Tockholes
A Time Warp
By Judith Jacklin
and Lyn Robinson
Preface
The title of the book came from a magazine article written several years ago which described our Village as being in a "Time Warp" and continued "Whilst the world has undergone momentous changes in the last 100 years the casual visitor will be hard pressed to notice them in the village of Tockholes as its shape and character have changed remarkably little during the century. It is a village of grand Elizabethan farmhouses and Victorian properties, often tucked away in the most surprising places, with many hidden architectural gems. The Village has always seemed slightly detached from the rest of the world. Indeed it is sometimes physically cut off in winter by snow drifts. But its raw beauty and unspoilt moors continue to exert a strong pulling power as thousands of people come every year to walk round the area. As for the villagers themselves they like the place just the way it is - even though they may lack the odd modern convenience like gas, but that is a small price to pay for living in such an idyllic rural retreat". And I have to agree with the writer on every point, although, of course, our predecessors would marvel at the 'unseen' advantages of modern living such as piped water, sewage disposal, central heating, kitchens and bathrooms - not to mention the luxury of being able to afford such conveniences.
In November 1978 an Exhibition of photographs, maps, news cuttings and documents relating to the Village was displayed in the Village Hall. The day turned out to be one of the wildest and wettest I can remember, with rain lashing against the building all day and it was a battle against the wind just stay on ones feet, but that did not deter people from turning out to visit the Exhibition. As I recollect almost everyone in the Village called in at some time - so great was the interest. Many old photographs came to light and as a result it was decided a record should be kept and many of them were copied. So began the 'Village Archives'! This sounds very grand but as there is nowhere to keep a permanent display the photographs are merely held in a folder and rarely seen. Now I hope everyone will have the opportunity to own a record of some of the images, colourfully descriptive newspaper reports, maps, plans and information collected over the years and so help preserve a little of the history of our Village.
And that is what this book is intended to be - merely a collection of information accumulated over the past 25 years. I have no doubt there is much more yet to be told and who knows - there may be enough for another book! Many of the stories have been recounted previously but have been included to give a fairly comprehensive account of what is known about our Village.
All the photographs in the book are from the Village Hall Collection, from the Blackburn and Darwen Public Libraries and from family albums of past and present villagers.
Finally grateful thanks to the staff at Blackburn Library for their assistance with this project, United Utilities for allowing me access to their deeds of the area and permission to reproduce various maps from the deeds, and also to all those who have proof read and given further information and photographs relating to various properties.
Judith Jacklin
January 2003
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