Blackbury

Blackbury is the fictional town where the Johnny Maxwell Series books take place. Judging by the BBC TV adaption it is not far from Manchester.

It is also the location of the Arnold Bros (est. 1905) department store (demolished and replaced by the Arnco Leisure Centre). It is also referred to in later books of the Bromeliad (Truckers trilogy, which gives the town's name as Grimethorpe, but does mention the Neil Armstrong Shopping Mall). Several of the stories in Dragons At Crumbling Castle take place in Blackbury.

Notable places

• Blackbury Hill
• The Neil Armstrong Shopping Mall
• The old church, now a community centre
• The Cemetery
• Paradise Street
• The Blackbury Preserves pickle factory
• The Joshua N'Clement Block
• The site of the former Arnold Bros (est. 1905) department store, which mysteriously burnt down in a way the police were never quite able to work out;
• The site of the Grimethorpe Dye and Paint Company, also closed down by the Arnco Group PLC as surplus to requirements;

Annotation

Towns "not far from Manchester":- Blackburn; Bury. Please note that in colloquial British English the e in the word berry is a schwa, hence "blackberry" (the fruit, Rubus fruticosus, not the computerised whatnot) is pronounced "blackbury" or "blackb'ry" by most British people.