You know the sort of thing – the annual miracle of the return of spring, the reawakening of the natural world. But, as I look out of my window – wind getting up, rain pouring and snow promised over the weekend, perhaps you will excuse me if I turn to a scene from industrial Burnley about 50 years ago.

We are in Elm Street. The buildings which dominate the picture are, left to right, Throstle Mill, which can be seen only in part, Daneshouse Mill and Old Hall Mill. On the extreme right you can see a small section of the very large Elm Street mills and, if you look closely, you will be able to see a sight long since gone from our town.

I am not only referring to the gas lamp which is clearly to be seen on the flagged pavement on the right, but to the wagon which is carrying a huge number of wooden boxes.

These contained warp and weft from a spinning mill which would be woven into cloth by one of the manufacturing firms which occupied space in Elm Street Mill.

Unfortunately, this photo shows the rear of the vehicle, which is partly obscured by a swish car (Austin Sheerline?), so nothing can be said about where it had picked up its heavy load.

Those of us old enough will remember that among the most common of the larger commercial vehicles in town, until the 1960s, were the wagons (some called them lorries) which carried precariously-stacked boxes of cotton goods between the mills.

Often the vehicles came from out of town,from Bolton or Oldham, but there were local firms of hauliers which did good bushiness in this line.

When I wasa child, and living in Harle Syke, boxes like these were left overnight at the bottom end of Queen Street, just outside the famous mills which lined both sides of what was then an unadopted road.

At sites like this great wicker containers, to some extent resembling oversized shopping baskets, were also stored during the hours of darkness.

Mother used one for her washing and was of the opinion it was the best washing basket she ever had.

But to us children, both the boxes and "baskets" were the source of constant pleasure. We used them to make forts and castles from which many a Lancashire squire sallied forth with his lord to fight for justice and honour.

I expect the boxes and baskets of Elm Street were used in the same way by the children of Daneshouse, but, as you can see, they do not appear to have been left out in the street overnight. What you can see, in the picture is the rear of the three mills mentioned at the start of today's article. They were actually approached from the canal bank on the other side of the building.

Here the mills were very impressive. Daneshouse Mill, with three rows of large, well maintained windows, indicating three floors of machinery, together with substantial engine and boiler houses, was the home of one of Burnley's largest firms.

Benjamin Thornber & Sons Ltd, who were both cotton spinners and manufacturers, at one time occupied Throstle and Old Hall mills, as well as Daneshouse Mill. In 1930 the firm had 45,000 ring and 1,500 doubling spindles and 2,600 looms.

As indicated, a considerable amount of the structure of the three mills survives to this day and, on the other side of Elm Street, the mill which bears the name of the street is also still standing. This is a rather different building in that, not only was it brick-built but it was a room and power structure, divided into a number of large units, each occupied by a different firm.

Almost all of the units, there were nine of them in 1937, housed firms engaged in cotton manufacturing and three of them are well remembered to this day; the Elm Street Manufacturing Co. Ltd, the Healey Royd Manufacturing Co. Ltd and J. Thistlethwaite Ltd.

In this small part of Burnley, all in Elm Street, there were some 15 cotton firms in the late 1930s. Some of the firms remained in production until the 1960s and, during this period, collectively, they provided some 1,500 jobs all of which were lost when the reign of King Cotton came to an end.

People wonder, these days, why there were so many rows of houses in parts of Burnley.

If you take the time to look into this you will notice that in every case, and within walking distance, where there are large numbers of terraced houses there are also cotton mills.

This is true of Burnley Wood and Harle Syke as well as Daneshouse and Stoneyholme, where many of the terraces and the mills remain intact.
Other parts of town have changed much over the years but Rosegrove, Lowerhouse, Whittlefield and part of Accrington Road and Colne Road and Trafalgar all show the signs of the same pattern.

The photo is published by kind permission of Burnley Council