My street name photographs.

My Street Names photographs.

I was originally documenting Blackburn as a whole but I spoke to Martyn who helped me narrow my idea down to documenting street names and the history behind them and also how corner shops are thriving so well in Blackburn. 

These are my photographs of street names which I thought were successful.

Revidge Road.

When the cotton trade was depressed thousands of
the towns in-habitations found them out of work local schemes were sometimes
set up to help some find temporary paid work one such schemes was building of revidge road which was cut out of the side of the hill in the 1820's the road engineer in charge was the famous 'Blind' sack metacalf and this plaque commemorates the achievement can still be seen today.  

Revidge Road Evaluation.

This photograph is a photograph I captured to show the piece of stone work which is on Revidge road which in the research above says this was one of the things the temporary paid work schemes cut out the side of the hill in 1820. This photograph I captured looking up at the stone showing how high this is and the actual size you can see through this photograph like the light brown colours along side the light blue sky with the deeper contrasts of the stone work which really let it stand out. If I could re-shoot this photograph I would makes sure not to get the trees in each side as this distracts the eye from looking straight to the subject. 

King Street.

King street 1848, until the commercial center of the town shifted some distance to the north with the laying out of the new market place in the mid 1840's. King street was one of the main thoroughfares and was addressed with some social cache's indeed well into the mid 19th century it still had springily of well to do residence as well as bank the royal hotel and one of the main post offices the infantries barracks is a reminder that Blackburn like many of the cotton towns was regarded with apprehension by those in authority in this time of political. The very opposite of radical town, note also the poor rate office near the Wesleyan road Methodist chapel on Clayton street.
King street was once an fashionable area in this Lancashire cotton town two centuries ago it was known as sudell street after one of Blackburn's most wealthy families. Sadly in 1827 the Sudell's fell on hard times and left the town by then the street had already its new name of King Street (after King George III) to commemorate Victoria over Napolian in 1815. 
The area became the hub of early 19th century Blackburn and was home to other important business people including the Hornby family were at 41 King street. In 1847 a future England cricket captain Albert Monkey Hornby was born 33 King Street Housed the towns assemble rooms and housed the town hall when Blackburn achieved Borough status in 1851.

King Street Evaluation 

I captured this image on king street, my aim was to make the street name stand out from the background i have achieved this by using the vibrant green grass in the background against the white and black sign this really helps this image to stand out from the rest. 
I also like the bold black writing of the street name against the clean white background as this helps to draw the viewers eye to the street name which is my main focus within this image.
what i dislike about this photograph i have captured of this street sign is that i haven't used my view finder to crop the road and what looks like a set of steps in the far distance of this image which is what i would change if i had to re-shoot this photograph, I like the composition of the subject as it is quite central of the image frame. 

Cornelian Street 

Cornelian Street was built in the year of 1903, it holds two rows of terrace houses either side and is located in the roe lee area it was built parallel with Whalley New Road, the houses on the street would have been built for the workers of the near by cotton mills, the street name and other surrounding streets were named after precious stones. 

Cornelian Street Evaluation.

This was my first initial idea of capturing street signs, I like the composition of this image with the half sky and half a terraced house with the sign just off center. The defined line down the middle of this image makes it an interesting photograph to look at and makes you

want to see other similar images. This photograph shows a lot of lines and shapes within it which links to me looking at Picasso's cubism work which  fits in with my work, there is rectangles signs and the top of the door frame and a little square yellow sign that holds alot 

of characteristics within this photograph. The blue sky contrasts with the bold brown/sandy brick work this really catches the viewers eye.

Campbell Street.

Campbell street was built in 1878, the terraced houses on one side of the street would have been  built for the workers of Roe Lee Mill on the opposite side of the street and other local mills the street also housed the Stanley Arms the local pub on the corner of Campbell Street and Pemberton street, This has now closed down
 A community pub at the center of the campaign to save it will be turned into a house if planners agree local residents have been in talks about buying the Stanley arms in Pemberton street, Blackburn, reopening it. But after being closed for more than a year brewery marston's have agreed a deal to sell the pub to Shaukat Ali of sycamore Road Blackburn who wants to change it into a 5 bed roomed house.

Campbell Street Evaluation. 

What i like about this photograph i have captured is the rustic red bricked wall background, this contrasts with the Campbell street sign making the sign stand out to the viewers eye. I also like how i have centralized the main street sign within the composition of this photograph when capturing it. What also stands out to me is the straight lines of the pipes in the photograph and how defined they are within this image. I like the exposure of this photograph as it is not to bright but bright enough to obtain the delicate shadows which are bouncing off the black pipe and hitting the rustic wall. 

Emerald Street

Emerald street was built in the year of 1929 which comes off 490 Whalley New Road A666, this street is made up of rows of stone and brick terrace houses, Emerald street 

is a main road for the bus routes from Blackburn to Clitheroe,  one side of the street houses  Roe Lee housing estate and on the other is vale cotton mill once a cotton mill now used 

as an industrial unit for car parts and higher up is roe lee park, the street name is a gem stone.  

Emerald Street Evaluation.

I aimed to make this image stand out from the rest i obtained this by experimenting with my focal length making it alot closer than i usually would as this is on the top half of a terraced house. I aimed to capture the stone work within this image as to show the parallel lines which flow through the brick work and continue within the street sign itself as it shows in the image below.  I think the contrast between the stone work and the white sign with the bold black letting really stand out and make this a unique photograph.

St Aidans Avenue.

St Aidans Avenue built in the year of 1912, named this as St Aidans church Mill Hill consecrated September 1932 accommodates 300 people. The foundation stone was laid by the Bishop of Blackburn a previous church has been built in 1826.  

St Aidans Avenue Evaluation

When capturing this photograph i aimed to include some of the sky on the left hand side as i wanted to show the viewers were the sign is located which is on an end of terraced shop. which included me capturing the sky into this image which i have used to my advantage as the contrast of the light blue breaks the sandy colour of the bricks. This also shows what kind of light i have used when capturing this image. This image was a challenge to capture to my full potential as its in a main built up area of mill hill with other surrounding tall buildings which could of interfered with lighting this image correctly but i managed to work around this. Also i would change this photograph as the right hand side infringes into my image.

Ruby Street

Ruby street was originally built in they year of 1929 this street comes off  522 Whalley New Road A666. The street is a small side street that has a small unisex hair dressers and a small industrial unit on it.  This area is a built up area of rows of terraced houses the street is named after a precious gem stone.

 Ruby Street Evaluation

When capturing this image i wanted to reflect on my first initial photograph of street sign which was Cornelia street which i captured the sky into this, I had the challenge as this was on the end terraced of a house which had a main bay window at the front which you can see within this image i used this to my advantage as i think this is a really strong image as when i looked at picasso his cubism work was made up of angles and shapes and i think i have obtained this this within this photograph. I also like the stone work within this image as it helps to direct the viewers eye to the main subject within this photograph which is the street sign.

Pear Street.

Pearl Street built in the year of 1929,  Pearl street is a terrace street that was built coming off 456 Whalley New Road A666, pearl street has end of terrace houses on it has this is a side street to access the main 
terrace row of Cornelian street. The streets in this area are named after precious stones other street in the area are topaz street, ruby street, sapphire street.

Pearl Street Evaluation 

I have also used the reflection of Cornelia street within this photograph showing the sky and the end of terraced within the image. What i also like is that i have slightly tilted my camera when capturing the image making very slightly off center to work with my angles which i am aiming to do within this project. what i dislike within this image is the vibrant white shutter and drain pipe on this image as it distracts and takes the viewers eyes off the main subject of my image.
I obtained to use the correct focal length within capturing this image as i took interest in the street sign surroundings which are the rustic damaged brick work and the old dirty shabby sign which helps to contribute to this image.

Topaz Street.


Topaz Street was built in 1929 which is a side street off 552 Whalley New Road, Topaz street connects whalley new road to row lee park, the street is made up of the two rows of terrace houses on whalley new road 
and the roe lee council houses further up the top of the street,The street names in this area are named after precious gem stones  

 Topaz Street Evaluation.

This street sign is situated next to a wall which lead on to the main road of whalley New Road, I captured this sign as it has many characteristics compared to the other signs i have captured these are the damaged and wreathed brick work which looks as though it has been rebuilt over time and had many repairs and also the moss on the street sign itself helps to show and describe the signs location as its quite dark and shaded area which is a result of high growth of trees in this area. 
what i would change if i had chance to re-shoot this photograph would be to use my view finder and crop the part of the image were you can see the road at the bottom right hand corner as this takes the focus off the subject of this image.

King William Street.

The region of king William street IV from 1830-1837 was brief compared to that of his niece and successor Queen Victoria however he was a popular monarch when Blackburn began town center improvements in 1832 his name was adopted for the new street constructed from Sudell cross at the bottom of Preston New road to the market cross on church street new shops were built along side what had previously been known as livesey street which was now absorbed the new thoroughfare.
The new market house was erected in 1948 it was built in Kind William Street on a site formally known as Sudell cross and measured 18 feet by 90 feet the architect was Tenerance flanagons, and the contractor was the local builder Robert Robertson. William Yates foundry supplied the iron frame work and the roof supports a clock tower was also built it was 18 square feet and 72 feet high with a ball at the top. 

King William Street Evaluation,

This was a very challenging location to capture this road sign as it is on a end of terraced row of shops and located on a busy road and i had to step in to the road and another risk factor when capturing this image was the height of this sign and it made the angle in which i had to use quite challenging but i worked around this. I wanted to use a low focal length when shooting this as i didn't want to focus to much on the brick work but i wanted to make the street sign the focus within this image but as a result of this angle i used i have captured the CCTV camera and also the sky on the right hand side which distracts the viewers eyes greatly from the subject if i had to re-shoot this image i would use a different focal length to make sure i obtained the correct image.

Railway Road.

Blackburn railway station (1893). The towns first station, terminus of the new line from Preston, was first opened on the 1st June 1846, the Bolton line was opened by a separate company with its own station at Bolton road, in June 1851 the latte was closed and all the train there after used the main station which was eventually rebuilt on a much grander scale shown by this map 1893. There were goods sheds and sidings but space was very limited the line entered the tunnel imminently north of the station and the ground rose sharply towards the channels on the east sides the main Blackburn goods station were there for at daisy field junction and at king street south east of the town center.

railway road was renamed in 1903, it was previously called station road since 1870 the first local meeting to consider the possibility of a railway for Blackburn took place at old bull inn, in December 1840 by that time the north union railway had reached Preston by the south and it was proposed that any Blackburn company should attempt to link with the new line. Those who attempted the meeting felt that the tie was not just right risking investigating in this new mode of transport in engineering terms the line was relatively easy to build there were no tunnels and one major viaduct the three span 108 feet high Houghton viaduct the Blackburn standard considered this to be one of the most striking objects on the line. 

Railway road evaluation. 

This photograph i capture is quite a weak photograph this is demonstrated as you can see the door frame and window frame which distracts the viewers attention from the main subject of this image the street sign. Also there is light bouncy off the sign which has made the image slightly hazy and not clear to see. 

Feilden Street.

Feilden street was named after the feilden family.

Witton park 1893 the home of the feilden family was built in 1800, a fine Georgian mansion set in a very extensive and beautifully landscaped park when the map was made it was at the end of its long period of grandeur for after 1895 the family rarely lived there and the house began to fall into disrepair in 1947 the entire estate was purchased by Blackburn corporation and in 1952 the house was demolished today almost no trace remains although the stable block and out buildings (north west of the house) survive as the visitors center and estate office. 

Feilden Street Evaluation.

the composition of this sign is very central and well thought out i aimed to capture the grass background to help the white sign with the bold black lettering stand out from this image as its the main subject. Also this sign has a characteristic which really adds texture and character to this very plain looking photograph. also i aimed to capture the harsh shadows but the outcome wasn't what i expected as i don't think it worked to its full potential. If i had to re-shoot this image i would use the view finder and also position myself at a different angle so i don't capture what looks like the bottom of a window/door frame within my photograph.

Princess Street.

waterfall (1893) the great cotton mills tucked inside of the long bend of the river Darwen, dominate the scene note the weir on the river and the mill race which flows from the waterfall and the griffin mills a reminder of the time almost a century before the mop was made when water was made when water was the main source of paper for the towns industries the street names are interesting some such as Queen Victoria Street, Princess Street and Lorne Street are patriotic (the monch of Lorne was the queens son in laws).

Princess street was built in 1903 two rows of terraced houses on either side these houses were built for the purpose of the workers in the nearby cotton mills. The Blackburn floods in july 1964 the dramatic scene in princess street in the waterfall district of Blackburn as police rescue residents from there homes and helped them to the rescue lorry. 

Princess Street Evaluation.

This street sign is situated on an warehouse estate near mill hill, I really like this photograph it carry's alot of characteristics as the left hand of the sign is bent around making it look as though it follows the building round. There is a factor of light within this image as its slightly over exposed within the white part of the sign. 

Also the textured floor under the sign really makes this photograph interesting and come to life and makes you want to see more.

Exchange Street.

Exchange street built in 1870 a weekly exchange meeting was held in the old bull inn a proposal to build an exchange on the site of the market cross failed and the weekly meeting moved too the vestibule of the town hall. The corner stone for the exchange was laid on March 10th 1863 and opened in 1865. The architecture is 14th century Gothic the building comprised a large hall, assembly room news room, a two story exchange later became a lecture and concert hall and better still a cinema being known successively as the exchange hall, the majestic, by Essoldi and the classic.

Exchange Street Evaluation 

This street sigh (exchange street) is situated on a terraced building on exchange street this was a challenging photograph to capture as it is located on a busy road with flowing traffic and as its high up on this building there is only a narrow path way so i had to photograph from the opposite side of the road. What i don't like about this image is the wasted space and the top i should of used better composition within this to centralize the street sign. another factor i like about this image is the rustic bold writing which would of originally of been black but over the many years it has been there its obtained weathering and made it this rustic colour.  

Museum Street. 

Museum street changed its name in 1990 and originally it was called library street. The museum and art gallery on library street was built in 1874 as the library although facilities had been available since 17th February 1862. The architect was J B Mc Collum borough engineer and designed in a medieval Gothic style costing £12.000. In 1893 it was enlarged for £7.000 the site had been given by John Pickop JP. 

 Museum Street Evaluation. 

This photograph i captured is on the corner of a terraced row and i wanted to show this which is why i decided to include the sky on the left hand side this has worked to my advantage as the contrast between the sandy stone colour and the blue really break this image up and help to balance the contrast within this photograph. I also like how the 'U' in the street sign have faded this is characteristics which i haven't seen in any of the other signs i have captured this really caught my eye. I have also worked closely with my angle within this image i have shown this through tilting my camera slightly when capturing the image, and this is shown as there is such a defined line within this photograph with the contrasty colour's.

Preston New Road.

Preston New road. The road was open in 1825 having built by the turn pike.
St Georges Presbyterian church Preston New Road Blackburn.
The foundation stone for the church was laid in march 1865 by Dr. Francis Skinner, Minister of mount street Blackburn's first Presbyterian church. It opened for worship in June 1868. Dr Skinner died before the completion of st Georges and was successful by distinguished author and editor Dr Alexandra, B. Grosart. The last service was held in January 1974 and the building was subsequently demolished and a restaurant was built on the site. 

Preston new road Evaluation. 

This photograph i captured is on a main road through Blackburn, which made this very difficult for me to capture. If i had to re shoot this photograph i would plan to go either late at night or early morning so that there wouldn't be cars on the road to give me a better chance at experimenting with different types of angles with this photograph. The cars in the background of this image distract the views eyes and takes the meaning of the photograph away from what it is. The texture on the floor really work with this image as its very plain colored and when its got texture within the image it helps to makes it look realistic.

Barbara Castle Way. 

In Blackburn a dual carriage way which makes up one of the main parts of the ring road has been called Barbara castle way, Barbara Ann Castle baroness castle of Blackburn PC, GCOT (n'ee betts, 6th October 1910-3rd may 2002) was a British labor party politician who as the member of parliament of Blackburn from 1945-1979.

Barbara castle way acts as a barrier between Whalley Range/Victoria Street and Blackburn Town center. This is an unintentional outcome of the construction of this dual carriage way before the existent of Barbara castle way, Whalley Range, Victoria Street was connected to the town center via Victoria street. 

Barbara castle way from Eanam to Preston New Road opened in 1992 costing £2.2M named after Barbara Castle Mp for Blackburn extension costing £2.5M from Preston New Road to Montague Street which was opened Friday 6th June 2003 by arhon Jack straw MP.

Aspeden's buildings, Preston New Road which is built in brick and Terracotta Aspeden's buildings in 1886 shortly before they were pulled down for the construction of Barbara castle way in 2002 the Capita offices was built on  the left hand side of the plot.

Barbara Castle Way Evaluation. 

This street sign is situated across one of the roads from where the preston new road, street sign was located so this was as equally challenging as the previous one, I had to stand in the middle of the road to capture this sign so the challenges i came across whilst photographing this street sign was the fact of cars traveling along the road i was stood. this isn't a strong image as there is a car in the background which distracts the viewers eyes from the main subject of this image. Also a characteristic within this photograph is the street sign not being straight as for using angles within my photos this is characteristic which has co operated in the fact of tilting the camera slightly to introduce small angles within my images.

Whalley New Road.

Whalley new Road (1870) whalley new road nicknamed the devils road because of its number A666 which opened in 1820 having been built by the turnpike trust starts 103 Lark Hill to Brown Hill number 1-455 and 2-522. 

''The word Turnpike itself comes from the fact that the gates called pikes were turned once the toll was paid.

A turnpike era from the early 1600 on wards a gradual increase in trade between markets, ports and centers of production highlighted the deficiencies of Lancashire roads network. 

Turn pike trust was a reaction to this lamentable state of affairs the original idea to improve existing roads although the later trust built on entirely new lines. The idea was that the first financial outlay raised shows amongst the trustees the cost of improvement would be regained by charging travelers a travelling fee. The trust hoped that many additional money raised could be used for the on going work on the roads being an important market and industrial centers ensured several acts were passed for road improvements around Blackburn.

1819 Blackburn - Whalley (Blackburn, Whalley, and Clitheroe Trusts) - Whalley New Road.

Whalley New Road Evaluation.

I captured this photograph on the corner of Whalley New Road in the Brownhill Area, I aimed to use the green bushes in the background to help make the white sign with black lettering stand out what I dislike about this image is how i have captured the road area with the two yellow lines this distracts the viewers eye greatly from the subject of this image.

University Close.

University Close recently changed its name from Brewery Street, when Blackburn's new university center opened on the 10th of September 2009.

The Lancashire Telegraph has been given an exclusive look around the new £14M university center in east Lancashire the extensions at Blackburn college opens tomorrow boosting the number of students by 300 to more than 1,000 some 90 percent of its applications are from people with a BB postcode and it will serve people from across Lancashire. Features include 54 class rooms, 51 staff rooms and 120 seat lecture theatre which will be used to show films.

the four story building has a different department on each floor.  

University Close Evaluation.

This photograph i have captured is of the street sign University Close, this sign is situated on the corner of the grassy area and is quite low down as you can see i have captured this from an above angle look down on the street sign. the vibrant green grass helps to contrast the bold white sign with the black lettering the concrete floor distracts the viewers eye slightly from the actual subject which is the street sign. 

Fleming Square. 

Fleming square was originally Blackburn's first purposely built shopping mall, It was named after the successful textile merchant who was pointed a trustee for rebuilding of the parish church in 1819. Fleming square was originally designed by the architect William Hop-wood and erected by the prominent merchant John Fleming known for originally for new square it was erected mostly of stone from the old parish church demolished in 1819 and designed to accommodate the overflow of stalls from the old market square in church street. John Fleming's most ambitious project however was erected in 1827 of a cloth hall on the south side of the square and distinguished by its colonnade a covered arcade was erected in the middle of the square in 1849, seven years after John Fleming's death

Fleming Square Evaluation.

This street sign is located on the side of an old building on Fleming square, I really like the architecture within this photograph this is shown through the stone blocks and the architecture stone lip this all adds texture to this photograph. Another aspect i  like about this image photograph is the worn down street sign this is showed through the weathered sign which has been there for many years, also the sign has lifted at either side making it curved which you can see within this image at either side of the sign there is shadows. 

If i had to re-shoot this image i would use my view finder and crop the window frame out as it distracts the viewers attentions from the subject of the image.