BROOKHOUSE district has, like no other, undergone extensive redevelopment in recent years and the machinery continued to trundle on with no evident conclusion in sight.

With the recent demolition of the former East Lancs Coach Builders workshop - adjacent to the Notre Dame Convent School also demolished, a panoramic view of the revamped neighbourhood along the whole length of Whalley Range is now visible.

Elevated on the hillside, the impressive domes of two mosques are quite distinct. One on the site of the former Swan Hotel and one at the top of Balaclava Street, which can be seen from Railway Road. The plan application to erect a 50ft and 30ft minaret of a mosque on the summit of Oak Street would not be incompatible with the territory. Brookhouse was once the domain of W H Hornby, Blackburn's first mayor, who founded the original nucleus development 150 years ago.

Concerning the Brookhouse heritage, I have requested that a stone inscribed Whalley Range Terrace 1867, on the wall of 235, Whalley Range, should be preserved and incorporated into a prominent wall of the new development, similar to that at Cicely Mill residences.

J A MARSDEN, Scarborough Road, Blackburn.

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.