THE roadworks that were taking place in the centre of Blackburn, back in 1956, were a signal for pedestrians to stop.

For Maggie, a machine which made asphalt for the roads, was the centre of attention as crowds of shoppers gathered to watch her in action.

You can see them leaning on the barriers, on the right, watching the men at work outside Woolworths, as the first of Blackburn's miles of cobbled streets, were replaced.

The tramlines, which had served for half a century, were also being pulled up, as motorised vehicles finally became the modern mode of transport round the town.

Cobbles were first laid to help horses get a toe hold, especially on hilly streets, as they pulled delivery carts and hansom cabs in the Victorian era.

But as they were replaced by the horse power produced by the combustion engine, so, too, were the road surfaces.

Maggie, owned by the splendidly named Panmaenmawr and Trinidad Lake Asphalt Company, from North Wales, is being set to work here at the bottom of Ainsworth Street, at its junction with Salford on the left and Church Street on the right.

In the background is the White Bull Hotel, a popular Thwaites house, six decades ago.