Quirky name, interesting past - Oswaldtwistle has a lot going for it in its quest for regeneration. JENNY SCOTT spoke to the co-author of a pictorial history of the town. . .

A STRATEGICALLY placed big lamp, a sandbag blockade and a name to set people talking. These have been just some of the special features of Oswaldtwistle down the decades -- and now two local historians are hoping such eccentricities could be the key to a regenerated future for the East Lancashire town.

Having just published a book, Oswaldtwistle Observed: Gawping at Gobbinland, a photographic history, Mike Booth and Albert Wilkinson are well-placed to talk about some of the quirkier aspects of the town's history.

But first -- what exactly are Gobbins? Albert, 60, the former environmental services manager for Blackburn with Darwen Borough Council, explains.

"A gobbin is a tub that's used for moving coal and quarry waste around. At the top end of Oswaldtwistle there were stone and coal quarries. The people who pushed the tubs around were not skilled miners and were not thought to be the brightest of people. They were known as gobbiners.

"So that end of Oswaldtwistle got nicknamed Gobbinland. Now that's how all of Oswaldtwistle is known. It's part of our identity."

His co-author Mike, 54, is the former head of history at Rhyddings High School, where he taught Albert's son, and now works part time as a community liaison officer at the popular shopping complex Oswaldtwistle Mills. He sees the Gobbinland tag as something Oswaldtwistle can use to its advantage.

"When you work in tourism, you become aware people remember names like that," he says.

"It's a very colourful name. In many ways it's a send-up, but it's a good-hearted one. I think it's a bit of a feature."

In their book Albert and Mike explore several other interesting features of Oswaldtwistle's history. Like, for example, the celebrated big lamp.

Mike says: "The famous big lamp is written into Oswaldtwistle folklore. Back in the early days of gas lamps, the Oswaldtwistle Local Board had the responsibility for lighting. At that time the centre of the town was around the Carnegie Library and they decided to put a big lamp there.

"Most of the people who were connected with mining lived 'above the lamp' and it was a catchphrase that seemed to stick."

Other examples of Oswaldtwistle's singular mindset are scattered throughout the book -- including one notable incident in 1974.

Mike says: "Oswaldtwistle is a very proud area. During the local government reorganisation of 1974 there was very strong opposition to the Oswaldtwistle District Council being taken over by the Hyndburn authority.

"One of the councillors, Clifford Walsh, suggested putting sandbags on Union Road at the boundary with Church and, amazingly, people took him seriously. The council actually got a quote in for the supply of sandbags."

Oswaldtwistle Observed is the first book to be published about the town in more than 20 years. As well as a collection of absorbing photographs, it contains enlightening captions about some of the faces of the town from times past.

These include James Hargreaves, the inventor of the Spinning Jenny and Robert Peel, the calico printer and father of the prime minister who shared his name.

"Oswaldtwistle has a great story," says Mike. "The whole history of the textile industry begins here. It sounds like we're exaggerating, but it's true.

"Hargreaves' Spinning Jenny was the first piece of mechanisation that went into factories and started the textile revolution.

"Then there was the whole story of the Peels, which started in Oswaldtwistle because that's where the family home was.

"They are always associated with Bury but the previous generation, in Oswaldtwistle, were old yeoman farmers. Their home is still there."

With Oswaldtwistle's history containing so many tasty morsels for enthusiasts to chew over, it's no surprise to find Albert and Mike believe the key to the town's future lies in its past.

"As things come full circle and the regeneration of Oswaldtwistle takes place, it's the history of the town that's attracting visitors from all over the country," explains Mike. "When I came to live here, in 1974, Oswaldtwistle was a run-down, derelict industrial town -- a very sad place. Now it has all these ambitions to regenerate. The Oswaldtwistle Civic Society is currently trying to get TV's Time Team interested in coming out to look at the site of the Brookside Calico Printworks, which was established by the Peels. At the moment, we don't feel there's enough information around about the importance of the area. Other towns have exhibitions and all sorts devoted to the lives of people like Samuel Crompton, but there's no museum in Hyndburn."

There may not be a museum, but there was no shortage of people willing to help Mike and Albert with the compilation of their book. Albert's role as chairman of the Hyndburn Local History Society and Mike's joint roles as chairman of the Oswaldtwistle Civic Society, as well as his job at Oswaldtwistle Mills, meant they ran into numerous individuals and societies only too willing to lend them previously unpublished photographs of old Oswaldtwistle.

"People are interested in their past," says Mike. "They can relate to it, which is why it's important to bring history into leisure and tourism. We've actually put an exhibition on Oswaldtwistle's heritage into Oswaldtwistle Mills. We get 1.2 million visitors coming to this place every year and we want them to know about the town."

Oswaldtwistle Observed, published by Landy, is on sale at Oswaldtwistle Mills, price £6.