Holker House was built in 1871 for Dr. George Hindle who named it after his family home in nearby Hoddlesden. It is a grand structure, built of finely cut stone in the ‘Italianate’ style. However, the site of the house was initially less appealing. Today it overlooks Darwen Marketplace, which has recently been redeveloped into an open seating and performance area. Back then though this space was dominated by bleaching factories and a contemporary account describes the area as “full of mouldering buildings and malodorous lodges”. George had begun his working life as an apprentice pharmacist and went on to study to be a medical doctor, practising in Darwen. The fact that five of his seven children died in infancy is a mark of how tenuous life was then, even for middle class families.
In 1873 he was appointed as Darwen’s first Medical Officer of Health and conducted a survey of the town, warning that the poor sanitary conditions left it vulnerable to the outbreak of diseases. Unfortunately the next year his warnings proved true and the town faced a devastating typhoid epidemic. The severity of the outbreak was so great it was even reported in America in the New York Times. In 1887 while preparing one of his annual reports for the town he became ill and left to recuperate in Morecambe. Although he managed to finish the report it was to prove to be his final one, as he died the following year. His wife Alice sold Holker House and moved away to Ilkley to work as a housekeeper for her uncle, and later remarried.
Dr. James Todd Ballantyne bought Holker House from Alice and was to remain there for almost 30 years. He had begun his working life as an apprentice carpenter, then studied art at Glasgow University before switching to medicine. A successful doctor, he had three medical surgeries in Darwen and also became the mayor in 1898. During his time as mayor he was instrumental in the electrification of Darwen’s tram network. (For more on Darwen’s tram system see our page here).
James died in 1917 and his wife stayed on in Holker House for a couple more years, before selling it to Darwen Council. For over six decades it was used as the council’s education offices, right up until 1974. For the next ten years it was the Education Architect’s Office and was then taken over by Blackburn College for twenty years. This continuous use had kept the building well maintained, but once the college left in 2005 it became in rapid need of maintenance and repair. Fortunately this was done in 2007 and the house was converted into office space. Most recently, in 2016 The Livesey Foundation Charity purchased the building so that the people of Darwen can use it as a community hub to promote history and the arts.
Darwen Heritage Centre
Holker House is now the home of Darwen Heritage Centre. The aims of the organization are to educate and engage the public on the history of Darwen. Collecting only artefacts that are relevant to the town, it has regular changing exhibitions on the local history of the area. There are three rooms that display objects or paintings connected with Darwen, and a small shop selling booklets and gifts related to the area. The heritage centre hosts regular talks from guest speakers. Their excellent website, which is packed with information is here.
Site visited by A. and S. Bowden 2018 and 2024. This page updated 2024.
Access
Darwen Heritage Centre is open Wednesdays, Fridays and Saturdays 10-3pm
For more on their current exhibitions, guest speakers and to see what they have available in their shop click here.
Nearby
India Mill Chimney and Darwen’s Victorian Machinery
Steam Tram turning triangle and twin waiting rooms
References
Holker House: Darwen Heritage Centre (2016), Tony Foster and Anne Hull, available from Darwen Heritage Centre
Darwen Town Centre Local History Walk (undated), available from Darwen Heritage Centre
Darwen Heritage Centre: Community, Arts, Heritage (undated) leaflet available from Darwen Heritage Centre
Lancashire Not Forgotten: Darwen town centre heritage trail (undated) leaflet available from Darwen Heritage Centre
Darwen Days website http://www.darwendays.co.uk http://www.tiki-toki.com/timeline/entry/112576/Darwen-Days/#vars!date=2045 BC-05-04_19:37:08!
Lancashire Past 
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