Burnley Wood

53°46′56″N 2°14′10″W / 53.7821°N 2.2361°W / 53.7821; -2.2361

Burnley Wood is a district and former electoral ward of Burnley, Lancashire. In broad terms the area lies between Parliament Street in the north and Hufling Lane in the south, and from the railway in the west to Todmorden Road in the east. Based on historic definitions of the ward boundary, Burnley Wood could also be defined as including the more affluent areas around the Woodgrove Road area to the east of Todmorden Road, Brooklands Road to the south and the area north of Parliament Street as far as the River Calder. Historically the district was located in the parish and township of Habergham Eaves, separated from the adjacent Burnley township, later Borough by the Calder before being incorporated into the County Borough of Burnley in 1894.

In the sixteenth-century, as the name suggests, the area was mostly covered by rough moorland and woodland, with a scattering of farmsteads on the outskirts of Burnley. These included Whittaker Farm, at the junction of the present day Hufling Lane and Todmorden Road; Mosely Farm in what is now Glebe Street; Hollin Greave, at the junction of Brunswick Street and Hollingreave Road; and Hufling Hall. The latter is a late seventeenth century farmhouse. It is a grade II listed building and is sandwiched between late nineteenth century housing. Todmorden Road, became a turnpike road in 1817 and became a route of the Burnley Corporation Tramway in 1910.

From 1673 to 1819, the majority of Burnley Wood was glebe land in the ownership of St Peter's Church, and as such could not be developed. However, by 1825, as Burnley began to expand rapidly as a burgeoning cotton manufacturing town, spurred on by the completion of the Leeds and Liverpool Canal in 1801, back-to-back cottages and mills began to develop along the canal at Lane Bridge around Finsley Gate. Between 1825 and 1844 Spring Gardens Mill, together with back-to-back housing were built between Plumbe Street and Eastgate (now Yorkshire Street) and coal mining also began to take place on the north bank of the River Calder between Plumbe Street and Oxford Road.

Several large houses in extensive grounds were built along the western side of Todmorden Road at Springfield close to the Hand Bridge passing over the Calder and the lodge house that served the Towneley estate together with a Roman Catholic chapel, at that time outside the boundary of the township of Burnley. A small hamlet developed around the Woodman Inn at the junction of Todmorden Road and Hufling Lane. Further along Hufling Lane, west of 'Hufflen Hall' a row of cottages known as 'Organ Row' were built near to Towneley railway station which had opened along the route of the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway between Rose Grove and Todmorden in 1849.

In the second half of the nineteenth century, widespread development occurred in Burnley Wood. The residential elements had two distinct characters: large stone-built houses in spacious grounds, flanking Brooklands Road and Todmorden Road and largely providing accommodation for wealthy mill or mine owners and senior employees, and high-density terraced housing. Burnley Wood also saw the development of an extensive number of cotton mills and associated buildings, largely built between 1860 and 1890. This was brought about by increased pressures within Burnley to expand beyond the canal as the town grew rapidly and allow the development of more factories and mills along the course of the Calder with housing and other facilities to meet the living needs of their workers.

Large scale urban development took place on both sides of the river and by the 1880s, Burnley Wood and the adjoining Fulledge district just north of the river between Plumbe Street and Todmorden Road had developed into a densely populated area of terraced housing laid out in a classic grid iron pattern of horizontal and vertical rows of mainly identikit two bedroomed houses. Most houses built in this period benefitted from rear yards accessed directly off back streets, which were wide enough to accommodate carts (and today can still accommodate modern day refuse vehicles). On the other hand, some houses, particularly on the western and southern edges of the district along Hollingreave Road and Glebe Street, parts of Emily Street, Dall Street, Reed Street, Sussex Street and Huffling Lane, were provided with an additional enclosed space at the front of the houses separate from the pavement. Some even had bay windows and basements. Only these houses, together terraces on Parkinson Street, Stoney Street and the western side of Branch Road now remain, many of which were adapted during the 1960s and 1970s to accommodate bathrooms and modern kitchen extensions. There has also been some limited twentieth century infill housing

The mills that had largely provided employment for Burnley Wood and Fulledge residents were centred close to the banks of the Calder around Parliament Street and Oxford Road and included Spa Field Mill, Fulledge Mill, Hand Bridge Mill, Pentridge (or Partridge Mill which was converted into a cinema during the 1920s to serve both Burnley Wood and Fulledge residents), Burnley Wood Mill, Oxford Mill and Springfield Mill. Plumbe Street Shed, a largely single storey cotton weaving shed was located close to the canal. Most of the day-to-day needs of local residents were met through wide network of corner shops built on most streets, particularly those running on an east-west axis including Springfield Road and Brunswick Street, whilst Parliament Street and Oxford Road developed into specific shopping areas supported until at least the late 1990s early 2000s by their own sub post offices.