BLACKBURN, municipal, county, and parliamentary bor ough of Lancashire, England, 241m. north-northwest of Manches ter, served by the L.M.S. railway, with several lines from all parts of the county. Pop. (1931) 122,695. It lies in the valley of a stream called in early times the Blackeburn, but now known as the Brook. The parish church of St. Mary (now the cathedral) is on a site which seems to have had associations with early Christianity. Blackburn was for some time the chief town of a district called Blackburnshire, and as early as the reign of Elizabeth ranked as a flourishing market town. About the middle of the i7th century it became famous for its "checks" which were afterwards superseded by a similar linen-and-cotton fabric known as "Blackburn greys." In the i8th century the ability of the townspeople fostered its cotton industry and James Har greaves invented his spinning jenny here about 1764. Coal, lime and building-stone abound in the neighbourhood, factors which helped the rapid development of the town during the last century.
The cotton industry employs thousands of operatives, especially women, the iron trade is very considerable, and many are engaged in the making of machines; a former woollen manufac ture is almost extinct. Blackburn's speciality in the cotton in dustry is weaving. Many men are also employed in the local collieries. There is an Elizabethan grammar school housed in mod ern buildings (1884), and a fine technical school. The Cor poration park and Queen's park are well laid out. An electrical generating station was opened in 1921, and by 1924, 27 of the large textile mills had adopted electric power. The period 1918-22 saw extensions in the town and the rise of new public buildings. New parishes were formed in the borough in 1914 and 1922. Blackburn is now a separate diocese, carved out of that of Man chester. The town received a charter of incorporation in 1851. The county borough was created in 1888. The parliamentary borough, which returns two members, is co-extensive with the municipal. Area 7,42o acres.