THE distinctive shape of Blackburn Cathedral as we know it today begins to emerge as a major expansion project gets underway.

Architect Laurence King was appointed in 1961 to complete a planned expansion of the cathedral which had begun almost 30 years earlier.

The intention had always been to use the old parish church as the nave of a much larger, more impressive building complete with a central tower and side transepts. But the war intervened and when work was ready to restart in the 1950s, inflation had meant that the cost of original plan had become prohibitive.

On this photograph you can see the large, semi-circular concrete beams which would support the new Lantern Tower which King designed and the bright almost white stonework of one of the almost complete new side aisles.

Queen Victoria’s statue overlooks the Boulevard and you can see one of its distinctive bus shelters from the time.

In the top right of the photograph you can make out the distinctive shape of the market clock tower.