An Edwardian street scene
Picture postcard of Market Street, Darwen around 1908
Look at the postcard of Market Street, Darwen, a small town just south of Blackburn in Lancashire. The precise date of the photograph is unknown, but it was sent to an address in Blackburn on 3 March 1908. The postage charge was one half penny.
A quick look at the photograph tells you a number of things about Market Street at that time:
- Goods were being carried by horse and cart and handcart, while passengers travelled by electric tram.
- Market Street was a main shopping centre, with a variety of retailers, including a grocer's shop and a ladies' outfitter.
- The shops in the foreground were part of a stylish stone-built building, its architecture borrowing features from ancient Greece and Rome - for example, the pilasters, capitals and cornices on the second storey.
- The road was constructed of stone blocks or setts.
Published: 2005-01-31
