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I was sent a photograph by a relative and it is a complete mystery to us both. It shows a group of children of various ages with 3 Adults standing outside a house (I did try to upload it but the file was too large)
I enlarged it and managed to read the name "Brownhill" on the front of the building. I wondered whether the children were part of a Sunday school group.
I would love to know what Brownhill was and where it was located.

Hi Joan, would you like to email it to me and I'll upload it for you?

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Mel

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I will do that Mel, many thanks!

Here you go Joan.

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Mel

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Many thanks Mel, I would love to know where Brownhill is/was and what the occasion was for them to have had their photograph taken!

I'll have a look in my books when I get home. It was an area of Burnley but I just forget which end now

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Mel

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From Bennetts History of Burnley
Brownhill was a name which covered all the district of Bank Parade. On Brownhill there were at least two houses. One had three "bays" and was tenanted by a family named Smith, woollen weavers and coopers; the lord's rent was 1/4d (farthing) a year. The other house had four "bays" and was occupied by the Roberts, cutlers and farmers. About 1688 a new Grammar School was built on a site near the junction of Bankhouse Street and Bank Parade;

Another page referring to Burnley in 1825 says
"Brown Hill" was erected by George Holgate and it's completion in 1819 was celebrated by the firing of muskets from the roof top.

I have just read a bit more and the following follows on from the above paragraph, making me pretty certain Brown Hill was on Bank Parade---
Nearer the town and on the same side of Bank Parade was the Old Grammar School with a very small playground behind the school. The next buildings were the terraced houses between Bankhouse St and Raws St, which had been built about 1820-25 by Anthony Buck, the lawyer. The block of property between Raws St and Parker St was erected in 1840 by Thomas Chaffer. The Reverend Johnn Raws, curate at St Pater's and headmaster of the Grammar School occupied a detached house at the corner of Park St and Bridge St. On the opposite side of Bank Parade were the houses of John Hargreaves and the smaller houses of William Fishwick. The congested houses with their cellar dwellings on both sides of Bank St were built by the Fishwick Family. The father, Webster Fishwick, tanner, lived at Green Bank in Bank St; the son, cotton manufacturer and timber merchant, lived above the Canal in Manchester Rd.

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Gloria

I'd be dangerous with a brain.

Thanks Gloria. I'd have checked the same book.

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Mel

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If you look at www.old-maps.co.uk it shows the area of Brown Hill which appears to run across the land from Colne Road to Burnley Station. It will now be under super stores and shops.

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Gloria

I'd be dangerous with a brain.

Found it in Bennetts Book 3 page 221 Map.
Sadly it is now under Sainsburys or it's carpark.

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Gloria

I'd be dangerous with a brain.

Many thanks for all your hard work, at least now we know where Brownhill was and that the photograph was taken locally, I don't suppose we will ever know why it was taken. I don't have any connection with that area of town, so it could be that my 2nd Cousin who sent me the photograph has connections on her father's side.
Once again thankyou very much