Wycollar
In 1867, William Coddington inherited this near-completed mansion with its spectacular views out to the coast from his father, along with Crossfield, Wellington and Ordnance mills. When it was completed the next year, Coddington moved to Wycollar from Spring Mount, and went on to become Mayor of Blackburn in 1875, and one of its MPs from 1880 -1906. Amongst other benefactions to the town, Coddington presented the Parish Church (now the Cathedral) with an organ valued at £3,000. After his death in 1918 another cotton family, the Eddlestons, (from whose collection these photos come) took the property over. Like many industrial families, the Eddlestons were linked by marriage to leading figures in other areas of Blackburn's public life - in this case to the Ritzemas, whose patriarch, T.P. Ritzema, had founded both the Northern Daily Telegraph and the Blackburn Weekly Telegraph in the late Nineteenth century, and who lived around the corner at Quarry Glen in Billinge End Road. The Eddlestons remained at Wycollar until 1930, when hard times in the industry forced them to sell up and Wycollar was demolished. Only the lodge house of the mansion remains at the foot of Wycollar Drive.
Matthew Cole
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