HISTORICAL DEVELOPMENT 3
James Green, Architect (1822-1886) James Green of Portsmouth House, Todmorden, was born in 1822. He was the son of John and Alice Green, farmers in Whalley. He was a pupil of Messrs George Stephenson and TL Gooch, Civil Engineers, and of the architect Leigh Hall. He designed the 37-metre-high monument on Stoodley Pike in 1854, after the earlier monument which commemorated the victory of the Battle of Waterloo collapsed. The Peel Institution in Accrington was constructed in 1857-8 and, also designed by Green, in associated with T Birtwhistle. The building was designed in the Classical Revival style with a prominent porte-cochere with six Corinthian columns and richly decorated interiors. There are parallels here with the Burnley Mechanics Institute, as the building was originally leased to the Accrington Mechanics Institute for social and educational purposes and for use as a News Room and Assembly Hall for the local community. Now the Town Hall, it is Grade II* listed.
Accrington Town Hall 1857-8
Green demonstrated his versatility by also designing in the Gothic style. All Saints Church, Harley Wood, Todmorden was opened in 1858. Sadly, following the church’s closure in 1972, it was demolished in 1975. He was also responsible for the restoration of the chancel at Whalley Church, the Market Hall in Burnley and a Portsmouth Mill, a former cotton spinning mill in Todmorden.15
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http://www.gracesguide.co.uk/Portsmouth_Mill,_Todmorden
Harley Wood Church 1858
Burnley’s now demolished Market Hall
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