This site brings together a growing collection of postcards showing Blackburn as it appeared from the late 1800s into the early 1900s. These small printed scenes capture the town at a moment of rapid change — its streets, buildings, industries, and everyday life — often in more detail than any surviving photographs of the period.
Why Postcards?
The project began during research into The Exchange in Blackburn. In the late 19th century, cameras were rare, and the earliest images of the building weren’t found in archives but on postcards. What started as a practical search for visual references soon revealed how rich these cards are as historical sources.
Beyond the images themselves, the messages on the back offer fleeting but vivid glimpses into the lives of the people who sent them — notes about business, travel, holidays, and family moments that together form a social history of their own. That discovery sparked a wider interest, and the collection has grown ever since.
Who’s Behind the Project
The project is curated by Chris Walton, a community historian who has lived in Blackburn and Darwen for more than forty years. Chris volunteers as an archivist at The Exchange in Blackburn, where extensive research into the building’s history led to the publication of a dedicated book on the subject.
In addition to this work, Chris contributes to Historic England’s Hidden Pieces project and writes local history content for Wikipedia, helping to ensure that Blackburn’s heritage is recorded, accessible, and accurately represented. This postcard collection is a natural extension of that commitment to preserving and sharing the town’s past.
The Aim of This Site
The goal is simple: to make these images available for anyone interested in Blackburn’s history, whether for research, learning, or the pleasure of seeing how familiar places once looked.
You’re welcome to share the images. If you use them elsewhere, a credit and link back to the site would be greatly appreciated so others can discover the collection too.
Get in Touch
If you’d like to connect, discuss local history, or share your own postcards and stories, you can reach Chris through the social media links in the page footer.
Other Sites
If you're interested in the local history of Blackburn, you may also want to visit: