Discover 11 hidden attractions, cool sights, and unusual things to do in Blackburn (United Kingdom). Don't miss out on these must-see attractions: Corporation Park, Blackburn Cathedral, and Ewood Park. Also, be sure to include Blackburn Arena in your itinerary.
Below, you can find the list of the most amazing places you should visit in Blackburn (England).
Table of Contents
Corporation Park
Park in Blackburn, England. Corporation Park is a traditional Victorian park in Blackburn, Lancashire, England. It was landscaped by William Henderson and opened in 1857. Corporation Park is regarded as the main formal park in Blackburn and is used mainly by local people for general recreation, walking and dog walking, as well as for its tennis, bowling and football facilities.
The park is registered by English Heritage as a Park and Garden of Special Historic Interest and is one of around 440 facilities of "exceptional historic interest" meriting a Grade II listing. The park has also been credited with the Civic Trust's prestigious Green Flag Award. Corporation Park also gives its name to a local government ward for Blackburn with Darwen Borough Council.
The 18 hectare (44.5 acre) park occupies a relatively central location to the west of the main town centre precincts. The land is delineated to the north and south by two of Blackburn's main arterial roads. Revidge Road stretches for 490 metres (535 yards) along its northernmost edge; the grand southern entrance at Preston New Road (90 metres, 98 yards) arches away immediately along East and West Park Roads to reach its greatest width of 625 metres (685 yards) from Park Crescent to Brantfell Road. The grounds can be entered from the main southern entrance, two entrances aside the east and west porter's lodges or ten other gates on the perimeter of the park.[1]
Address: East Park Rd., Blackburn
Blackburn Cathedral
Cathedral built between 1820 and 1977. Blackburn Cathedral, officially known as the Cathedral Church of Blackburn Saint Mary the Virgin with St Paul, is an Anglican cathedral situated in the heart of Blackburn town centre, in Lancashire, England. The cathedral site has been home to a church for over a thousand years and the first stone church was built there in Norman times.[2]
Address: Cathedral Close, BB1 5AA Blackburn
Ewood Park
Stadium in Blackburn, England. Ewood Park is a football stadium in Blackburn, Lancashire, England, and the home of Blackburn Rovers F.C. founding members of the Football League and Premier League, who have played there since 1890. It is an all seater multi-sports facility with a capacity of 31,367, and four sections: the Bryan Douglas Darwen End, Riverside Stand, Ronnie Clayton Blackburn End, and Jack Walker Stand, named after Blackburn industrialist and club supporter, Jack Walker. The football pitch within the stadium measures 115 by 76 yards.[3]
Address: Nuttall St, BB2 4JQ Blackburn
Blackburn Arena
Arena. Blackburn Arena is an Olympic size ice arena in Blackburn, England. It is also the home of Blackburn Hawks and Blackburn Eagles ice hockey clubs. The arena, which was opened in January 1991 by Christopher Dean and Jayne Torvill, holds 3,200 people and has an ice pad of 60 by 30 metres. The arena was refurbished in 2005.
The arena was owned by Peel Group who purchased it from the original owners Blackburn Council. It was sold on in December 2015 to Silver Blades. During construction in 1990, planning permission was granted to build an extra 1,000 seats at the back of the arena. It was built to coincide with Manchester’s 1996 Summer Olympic Bid, with the possibility of boxing contests being held there.
WCW (World Championship Wrestling) held a tour event at the arena in October 1993 as did the WWF (World Wrestling Federation) in March 1994 and on 26 November 1994, rock band Status Quo held the only concert to date there as part of their Thirsty Work World Tour.
At Blackburn Arena there is a junior development for ice hockey. There are teams for under 10s, under 12s, under 14s, under 16s and under 18s. All these teams go under the name of Blackburn Junior Hawks. The arena is open seven days a week for public ice skating sessions. It also contains a Café, Figure Skating and Hockey Shop.
The arena was scheduled to host an event promoted by 5 Star Wrestling in April 2018. Work began on improving the arena’s ice pad in April 2019.[4]
Address: Lower Audley Waterside, BB2 3DY Blackburn
Blackburn Town Hall
Blackburn Town Hall is a municipal building in King William Street, Blackburn, England. The town hall, which is the headquarters of Blackburn with Darwen Borough Council, is a Grade II listed building.[5]
Address: King William Street, Blackburn
Blackburn Museum and Art Gallery
Museum in Blackburn, England. The Blackburn Museum and Art Gallery is the local museum service for the borough of Blackburn with Darwen Borough Council. It is a museum with collections of Christian icons, Egyptian hieroglyphs, and local history, as well as those of the former Lewis Textile Museum.[6]
Address: Museum St, BB1 7AJ Blackburn
Lewis Textile Museum
Museum. The Lewis Textile Museum was bequeathed to the people of Blackburn by a local cotton industrialist, Thomas Boys Lewis. The Lewis Textile Museum was closed in 2006 and a new gallery with its collection of looms and textile machinery was moved to Blackburn Museum and Art Gallery. The gallery which now houses the exhibits at the main Museum & Art Gallery was named CottonTown and opened in April 2007 by Jack Straw, the local Labour MP.
The closure of the Lewis Textile Museum caused surprise which the local paper, the Lancashire Telegraph reported.
In 2006 the building of the Lewis Textile Museum, was planned to become a drugs centre although this was met with local uproar.[7]
Address: Museum Street, Blackburn
St Anne's Church
Parish church in Blackburn, England. St Anne's Church is a Roman Catholic Parish church in Blackburn, Lancashire, England. It was founded in 1848, built in 1926 and designed by the architectural firm of Hill, Sandy & Norris of Manchester, who were also behind the construction of St John the Baptist Church in Rochdale.
It is situated on the corner of Prince's Street and Paradise Street, next to St Anne's Catholic Primary School and close to King Street in the centre of the town. It was built in the Lombard Romanesque style. In December 2000 the church suffered an arson attack which gutted the building; it was rebuilt in 2004.[8]
Address: Prince's St, BB2 1LS Blackburn
St Mark's Church
Building in the United Kingdom. St Mark's Church is in Buncer Lane, in the former parish of Witton, Blackburn, Lancashire, England. It is an inactive Anglican church in the deanery of Blackburn with Darwen, the archdeaconry of Blackburn, and the diocese of Blackburn. It was put up for sale in 2018. Originally a separate parish, in 2005 it combined with the parish of St Luke with St Philip to form the Parish of Christ the King. The church is recorded in the National Heritage List for England as a designated Grade II* listed building.[9]
Darwen Cemetery
Cemetery in Darwen, England. Darwen Cemetery is a public cemetery in the town of Darwen, Lancashire which lies on both sides of Bolton Road with views across Darwen to the hills beyond. A Cross of Sacrifice erected to burials of First World War service personnel stands by the entrance of the older part.[10]
Pleasington Priory
Church in England. Pleasington Priory, or the Church of St Mary and St John Baptist, is a Catholic church in the village of Pleasington, Lancashire, England. It is recorded in the National Heritage List for England as a designated Grade I listed building. The architectural historian Nikolaus Pevsner describes it as being "an astonishing church", and the citation in the National Heritage List for England states it is an "exceptional form of Catholic chapel for the period before Emancipation".[11]