Finsley Gate, Burnley

iBase ID

315877

Reference identifier

EBU-U01-N1-786-2

Title

Finsley Gate, Burnley

Place

Burnley

General notes

Around 500 cases of drunkenness annually were brought before magistrates. At weekends Wapping, Salford, Hill Top, Pickup Croft and Finsley Gate produced sights unsavoury. There were many fights when men (and women) stripped to the waist, used fists, head, knees and clogs to the point of exhaustion! Gangs of 10 or 12 drunken men attacked passers-by with knives, pokers etc and invaded houses and beat the occupants. On the occasion and Irish Regiment broke out of the barracks on pay-night, and armed with bayonets terrorised Wapping and Salford.

The worst type of housing was the cellar dwelling, damp, devoid of light and fresh air and subject to flooding. In 1854 the worst cellars in Finsley Gate were condemned and 19 were ordered to be drained. One of these cellars had wall black with filthy water running down them and an open sewer in front of the door. Today Finsley Gate is a busy road and totally unrecognisable from that busy maze of streets and alleys of long ago. Cricket Street, Penny Street, Whip Street, Top Street, Leeds Street, Job Street and Ship Alley are now no more than memories of another day.

Copied with permission of Jack Powers from The Not-So-Good Old Days November 2002

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Medium

Drawing

Colour

Monochrome

Year of image

Mid 19th Century

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Subjects

Place Names > Burnley

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