It might be as well to tell you where we are but, for those of you who know our town, there can only be one place depicted in this painting. We are at the confluence of the rivers Brun (left) and Calder (right), a site opened up for us by the construction of Active Way. It was possible to examine this site on the ground before this road was built but to do so one had to scramble behind Bristol Mill which was in Calder Vale Road.

The site itself is one of the oldest industrial sites in Burnley. Older are the medieval corn mill sites like King's Mill, which stood just off Bridge Street in town, and the ancient corn mills of Extwistle. The site we show today predates the Industrial Revolution and a map of 1742 shows three industrial buildings, all associated with the woollen industry, in this area. One was a fulling mill, another a dye house and the third was a cloth mill.

Later in the 18th Century, about 1785, the Peel family of Oswaldtwistle began hand spinning in a factory close to the confluence of the Brun and the Calder although that site is not shown in today's picture. It would have been further to the right, near the road bridge over the Calder, by the Cross Keys. This building was destroyed in a spectacular fire which I have mentioned in this series before, but the point I am making is that this area of Burnley is really the part of town where our local Industrial Revolution began.

I first saw the site shown in the picture 40 years ago when I was undertaking research into Burnley's iron and engineering industries. I wanted to know if anything had survived of the Royle Road Foundry and, in those days, parts of the building in the centre of the painting were still standing. These constituted the building I was seeking and I could let you have the names of the firms which occupied these premises for much of the 19th Century.

However, I will restrict myself to the 1870s and the 1880s. In 1872 the occupant was James Sagar who described himself as an "iron founder, coal merchant, agent for Wortley fire bricks, etc., 89 Manchester Road and Royle Road Foundry: house 119 Manchester Road". In 1883 he was not at Royle Road and the foundry was then in the hands of Bolton Baldwin who was a spindle and fly maker who had his home at 16 Palatine Square.

The Royle Road Foundry survived for many years. At the beginning of the 20th Century it was one of Burnley's specialist brass foundries and by that time it occupied a large site on the left bank of the Brun. Access was from Brown Street, before that street, at Salford Bridge, became Royle Road, and many of you will recall another narrow street close to the Salford Hotel (now the Town Mouse). This was Foundry Street which must have caused some confusion in the past as there were at least two other Foundry Streets in Burnley at one time.

Back to the picture: the mill-like building on the extreme right is our next target. This gave me some concern when I first saw the picture as it reminded me of Cuckoo Mill which is probably the oldest surviving mill in Burnley. It is in the occupation of Readers, the waste merchants, and, as you will know, is very close to the site we show today.

A visit to the site determined, at least to my satisfaction, that the building on the right is not Cuckoo Mill. If you look at the picture you will see that the windows of this building are on the elevation which faces the Calder. Cockoo Mill's windows do not conform to this and, if you visit the site you will see that surviving, in the river bank, are the sills of the lower floor windows of the building shown in the painting.
I suspect this building was part of the Royle Road Foundry.

Notice the high wall with the fence on top of it, on the extreme left. It might not seem all that interesting to you but behind stood the premises of one of Burnley's long lost companies. The first reference I have to Cherry & Sons, dyers and dry cleaners, is in 1883 and it is to John Nelson Cherry who was a dyer at Wool Court with a house at 39 Rectory Road.
By the early 20th Century the first was at the Royle Dye Works which stood on land on the right bank of the Brun, i.e. behind the wall and fence depicted in the painting. The building was behind the Salford Hotel and the streets immediately behind it: Cable Court and Chalk Street. In other words the Royle Dye Works stood where the Town Mouse's car park is today.

A few other points that might interest you. The spire is that of St James the Great, which I will feature in next week's article. If you look in the foreground of the picture you will see the natural riverbed has been replaced with stone blocks. These survive to this day.

The watercolour used today is part of an exhibition now on display at Towneley Hall. It consists of pictures from the Burnley collection chosen by members of the public. Of course, entry to the hall is free to Burnley residents.

Could I wish my readers a Merry Christmas.