PART of Blackburn’s history was returned to the town’s hospital, with the unveiling of six stained-glass windows reclaimed from the old infirmary building.

After two years of storage, and more than six months of painstaking work by Blackburn artists Martha Henry and Mike Chamberlin (corr), they are now mounted along the Royal Blackburn Hospital’s main ground-floor corridor, illuminated by light boxes.

The windows, which depict the coats of arms of Blackburn, Darwen, Accrington, Oswaldtwistle, Rishton and Clitheroe, were originally placed in the circular hall of the War Memorial Wing in 1928, to commemorate the First World War.

They were carefully removed from the old building when it closed in 2006, ready to be put in place in the new hospital.

But the Oswaldtwistle coat of arms now on the hospital wall is a new addition, copied from designs reproduced by Hyndburn Council. It is believed that the windows were paid for at the time by each separate council, and Oswaldtwistle could not afford the bill for a more ornate design, opting instead for a plain green glass.

Parts of glass which were damaged and cracked have been restored, while every window has been reformed into a single work - in the infirmary, each had its coat of arms and town name in separate panes.

Ms Henry said: “Creating the new Oswaldtwistle coats of arms and restoring the patterned glass which had cracked were the most difficult parts, but 80 years of grime had also built up on them, so getting them clean without damaging them was a really big challenge.

“We had to re-do the border on every one to get the two pieces to fit together properly - thank goodness we didn’t get anything the wrong way round!”

Mayors of all the towns depicted joined hospital bosses and members of the Royal British Legion for a short service, led by hospital chaplain Ronnie Clarke, to re-dedicate the windows.

Hospital chief executive Marie Burnham said: “The windows are breathtakingly beautiful, and they are depicting English history and English culture. We should never lose sight of our history, or the districts we serve.”