Burnley

The remains of Burnley, Ontario are disappearing fast. The town used to contain the general store and community hall and building foundations. The store and foundations were torn down and until a recently could offer the community hall to visitors. Sadly the community hall was torn down in 2002; the weathered road sign stolen not long after that.

The area of Burnley appealed to the mill as nearby Mill Creek offered a strong current. One early settler to the area, R. Grimshaw, took advantage of the creek by building one of the first grist mill’s in 1860. Another resident named H. Pringle who owned a large area of land, divided up the land into lots to be used for homes. He named the area Burnley.

As settlers immigrated to the area, establishments began popping up along the main street: John Donohue built his hotel, William Lawlor built a general store, the Burnley Hotel, cheese factory, community hall, two shoemakers, and blacksmith. Around the corner stood the Roman Catholic Church and school. Stage-coach provided transport three times per week.

When the railway came through, it bypassed Burnley entirely. This would doom the town. The store remained until the 1980’s when it was demolished.

The main street has been renamed to Community Hall Drive.

A weathered sign used to announce your arrival into Burnley until it was stolen by a treasurehunter. The town is located north of the 401 (take Highway 23 or 25 north from te 401) at the Western end of County Road 29, which is nestled in between highways 45 and 30. It is in Northumberland County.

Another ghost town is just to the SE called Oak Heights and there is a write-up on another page about it under Trent Hills.