THE glimpse Looking Back gave a couple of weeks ago of Blackburn's old Market Square empty of the stalls that crowded it on bustling market days may have given the impression that it was a virtually deserted at other times.

But as these views of the long-gone sett-paved square show, it was a hive of activity even on non-market days -- most of all because of the work that went on twice a week for more than 114 years of putting up the market stalls and taking them down again.

A total of 310 stalls -- 180 of them on the Market Square itself and the rest flanking the old Market Hall and Fish Market -- were involved in the rigmarole of constructing them from timber spars, planks and tarpaulin sheets and taking them to pieces afterwards and carting them off for storage.

It was a task that employed 15 men -- though when these pictures were taken in October, 1964, just before the market's move to its new location off Ainsworth Street and Penny Street, the number had been reduced to 10.

The market is seen here in full swing in this 1950s view (bottom, right) looking from Victoria Street across the sea of canvas covering the Square towards the Market Hall, with the old Town Hall in the background.

It had to be up on Wednesday (bottom, left), down by Thursday, partly up on Friday, completely up on Saturday and then down again so that people could park their cars and market gardeners sell their produce, as they are doing in this in this view (top, left) of the Square with Market Street at the right and King William Street in the distance.

High winds could play havoc with the market's canvas covers which totalled 12,800 square feet in area.

Gales in December, 1952, tore down 200 stalls as their sheets were ripped off and their timber supports were shattered.

And in another memorable storm in May, 1947, 30 stalls lost their roofs and 70 others were damaged.

Heavy snowfalls could also bring severe disruption to the market -- as can be seen in the picture (top, right) of the aftermath of a 1950s blizzard.

The area covered by these pictures is now occupied by the main section of Blackburn's shopping precinct which opened in 1967.