TODAY Looking Back unpicks the tale of the great safe contest in Burnley.

The story of the fight to be the champion in the construction of drill, gunpowder and fire-proof safes comes from Pat Tempest, in the latest journal of Burnley and District Historical Society.

In the mid 19th century there was enormous conflict between manufacturers over whose goods were the safest and strongest.

And there was one particular feud between safe maker George Price and the William Milner company which, at the time, was the biggest in the country.

In 1860 Arthur Denbigh was Price's exceptionally enthusiastic new young agent in Burnley and, aware of his boss's foiled attempts to stage a face-to-face public contest with Milner, he organised a challenge for anyone who could open a Price safe.

After one hiccup, the contest was eventually set for April 30 on the ground near the post office - on the corner of Elizabeth Street and Manchester Road.

The prize money was £100 and invitations were sent out to solicitors, tradesmen, bankers, and jewellers.

A great crowd gathered to watch the spectacle, while the police and a small battalion from the Royal Lancashires stood by to keep order.

It went well for Price, when contestants could not get more than a few grains of gunpowder into his lock, and the drill broke on the diamond hard surface of the door.

The door of a Milner safe, on the other hand, was blown clean off and crushed against the wall, to whistles, applause and laughter. But then tragedy struck.

Milner's men decided to play dirty and blew up a six-year-old Price safe without warning, killing a child.

At a subsequent inquest, a jury severely censured both sides for attempting such dangerous experiments in public and ruled that Henry Frankland should be paid 15 guineas by Milner as compensation for the death of his son.

James Whitely, who was standing at the door of Parker's mill across the river and was struck in the mouth with a 2lb piece of metal from the exploding safe, was awarded £20.

Price went on to name his best safe The Burnley!'.

l Pat Tempest is the great granddaughter of the Victorian safe maker George Price.