This is an easy walk in a town known for its floral displays. Begin at the old Town Hall, a listed building, on Colne Road, built by Henry Tunstall for his family in 1833. He commissioned the town’s first steam powered cotton mill, Brierfield Mills and brought the railway to town.

Walk down Burnley Road, turning down Oxford Street – and onto Clitheroe Road to reach Dale Street/Pendle Road to find Tunstall’s Brierfield Mills – an enormous building of 350,000 square feet. It once had had 86,000 mule spindles and, although it changed ownership over the years – at one stage making surgical bandages – it continued to be a main employer into the mid-20th century. Now transformed into Northlight, an award-winning £32 million living, leisure and cultural complex, it’s worth exploring.

Stroll along the canal, turning into Robinson Lane and then Burnley Road. Pause to look at St Luke’s, where the organ was listed as a Grade Two historic instrument by the British Institute of Organ Studies. It might be fitting to raise a glass to it, as the church was only able to buy it in 1888 because the choir master, Edward Stocks Massey – of the Massey Brewing Company – loaned them the money. Not far away is Sackville Stret, where you can see the Jamia Mosque Sultania, now one of the largest in Lancashire.

Walking along Burnley Road, back towards the Old Town Hall, take in the Primitive Methodist Chapel, the Baptist Church and the Primitive Wesleyan Sunday School; which tell the story of the powerful religious beliefs of Victorian Brierfield.

Follow through to Colne Road, see the Old Fire Station, which opened in 1901, getting its first fire engine, Ellen, in 1907. It closed in 1928, when Nelson took over the fire service but the top floor housed the library. For more details of this walk go to visitpendle.com.

How to get there

About 50 minutes by car from Manchester, the M65 is the most direct route to the towns of East Lancashire. The Witchway X43 bus operates a service between Manchester and Burnley every half hour and takes about an hour. Go to transdevbus.co.uk for more details. You can also travel by rail, which takes about 35 minutes from Preston to Burnley.