Blacko

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Blacko
Blacko (Lancashire)
Blacko

Blacko shown within Lancashire
Population 595 (2001 Census)
OS grid reference SD856415
District Pendle
Shire county Lancashire
Region North West
Constituent country England
Sovereign state United Kingdom
Post town NELSON
Postcode district BB9
Dialling code 01282
Police Lancashire
Fire Lancashire
Ambulance North West
European Parliament North West England
UK Parliament Pendle
List of places: UKEnglandLancashire

Coordinates: 53°52′08″N 2°13′01″W / 53.869, -2.217

Blacko is a village and civil parish within the Pendle district of Lancashire, England. According to the 2001 census it had a population of 595.

The village is on the old turnpike road to Gisburn (A682). The village enjoys views towards Boulsworth Hill to its south east, the former cotton town of Nelson, about two miles to its south and Pendle Hill to its west.

Overlooking the village is Stansfield Tower (also known as Blacko Tower), which was built around 1890. A local grocer, Jonathan Stansfield, built this circular rough stone tower to provide himself with a view over Ribblesdale from the top, but the height fell somewhat short. A Bronze Age axe, believed to be 3,500 years old, was found near the tower in 1952.

Blacko is set on a hill overlooking Pendle Water and in 2002 was the winner of the Lancashire Best Kept Village competition. Blacko was runner-up in the competition in 2005, being beaten by the village of Wrea Green.

Blacko was the childhood home of Lancashire comedian Jimmy Clitheroe (1921-1973), famous for his BBC radio series The Clitheroe Kid, who lived there from 1922 to 1935. Jimmy went to school in Blacko and appeared in many amateur concert party entertainments in the village's Methodist chapel, before turning professional in 1936.

Also during the 1930s it was the home of the comedian Tommy Trafford, who played many summer seasons in the Lancashire seaside resort of Southport between the 1960s and 1980s, so many in fact that he was affectionately known in Lancashire as 'Mr Southport'.

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