EAW045376 ENGLAND (1952). Sandygate, the Frederick Textiles Ltd Sandygate Mill and environs, Burnley, 1952. This image was marked by Aerofilms Ltd for photo editing.

Clock Tower mill

Mitre

The Alhambra Picture Palace; opened 1912 after several months' delay because the owner of the Ruskin Hall next door had leased leased the hall to operators who held unexpired cinematograph exhibition licences. The architect was William Heap who was also responsible for the Imperial cinema on Shale Street at Gannow Top, and for enlarging the Pentridge on Holmes Street (both around 1920/21). The Alhambra seated 1300 (all tip-up seats; a novelty for 1912); and was wired for sound in August 1930. The Alhambra was demolished and a filling station erected on the site. It is now a car park (2015) associated with the college business in the three-storey mill with the tower.

The Mitre: public house/hotel.

At the time of the photograph, 1952, this was the Marshall Branch Library; Burnley's first free public library, opened February 1914. It had been a public hall, the Ruskin Hall, owned by William Marshall who offered the hall for library use by Burnley Council at a modest rent. Marshall was one of the businessmen responsible for erecting the Alhambra next door.