page_title: Blackburn
section_title: Cathedral
hierarchical_section_title: Blackburn / Landmarks / Cathedral
caption_attribution_description: Front of Blackburn Cathedral
context_page_description: Blackburn is a large industrial town located in Lancashire, England, north of the West Pennine Moors on the southern edge of the Ribble Valley, 8 miles east of Preston and 20.9 miles NNW of Manchester. Blackburn is bounded to the south by Darwen, with which it forms the unitary authority of Blackburn with Darwen; Blackburn is its administrative centre.
  At the 2001 census, Blackburn had a population of 105,085, whilst the wider borough of Blackburn with Darwen had a population of 148,850. Blackburn had a population of 117,963 in 2011.
  A former mill town, textiles have been produced in Blackburn since the middle of the 13th century, when wool was woven in people's houses in the domestic system. Flemish weavers who settled in the area in the 14th century helped to develop the woollen cottage industry. The most rapid period of growth and development in Blackburn's history coincided with the industrialisation and expansion of textile manufacturing.
  Blackburn's textile sector fell into decline from the mid-20th century and subsequently faced similar challenges to other post-industrial northern towns, including deindustrialisation, economic deprivation and housing problems.
context_section_description: Blackburn Cathedral was formerly St Mary's Parish Church. St Mary's was reconsecrated in 1826 on the site of the previous church that had stood for several hundred years. In 1926 the Diocese of Blackburn was created and the church gained cathedral status. Blackburn was selected above other locations for the 'new wave' of Archbishop Temple's cathedrals because of its then excellent public transport infrastructure – the cathedral stands next to the bus and railway station. Between the 1930s and 1960s an enlarged cathedral was built using the existing building as the nave. Six of the cathedral's bells were cast in 1737 and are claimed to have been cast from even older bells. An image of the cathedral is used behind BBC interviews held in Blackburn, which are filmed at BBC Radio Lancashire on Darwen Street, opposite the cathedral.
caption: Blackburn Cathedral sits in the middle of the town centre
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