A PIECE of Blackburn's history has been saved in a new £300,000 town centre development.

The ancient archway leading to the former Canterbury Street Mill, one of the oldest mills in town, has been moved to an adjoining wall as the area is transformed into industrial units.

The work is being carried out by Steve Everett and his wife Jackie who bought the entire building 12 months ago but have run the recently refurbished Canterbury Fireplace showroom from the premises for the last 17 years.

He explained: "Rather than scrapping the archway or getting rid of it altogether we hired cranes to put it into a new position. We sandblasted it and gave it a new coat of paint.

"It looks absolutely stunning."

Mr Everett revealed he was offered £3,500 for the three-and-a-half ton cast-iron archway when the demolition work started back in January.

But he decided against cashing in and felt it was more important to preserve a piece of history instead.

He added: "The money could have helped pay for some of the new development but it was never in my mind to sell it.

"It's been here for 100-odd years. It's a piece of interest in the town and I didn't want to see it disappear."

Canterbury Street Mill was planned in 1859 by William Baron but wasn't built until six years later in 1865. In 1885 it employed 160 people and was taken over by Haydock & Duerdon in the early 1890s.

And although there was production in the 1930s, the mill closed during the Second World War and operations ended around 1955. The archway itself used to lead into an area where the boiler-house was situated.

Arthur Branscombe, chairman of Blackburn Local History Society, welcomed the development.

He said: "We applaud holding and maintaining anything relating to the history of the town."

Once the main parking area has been covered over with concrete Mr Everett also plans to include an old Blackburn-made John Lang lamppost in the centre.