My request was answered by Mrs K. Fawcett, of Burnley, who supplied me with the postcard from which today's image has been taken. I would like to thank her for allowing me to use this picture and to take copies of it, and several other images, all of which have been made available to St Mark's who are building an interesting collection of photos of buildings, people and events associated with their place of worship.

In the article to which I have referred (it was published on April 1st, 2008) I gave much of the historical background to the founding of the church so, this week, I am going to concentrate on the area in which the original Mission Church was located.

We are in Rosegrove, in Owen Street to be precise. Owen Street links Liverpool Road to Rosegrove Lane and the view you have in front of you is taken from the Liverpool Road end. St Mark's is on the right and, as you can see, the building was set in a sizeable plot at Owen Street's junction with Liverpool Road.

The first Mission Chapel to be constructed here dated from April, 1908, but, less than 12 months later, a fire almost destroyed the building. When reconstruction took place the mission was enlarged and a belfry (a bell tower) was added. This can be seen in the picture and, if you look closely, you will be able to see a cross on the top of the belfry.

The material out of which the building was constructed was corrugated iron, a material used for chapels, churches and community buildings very regularly at this time. We had three of them in Harle Syke, all dating from the very early years of the 20th Century.

They were what became Tennyson Street Baptist Chapel (originally a men's institute), Harle Syke Wesleyan Methodist Church (the Tin Tab, which is still with us) and the Central Club, better known as the Happy Cot, in Cobden Street.

The postcard used today carries a date of July 1st, 1934, but it is printed in a style somewhat older. According to the OS Map, revised in 1909 and published in 1912, the houses on the right of the picture were not constructed. However, the row nearest the camera when the photo was taken was occupied by 1914. The row beyond Leaver Street was built after this and was fully occupied by the early 1920s.

From the Rosegrove Lane end, and on the same side as St Mark's, number 2 Owen Street was occupied by Samuel Johnson who was a shopkeeper. Later, number 2 became a boys' outfitters run by Mrs Mary E Nuttall. Then there was the Congregational Chapel of 1900 which was associated with Bethesda in Burnley centre. On the other side of the street, in 1914, all of the properties were houses with exception of one and you may be able to see the last house in the first row was a shop. It was occupied by Andrew Isherwood, who was a confectioner.

The second, later row does not appear to have contained any shops but, beyond it, there was a building that many Rosegrovers will remember, the Council School. This building was designed by William Quarmby who was an architect and surveyor with offices at 2 Imperial Chambers, Grimshaw Street, Burnley. He lived at Uplands, on Glen View Road.
Rosegrove schools which opened in November 1898, and in 1914, accommodated 988 pupils. They were elementary schools built on a plan replicated in other parts of Burnley. Essentially there were three schools catering for children from the age of about four to about 13.
There were separate entrances for "Infants", "Boys" and "Girls" and the schools conformed to the "central halls" system in which each age-related department had a central facility so children could be gathered together at the beginning and end of each day.

Unfortunately, nothing of the Rosegrove schools, apart from the entrance gates in the distance, can be seen on today's photo. In fact, a large part of what was once a very impressive building has been demolished and only the infants' school survives. The rest of the site is now occupied by quite ordinary, fairly recent houses.

This area of town has plenty to interest the local historian. It is not that the Rosegrove area is particularly old – it owes its development to the coming of the railways and the relocation of some of Burnley's better known industrial companies to the area at the end of the Victorian era and during Edwardian times – but Rosegrove developed as a real community and it is that which it is interesting to explore even today.