise these moth’s voracious appetite as a natural way of clothing waste disposal.  It’s about time these little blighters started earning their keep for a change.

Due to pressing financial cutbacks, Blackburn’s proposed new tip has had to be thrown on the scrap heap.

Plans by Blackburn with Darwen Council included shutting down its two existing tips at George Street West in Blackburn and Spring Vale in Darwen.  These would have been replaced by a new £5M household waste recycling plant at Chapels in Darwen.  Unfortunately these plans have had to be temporarily put on ice due to the current cost of living crisis and no money being available.

But an alternative solution may be available.  One of Blackburn’s Corporation Park lakes is ideal to serve as a landfill site for certain types of household rubbish.  The larger of its two lakes, known as the ‘Big Can’, is reputably over 100 feet deep.  It is a damned stream valley and could be drained of its water to become a landfill site.

It is also a damned problem with people walking over its ice when it occasionally freezes over in winter.  Due to the depth of this body of water, anybody falling through its ice would face difficulty being rescued and could easily be drowned.  So filling up the lake with refuse could kill two birds with one stone.  Not only could it help with disposal of rubbish, it would also vastly reduce how deep this lake is in its present state.

Having a shallow lake also creates an option for many opportunities in various leisure pursuits.  Not only rowing, sailing and other boating activities, but curling and skating could take place on those rare occasions when these two lakes freeze over.  Also, having greater use of this lake would deter vandalism in the park and other anti-social behaviour, such as feeding its ducks.

Vehicle access to the larger lake wouldn’t be much of a problem.  It is very close to East Park Road on one side and already has wide footpaths available all around its perimeter, making it also accessible from West Park Road and Preston New Road.  Once the lake had served its function as a landfill site, it could easily be returned to its former self, only nowhere near as deep as it used to be.

What became Corporation Park was an area previously known as Pemberton Clough.  Its two lakes were originally reservoirs, built around 1839 then administered by the Blackburn Water Works Company.  They were known as the Big Can and Little Can because local people would visit them with cans to collect water.

Wouldn’t it be very handy if Corpy Park’s Big Can became Blackburn’s Big Bin.

Blackburn has been deemed a suitable location for carrying out an attempt to try and become the largest earthbound satellite receiver there has ever been.  This is due to its geographical position and natural bowl shape, thanks to it being located in a river valley.

In the past, detractors have joked about how Blackburn would make a really good reservoir and flooding it would do the place a favour.  But it is hoped our town’s geography could be used to try and turn it into an artificial bowl style satellite receiver, using human beings as props in this process.  It would be done by persuading thousands of our townsfolk, along with lots of other enthusiastic out of town volunteers.  They would need to dress themselves up in aluminium foil and congregate together in selected positions around town.  If atmospheric conditions proved to be correct, as astronomers calculate, then signals from outer space could be collected and hopefully new important scientific discoveries made.

On the other side of our planet, China has finished building a 500-metre aperture spherical telescope (FAST), this is Earth’s largest single aperture telescope.  It is about the size of thirty football pitches.  Part of its task is to scan outer space for signs of intelligent alien life, among other functions.  Since operations began in January 2020, 500 new pulsars have been discovered.  China’s Academy of Sciences also claims it has obtained accurate magnetic field strength in molecular cloud, a region of the interstellar medium that seems ready to form stars.

On 14 June 2022, astronomers, working with China’s FAST telescope, reported a possibility of having detected artificial (presumably alien) signals, but cautioned further studies are required to determine if this was some kind of natural radio interference as its source.  To investigate these possible alien signals a much larger satellite receiver would need to be assembled.  But a temporary device could suffice if calculations proved correct.  Therefore, using a mobile satellite and improvising with people clad in foil could possibly pull off this attempt at an extra-terrestrial breakthrough.

Opportunities for Blackburn’s pubs, clubs, catering and hospitality industry would be immense if such a gathering could be organised.  It would also bring fame and fortune to our town if this experiment proved successful.  Can you imagine how the rest of our planet would see us in Blackburn, if we could prove intelligent life had been discovered here?  The possibilities are out of this world.

Unfortunately for us earthlings, any self-respecting passing alien observing thousands of human beings dressing themselves up in aluminium foil and forming themselves into a massive bowl, would probably want to make sure their cloaking device was working correctly.