PLANS to uncover the River Blakewater in Blackburn town centre, unveiled this week, are expected to form the centre of a £150million regeneration project. But, as chief reporter DAVID HIGGERSON found out, if the river hadn't been there in the first place, there would probably have never been a Blackburn. . .

ALTHOUGH the Blackburn we see around us these days was largely formed in the 1800s thanks to the Industrial Revolution, the town's history stems back much further.

And while the Leeds and Liverpool Canal, arguably Blackburn's best-known waterway, may often be credited for helping Blackburn to such prominence during the Industrial Revolution -- by providing a transport link to the outside world before railways came into being -- the River Blakewater played a much more fundamental role.

The name Blachbvrne, as the Saxon settlement located where Blackburn now stands was recorded in the Domesday Book of 1086, actually means Black Brook. One school of thought is that the Black Brook refers to the Blakewater, which would have been stained by peat at the time.

Until the 1800s, Blackburn will have remained little more than just a village, located next to the river to provide a constant stream of water. That water, along with a ready supply from other rivers such as the Darwen, made the town attractive for the cotton mills and breweries which made Blackburn the town it is today.

But for the last 40 years, it has remained underground, hidden when the town planners of the 1950s and 1960s decided 'out with old, in with the new' was the mantra of the day. As a result, the town centre developments turned their back on Blackburn's historical attributes -- the railway station, the canal and the cathedral -- in favour of the concrete carbuncles such as Blackburn Shopping Centre and the market hall.

Now, however, the buzz phrase has become 'unzipping the layers of history.'

Coun Andy Kay, in charge of regeneration, said: "The Blakewater gave Blackburn its name, and by revealing it from its culvert under Ainsworth Street, we will create a new natural amenity. It is anticipated this will involve a true rejuvenation of the river, but that may not be possible, in which case we will replicate it."

The river plan dips into the past for inspiration in many respects. The council would like to have homes close to the river, rather like Blackburn used to have.

But the river uncovered would be very different to the river people remember -- partly because it is a lot cleaner than it was.

From the early 1800s, it was used as an open sewer and one of the town's aldermen at the time described how the river had been prior to the arrival of industrial mills and their associated slums.

Charles Tiplady wrote: "Then, how beautiful to stroll by the devious courses, along the fields to Brookhouse, to the rookery at Little Harwood Hall; and on to the confines of Sour Milk Farm, then following the lazy current, we came to Whitebirk. There we sat down on its banks, listening to the sweet carolling of the birds, ever and anon refreshing ourselves with copious draughts of the pure liquid."

His comments appear in a journal which is now owned by Blackburn Museum.

Even as late as the 1960s, when the final open piece of river -- around Ainsworth Street -- went underground, dumping of rubbish was a problem in the river.

A report in the Evening Telegraph in October, 1962, revealed how, in one small stretch, a bicycle wheel, several tea chests and orange boxes, a rubber ball, part of a bicycle frame, a light shade and assorted waste paper and scrap metal were all found.

Even so, this bit of the Blakewater had been cleared of one peculiar feature that was frequently found in it some 50 years before -- drunks.

For back in 1907, the old Blackburn Times reported that drinkers were in the habit of using the river bed as a place to sleep.

Lancashire Evening Telegraph reader Dorothy Smith, 66, from Blackburn, remembers the Blakewater in the town centre as a child.

She said: "There were times when flies would be rising out of it because people put so much rubbish there and let their animals foul there too."

Whatever happens to the river, it will remain in the memories of Blackburn's over 50s for a long time yet. Not least for those who remember the war, when the American GIs were based at Brookhouse Mills.

Shortly before D-Day, all leave was cancelled and troops confined to the barracks -- until a group found a first-class way of escaping into town un-noticed ... via the Blakewater.