Almost as an aside, I was halfway around my Longridge walk when I started noticing the substantial stone-built houses.
Longridge, apart from its agricultural surroundings, was built on the proceeds of cotton mills and quarries. We have a mix of workers’ stone terraces and grander large houses built by the owners and managers.
I have mentioned the stone quarries before, and perhaps I need to enlarge the topic sometime, as well as the mills and spinning rooms. But today just a few photos of the stone houses.
It’s getting dark and the village is lighting up for Christmas shopping. 
I lived in one of those stone houses in the ’70s.
Some nice houses there BC, especially the ones with cleaned up/new stonework – black stonework always looks so depressing. I’ve never wanted to live in a stone house but if I had to choose one it would be the third, it looks lovely.
When I first moved to Longridge, most of the stone was blackened; now, many of the houses have been sandblasted. Same in Bolton.
I’ve always thought Abbey Village looks depressing, with the exception of three or four all the cottages on the main road are black.
I remember well how Chorley town hall was sand blasted, as I used to pass it every day on my way into school.
(You can’t blast with sand now – too high a risk from silicosis.)
Yes we had plenty of stone in Longridge.
Didn’t know that. What process do they use now?
Under the COSHH Regulations the blasting media must be “silica free” (in practice, <1%). There are other abrasives (e.g.. carborundum type materials, glass, slag). Wet blasting is another approach and even dry ice has been used. And there are so non-blasting cleaning methods.
The prohibition applies to “articles” so not actually buildings and structures such as bridges, but, in practice, the expectation would be to use alternative methods or media due to the potential for extremely high silica exposures.
Lecture over 😉
I love those Northern stone blocks, for me it’s Bradford and Saltaire with the blackened stone. It’s so evocative of the past, my own past and the past of industrial history.
Longridge was very much a working town.
Until relatively recently, the materials used for buildings inevitably reflected what was readily available locally. In Wigan, nearly everything is built from brick,with some older buildings constructed from stone. It’s not just that they were built later than in Longridge as from what I’ve seen, and from your photos, even Victorian buildings, including workers houses, are stone built. Will be interesting to read your take on this when you hopefully get round to writing up your post you mention.
In need to walk that county more,
You are welcome any time John.
Nice houses.
Becoming expensive.