Vicarage, The 001

This fine looking Georgian house, standing on the corner of Freckleton Street and King Street, was occupied by one James Neville, an attorney, in 1824. It was bought by the trustees of Blackburn St. Mary’s Parish Church in 1829 to become the Parish vicarage. The old town centre Tudor vicarage was demolished as the new church, established in 1826, was under construction on a site adjoining the old medieval church. The Parish Church became a Cathedral when the Diocese of Blackburn was created in 1926. Although regarded as being located on King Street, the front door was around the corner at number 2 Freckleton Street. At the Census of 1881 Edward Birch, the Vicar of Blackburn, along with his family and three female domestic servants were in residence. The houses seen in the distance are on Chapel Street.rnThe club referred to in the picture caption had been converted from the stables to the rear of the Vicarage. It was a club created under the auspices of the Parish Church and opened in May 1903. The club was for men and boys over 16 years of age irrespective of religion or political opinion. There were however two key conditions of membership: a man must be of a recognised Christian faith and must have signed the declaration of the Parish Church Temperance Union. The club had a library, a billiards room and a games room with a ping-pong table. There was to be no gambling, profanity or insults of any kind. rnAlas the building was to meet the same fate as many of Blackburn’s old buildings: it was demolished in 1914 to permit road widening, the last resident vicar being Bishop Thornton.rnReferences.rnG C Miller: Bygone Blackburn.rnNorthern Daily Telegraph: 16 May 1903rnCensus of 1881rn