--- title: "Cotton Town: Blackburn with Darwen's Local History Archive Moves to PastView" description: The Blackburn with Darwen archive recently migrated to our PastView platform, improving navigation, search, and access to its image galleries. image: https://blog.townswebarchiving.com/hubfs/Blog%20Header%20%26%20Images%20(6)-1.png --- [![PastView-Logo-Tagline-4](https://blog.townswebarchiving.com/hs-fs/hubfs/pastview-logo-layered-2023-bold.png?width=1024&height=267&name=pastview-logo-layered-2023-bold.png)](http://pastview.townswebarchiving.com/) [![PastViewLogo-Black](https://blog.townswebarchiving.com/hubfs/PastViewLogo-Black.png)](http://pastview.townswebarchiving.com/) - [Features](https://pastview.townswebarchiving.com/features/) - [Manage](https://pastview.townswebarchiving.com/features/management/) - [Publish](https://pastview.townswebarchiving.com/features/publishing) - [Share](https://pastview.townswebarchiving.com/features/sharing) - [Design](https://pastview.townswebarchiving.com/website-design/) - Ingest - Built For - Communities - [Cultural Heritage](https://pastview.townswebarchiving.com/built-for/cultural-heritage/) - [Government](https://pastview.townswebarchiving.com/built-for/government) - [Industry](https://pastview.townswebarchiving.com/built-for/industry) - [Military](https://pastview.townswebarchiving.com/built-for/military/) - [Materials](https://pastview.townswebarchiving.com/materials) - [Bound Volumes](https://pastview.townswebarchiving.com/materials#bound-volumes) - [Documents](https://pastview.townswebarchiving.com/materials#documents) - [Photos](https://pastview.townswebarchiving.com/materials#photos) - [Audio Visual](https://pastview.townswebarchiving.com/materials#audio-visual) - [Born Digital](https://pastview.townswebarchiving.com/materials#born-digital) - [View all Materials](https://pastview.townswebarchiving.com/materials) - [Our Work](https://pastview.townswebarchiving.com/our-work/) - Resources - [Blog](https://blog.townswebarchiving.com/pastview) - [Case Studies](https://blog.townswebarchiving.com/pastview/tag/case-studies) - [Advice & Resources](https://blog.townswebarchiving.com/pastview/tag/advice-and-resources) - [Latest PastView News](https://blog.townswebarchiving.com/pastview/tag/latest-pastview-news) - [PastView Community](https://blog.townswebarchiving.com/pastview/community) - [Events](https://blog.townswebarchiving.com/pastview/tag/event) - [About](https://pastview.townswebarchiving.com/about) - [About PastView](https://pastview.townswebarchiving.com/about) - [Meet the Team](https://pastview.townswebarchiving.com/about#team) - [Partners](https://pastview.townswebarchiving.com/about#partners) - [Careers](https://www.townswebarchiving.com/careers/) - [Getting Started](https://pastview.townswebarchiving.com/getting-started) - [Contact](https://www.townswebarchiving.com/contact) - [Get in Touch](https://www.townswebarchiving.com/careers/) - [Request a Demo](https://meetings.hubspot.com/cs20/internalexternal-meeting-link) - [Pricing](https://pastview.townswebarchiving.com/pricing) [CALCULATE MY INVESTMENT](https://pastview.townswebarchiving.com/pricing/access-calculator/) [![clear-logo](https://blog.townswebarchiving.com/hs-fs/hubfs/raw_assets/public/Marketplace/webdew/Clear_-_Blog_Listing/Images/clear-logo.png?width=94&height=41&name=clear-logo.png "clear-logo")](https://www.webdew.com/clear/home) - Menu Item 1 - Sub-menu Item 1 - Another Item - Sub-menu Item 2 - Menu Item 2 - Yet Another Item - Menu Item 3 - Menu Item 4 # PastView Blog Find out more about Digital Access & Discovery   [\< Back to the blog](https://blog.townswebarchiving.com/pastview) # Cotton Town: Blackburn with Darwen's Local History Archive Moves to PastView Written by [April Mathie-Dowling](https://blog.townswebarchiving.com/pastview/author/april-mathie-dowling) October 20, 2026 at 2:00 PM ![Blog Header & Images (4)-2](https://blog.townswebarchiving.com/hs-fs/hubfs/Blog%20Header%20%26%20Images%20(4)-2.png?width=2000&name=Blog%20Header%20%26%20Images%20(4)-2.png "Blog Header & Images (4)-2")   Cotton Town is the digital local history archive of Blackburn with Darwen Library Service, covering the area's industrial, social, and civic history since the site's original launch. The archive recently migrated to their new PastView platform, improving navigation, search, and access to its image galleries, diary transcriptions, military records, and local history articles - including the well-known stories of the “Blackburn Vampire” and Blackburn's “naughty vicar.”    ### What is Cotton Town? Cotton Town is the online local history archive run by Blackburn with Darwen Library Service. It was originally launched using New Opportunities Funding to document the industrial history of Blackburn and Darwen as leading textile manufacturing towns. Over time, the site expanded well beyond this original scope to include wider social history, civic content, and community stories. Today, Cotton Town combines: - **Image galleries** - the site's most-used resource. - **Primary source material** - including diary transcripts and military records. - **Academic and anecdotal articles** - covering notable local figures, events and social history.   ### Why did Cotton Town move to PastView? Blackburn with Darwen Library Service needed a platform update, and migrated from Cotton Town to PastView to solve several specific requirements: - Data migration of existing image and article content without loss or disruption. - Creative redesign of the site’s navigation and layout. - Thematic article navigation - PastView built a new feature allowing multiple articles to be grouped and displayed by theme, improving overall site accessibility. - Fast delivery - the migration was completed within a short timeframe. - Ongoing support - consistent, continued assistance from the PastView team post-launch.   ![Blog Header & Images (6)-1](https://blog.townswebarchiving.com/hs-fs/hubfs/Blog%20Header%20%26%20Images%20(6)-1.png?width=800&height=463&name=Blog%20Header%20%26%20Images%20(6)-1.png) ### What stories and records can you find on Cotton Town? #### Who was the Blackburn Vampire? One of Cotton Town’s most popular stories concerns Sarah Ellen Roberts, a woman born in Blackburn whose untimely death in Peru led to her being remembered locally as “the Blackburn Vampire.” Community History Volunteer Stephen Smith researched the case to separate historical fact from local legend. [Read the full story on Cotton Town.](https://cottontown.org/archive/articles/names-of-note/notorious-names/vampires)   #### Who was Blackburn's "naughty vicar"? The Reverend Dr Robert West Pearson became known locally for a long list of alleged misdeeds, first uncovered when volunteer David Hughes came across an accusatory poster while cataloguing ephemera at Blackburn Central Library. Using only freely available resources, Hughes pieced together a detailed account of Pearson's life. [Read the full story on Cotton Town.](https://cottontown.org/archive/articles/names-of-note/rev-dr-robert-west-pearson)   #### Who was Dorothy Whipple? Dorothy Whipple, born in Blackburn in 1893, was a popular novelist from the late 1920s through the 1950s. Two of her novels, *They Knew Mr Knight* and *They Were Sisters*, were adapted into films. Her work has seen a resurgence in popularity after being reprinted by Persephone Books, where she is now the bestselling author. [Read more about Dorothy Whipple on Cotton Town.](https://cottontown.org/archive/articles/culture-and-leisure/literature/dorothy-whipple-0)   ### What primary source material is available? Cotton Town hosts several fully transcribed primary sources, including: - **The Tiplady Diary** (1839–1873) - [view the transcription.](https://cottontown.org/archive/articles/politics/contemporary-account) - **George Burnett's Diary** (1862–1863) - [view the transcription.](https://cottontown.org/archive/articles/the-cotton-industry/cotton-industry-18th-to-20th-century/cotton-famine/george-burnetts-diary-1862-1863) - **WW1 Roll of Honour** - [view the records.](https://cottontown.org/archive/articles/military-1/roll-of-honour/world-war-1) - **WW2 Roll of Honour** - [view the records.](https://cottontown.org/archive/articles/military-1/roll-of-honour/world-war-2) - **Blackburn Prisoners of War (WW2)** - [view the records.](https://cottontown.org/archive/articles/military-1/world-war-4/blackburn-prisoners-of-war-ww2) - **Military Image Gallery** - photographs relating to Blackburn's wartime history. - **Civic records**, including a full list of past Mayors of Blackburn and Darwen.   The site sees a notable spike in visitors each year between September and early November, as people explore its Rolls of Honour and Military Image Gallery around Remembrance season.     ![e4d173c07c13dd0b9d61ef7f7904d5c86339604ca603f15366436d83333a398f (4)](https://2351684.fs1.hubspotusercontent-na1.net/hub/2351684/hubfs/e4d173c07c13dd0b9d61ef7f7904d5c86339604ca603f15366436d83333a398f%20(4).jpg?width=1200&length=1200&name=e4d173c07c13dd0b9d61ef7f7904d5c86339604ca603f15366436d83333a398f%20(4).jpg)   ### Who uses Cotton Town? Cotton Town has a broad and varied audience, including: - **Local residents** researching their town's history. - **Family and local historians**, regionally, nationally and internationally. - **Academic researchers**, some of whom contribute further information that helps expand the archive. - **Local schools**, who use the site as a free educational resource for local history. - The site also serves a **civic function**, maintaining records such as the list of past Mayors of Blackburn and Darwen.   ### Migrating to PastView PastView Data Engineer, Oliver Steel, spoke about migrating the Cotton Town archive to its new home on PastView involved working with thousands of photographs and hundreds of articles, creating new collection structures to enhance the searchability of the site. The Library Image Gallery for example, had over 14,000 images which had many metadata tags about each image's provenance, but no browsable collection structure of its own. We mapped existing metadata tags, such as keywords and photograph titles, onto a new collection structure and copied each image into their relevant collections. The result is the Library Image Gallery Subject Tree, which lets visitors browse the gallery by subject, adding a new dimension to the archive. Alongside these new collections, we are also reviewing the keywords attached to each image. Previously, these were simply a comma-separated list on each photograph; we are now using them to create PastView tags, which group related items together on dedicated search pages. The original keywords are preserved, and new tags are being added on an ongoing basis to further enhance the image galleries. The Military Collection has also been transformed during the migration. In the original archive, each image was identified by a title containing the name of the individual, the conflict they served in, and a number indicating whether further images were associated with them. This could make it difficult for visitors to tell apart military personnel who shared the same name, or to find related images. We developed a method of converting each of these titles into an entity: a dedicated record containing the member's name, the conflicts they served in and any awards received, explicitly linked to all of their associated images. Each member now has their own distinct record, making it much easier to distinguish between those who share a name. These records now sit in a dedicated "Records" section on the search page and can be browsed separately from the site's other collections.    ### What's next for Cotton Town? Blackburn with Darwen Library Service plans to keep developing Cotton Town with the help of local communities, partners and volunteers - particularly focusing on documenting life in Blackburn with Darwen from the 1960s onward. The team also plans to expand its use of PastView’s display and transcription features to share more primary source material over time. ### What do visitors say about the new site? Shortly after the new PastView-powered site launched, one visitor wrote in to say: > *"The Cotton Town website is a fantastic resource for anyone interested in local history. There is almost always a photo of the (generally now long demolished) areas of Blackburn that I'm interested in... I am particularly impressed with the new layout and user interface in respect of the image galleries."* The site's new subject-themed Image Gallery Subject Tree has also been well received, offering a more intuitive way to search and browse the collection. ### What was it like working with PastView? Blackburn's with Darwen Library Service has worked with [TownsWeb Archiving](https://www.townswebarchiving.com/) previously to digitise parts of its primary resource collection, and already knew the company's standards for delivery and customer care. The migration to PastView - handling a mixed collection of images and articles within a tight timeframe - was, in their words, planned and delivered in a highly professional and efficient manner. Training, ongoing support and responsiveness to enquiries have remained strong since launch, continuing into the site’s ongoing development.   ![e4d173c07c13dd0b9d61ef7f7904d5c86339604ca603f15366436d83333a398f (5)](https://2351684.fs1.hubspotusercontent-na1.net/hub/2351684/hubfs/e4d173c07c13dd0b9d61ef7f7904d5c86339604ca603f15366436d83333a398f%20(5).jpg?width=1200&length=1200&name=e4d173c07c13dd0b9d61ef7f7904d5c86339604ca603f15366436d83333a398f%20(5).jpg)   Visit the new Cotton Town archive site: [cottontown.org](https://cottontown.org/)   ### FAQ **What is Cotton Town?** Cotton Town is the digital local history archive of Blackburn with Darwen Library Service, covering the area's industrial, social and civic history. **What platform does Cotton Town use?** Cotton Town recently migrated to PastView, a digital collections platform built by TownsWeb Archiving. **What kind of records can I find on Cotton Town?** Cotton Town includes image galleries, transcribed diaries, WW1 and WW2 Rolls of Honour, Prisoners of War records, civic records, and articles on notable local figures and events. **Who was the Blackburn Vampire?** Sarah Ellen Roberts, a Blackburn-born woman whose death in Peru led to local legend. Read the full story [on Cotton Town](https://cottontown.org/archive/articles/names-of-note/notorious-names/vampires). **Is Cotton Town free to use?** Yes, Cotton Town is a free resource, used by local residents, family historians, academic researchers and schools.    [\< Back to the blog](https://blog.townswebarchiving.com/pastview) - [Tweet](https://twitter.com/share) ## Keep up to date Sign up to our newsletter and be the first to know about the latest access & discovery news and updates. ![PastViewLogo-Black](https://blog.townswebarchiving.com/hs-fs/hubfs/PastViewLogo-Black.png?width=220&name=PastViewLogo-Black.png) ## Quick Links - [About PastView](https://pastview.townswebarchiving.com/about) - [Our Work](https://pastview.townswebarchiving.com/our-work/) - [Events](https://pastview.townswebarchiving.com/events/) - [PastView Community](https://blog.townswebarchiving.com/pastview/community) - [Contact](https://pastview.townswebarchiving.com/contact) ## Built For - [Cultural Heritage](https://pastview.townswebarchiving.com/buil-for/cultural-heritage) - [Government](https://pastview.townswebarchiving.com/buil-for/government) - [Industry](https://pastview.townswebarchiving.com/buil-for/industry) - [Materials](https://pastview.townswebarchiving.com/buil-for/materials) ## Get in touch - The Barn, Rothwell Grange Farm, Rothwell Rd, Kettering, NN16 8XF - 01536 713834 - hello@townswebarchiving.com - - [Cookie Policy](https://pastview.townswebarchiving.com/cookie-policy/) - [Terms & Conditions](https://pastview.townswebarchiving.com/terms-conditions/) - [Privacy Policy](https://pastview.townswebarchiving.com/privacy-policy-2/) - [Site Map](https://pastview.townswebarchiving.com/wp-sitemap.xml) - [Browser Support](https://pastview.townswebarchiving.com/browser-support-standard/) © TownsWeb Archiving 2023, all rights reservered ```json { "@context" : "https://schema.org", "@type" : "BlogPosting", "author" : { "@type" : "Person", "name" : "April Mathie-Dowling", "url" : "https://blog.townswebarchiving.com/pastview/author/april-mathie-dowling" }, "dateModified" : "2026-10-20T13:11:28.609Z", "datePublished" : "2026-10-20T13:00:00.000Z", "headline" : "Cotton Town: Blackburn with Darwen's Local History Archive Moves to PastView", "image" : [ "https://blog.townswebarchiving.com/hubfs/Blog%20Header%20&%20Images%20(6)-1.png" ], "mainEntityOfPage" : { "@id" : "https://blog.townswebarchiving.com/pastview/cotton-town-blackburn-with-darwens-local-history-archive-moves-to-pastview", "@type" : "WebPage" }, "publisher" : { "@type" : "Organization", "logo" : { "@type" : "ImageObject", "url" : "https://blog.townswebarchiving.com/hubfs/TWA%20-%20PV%20Logos.png" }, "name" : "TownsWeb Archiving" } } ```