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Just before 6.30am on Sunday, 29th September 1895, the residents of Shakespeare Street in Padiham were awoken from their early morning slumber by the shouts of “murder!” coming from somewhere on the back streets. Inside number 24, 41 year old Mary Ann Marsden was making her way down from her bedroom, dazed and in some…
Accrington during the mid-to-late 1800’s had managed to find itself immune from murder whilst all around them in places such as Haslingden, Blackburn and Burnley had for some strange reason found themselves to be hotbeds for crimes that many seemed beyond comprehension. And whilst a serious crime that had resulted in the murder of a…
On Sunday, 6th August 1893, three brothers who resided in Blackley, a small suburb of Manchester that has historically been classed as being in Lancashire, set off from their homes to pick blackberries from nearby Crab Lane. Their trip however was cut short when a sudden shower caused them to seek shelter in an area…
On Monday, 11th March 1907, Thomas Dennison was brought before the magistrates at Haslingden after having been charged on suspicion of murdering his wife, Margaret Dennison at some point during the evening of Saturday, 9th March. Standing before the bench and facing Alderman Hamilton (Chairman) as well as Messrs. Holt, Law and O.W. Porritt, Thomas…
The story begins during 1866 when a young Miles Weatherhill, a weaver who lived with his mother and sister on Back Brook Street, Todmorden, fell in love with Sarah Bell, a cook working for the Reverend Anthony John Plow at the local vicarage. A self-educated, well groomed, smart looking man, Miles had also taken on…
*This article has been updated and re-uploaded. It was originally added to our site on the 25th July 2020 and was the very first episode to have appeared here. In today’s story, we are traveling back to Tuesday, the 20th of March, 1876, until the industrial town of Blackburn in the North West of England…
It’s true to say that the North West of England and Lancashire in particular has had its fair share when it comes to days of horror. From murderous wives to the slaughtering of innocent children – Lancashire has definitely seen some of the worst atrocities inflicted upon men, women and children during the 19th Century….
Think of Victorian England and images of cobbled streets, horse drawn carriages, mills and towering chimneys come to mind and of course, gas lamps flickering through the swirling fog that always seemed to linger much longer during the latter end of each year and into the New Year due to the wetter conditions and stillness…
On the afternoon of Monday, 12th September 1853, Jane Collinge made her way to the home of 31 year old Elizabeth Cunliffe, her step-daughter, fearing that something terrible may have happened since they last spoke the previous day. Elizabeth had suffered from severe depression since the birth of her daughter Alice Hannah, back in January…