I lived in Blackburn for a few years in the late 90’s / early 2000’s and used to work near this place, Imperial Mill. I took some photographs of it that I don’t think I’ve ever put on here but you might have seen the one above on my website if you’ve ever visited it. A decent little history can be found here on Wikipedia, but the essential facts are it was built in 1901 and closed as a textile mill in 1980. The Lancashire Saw Company bought it not long after it closed and occupied the ground floor until recently.

The area immediately adjacent to the mill was a weird mix of undeveloped fields to the north that had clearly been part of the original land purchase but never used, gas board land to the north that once housed the town gas works but that had long since gone, and then to the south on the other side of the road, an eclectic mix of derelict houses and wasteland that were the site of long demolished mills.

Taken on a miserable, rainy January day in 2004, on my first digital camera that struggled in anything other than good light. This is actually a 3 image stitch that I’ve merged as I couldn’t get a clear photo from further away due to trees. It’s a JPEG file and I can’t get much more out of it. How things have moved on since!

This and the opening photo were taken in 2006, after I’d both moved out of Blackburn and moved jobs also. I’ve barely been back since.