THIS was the moment when a piece of Haslingden’s history was unceremoniously uprooted.

Known to all in town as the Big Lamp, it stood at the top of Deardengate for more than 120 years. Originally installed in 1841, the lamp was erected by public subscription and was gas powered until it was later converted to electricity.

By 1962 the town council decided that it represented a traffic hazard and ordered that it be removed. using local firm J Hartley and Co.

The future of the lamp after this point is still the subject for conjecture.

What is known is that it was sold to a local shoe manufacturer - the priced rumoured to be £1 - and that it stood in the garden of his home on Helmshore Road for a number of years.

There is speculation that the lamp was then shipped to America to his son’s home while others have claimed the it was sent for scrap.

If you can shed some light - if you’ll excuse the pun - on what happened to the Big Lamp, email bygones.nqnw.co.uk