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The County of Lancashire (5)
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Including Lancashire cities, boroughs,
towns and major villages
Note:
Some of the towns listed below are now in the Greater Manchester
Metropolitan County and others in Merseyside and therefore (technically)
no longer in Lancashire.
Alphabetical
order:
Accrington
As
with many other Lancashire towns, Accrington grew up during
the Industrial Revolution, when it was transformed from a predominantly
rural agricultural setting into an industrial town where spinning
and weaving dominated the local development and economy. 1792
saw the establishment of its first mill and thereafter a consistent
expansion took place throughout the 19th century. By 1911, Accrington
boasted 14000 looms, 166000 spindles and more than 18000 people
employed in some capacity in the textiles industry. The town
also manufactured its own spinning and weaving machinery. Its
rapid expansion meant that by 1878 Accrington had been created
as a Borough.
As the textile industry declined in the mid 20th century in
the face of cheaper foreign textile imports, as with many other
surrounding townships, mills gradually closed. Coal Mining survived
in the borough until 1968. In 1929 the borough boundaries were
extended to include Huncoat and since 1974 Accrington has been
the administrative centre of the Borough of Hyndburn.
Bacup
The
township of Bacup is located 835 feet above sea level to the
east of the Borough of Rossendale and has a population of approximately
15,000.
On its eastern edge it forms the Rossendale boundary and the
County of Lancashire boundary with Yorkshire. It was the first
town in Rossendale to have achieved Borough status which it
did in 1882. Bacup is close to the site where Saxons are said
to have fought with Danish invaders in the 10th century.
More recently its main industries have included textiles, coal
mining, quarrying and footwear manufacture. The town centre
is designated as a Conservation Area of special Architectural
and Historic interest.
Blackburn
The name of Blackburn dates from the Dark Ages, and is named
after a local stream known for centuries as Blakewater. It lies
on the main south-north Roman road which linked Manchester with
Ribchester. The township has a very long and distinguished history.
Situated as it was in a key position on this road, during Saxon
and Viking times, it became an important stopover town of North
East Lancashire.
During Norman times it appears in the Domesday Survey of 1086
as the Blackburn Hundred with St. Mary's Church having stood
there since 596 AD. In 1926 St Mary's became Blackburn Cathedral
when the Diocese of Blackburn was created. The town also has
the old Queen Elizabeth's Grammar School which was founded in
1509. It's first Members of Parliament were elected when the
town received its Charter of Incorporation in 1851. At this
time, Blackburn had undergone extensive industrialisation, like
many other Lancashire townships and was a major centre for textile
manufacture.
However, the 20th century saw the textile industry in serious
terminal decline and other industries like engineering and electronics
have gradually replaced them.
In 1974, Local Government reorganisation brought Darwen and
surrounding villages into The Borough of Blackburn and in April
1998 the new Unitary Authority of Blackburn with Darwen achieved
independence from Lancashire County Council.
Blackpool
See
Main
Entry.
Bolton
See
Main Entry.
Bootle
The
name of the town of Bootle comes from the Old English word "botl"
(meaning "dwelling house") which was, until the beginning
of the 19th century, a quiet little country village of 537 inhabitants.
From 1799 its clear spring water supplied the needs of the City
of Liverpool. Bootle was a fashionable coastal resort, much
favoured by the well-to-do. But, by the middle of the 19th Century
the dockhands of Liverpool had spread northwards and virtually
enveloped the town and it soon became intensely industrialised.
Even today it is one of the most important of Merseyside's working
docks.
Bootle town centre has undergone an extensive programme of urban
redevelopment and renewal over recent years and now includes
a traffic-free shopping precinct with multi-storey parking for
1,000 vehicles. Nearby, the Stanley Precinct Office Quarter
with its numerous office developments provide employment for
over 8,000 people.
Burnley
Burnley
probably existed as a small hamlet as early as 800 AD, but not
until 1122 is it first officially mentioned, in a charter by
which one Hugh de la Val granted the church of St Peters to
the monks at Pontefract Priory. Sometime around 1200 Geoffrey
married the daughter of Roger de Lacy and was granted land to
maintain a dwelling in the area. Thereafter the name of Towneley
has closely connected with the Burnley district. (See Towneley
Hall). Burnley was one of the possessions of the Lacys,
a powerful family who were Lords of Blackburnshire for several
generations up to the end of the 13th century. In 1294, Henry
de Lacy obtained a charter from King Edward I granting the right
to hold a weekly market at his house in the manor of 'Bruneley'
and to have a three day fair once every year, on the "...eve
and morrow of the feast of the Apostle Peter and Paul".
In 1559 Burnley Grammar School was founded by Gilbert Fairbank.
The town was once known as the greatest cotton-manufacturing
place in Britain and during its heyday at the end of the 19th
century boasted over 100,000 looms operating within the borough.
With 20th century decline in the textile industry, saw the town
fall on hard times, but now it seems to have fully recovered
and to have replaced its old industries with light engineering
and other commercial ventures.
Bury
See
Main Entry.
Carnforth
Carnforth,
a small township lying just North of Lancaster, was originally
settled by invading Danes and as a result many of the place
names in the district suggest Scandinavian origin. Carnforth
was once a main crossing over the River Keer, which probably
gave the town its name.
The now famous Carnforth Railway Station was immortalised the
classic 1945 Noel Coward film "Brief Encounter"
which starred Celia Johnson and Trevor Howard. The first stage
of its refurbishment was completed in February 2002 and opened
is open to the public - a great tourist attraction. Carnforth
the ideal base for a tour of the area and is regarded as a gateway
to the Lake District.
Chorley
Chorley,
located on the very edge of the West Pennine Moors, is famed
for its market, which has been held in the town since 1498 (albeit
then without a Charter), and this was the source of its early
growth and prosperity. It still is a thriving market town.
Close by are many tourist attractions including Camelot
Theme Park, Hoghton
Tower (where William Shakespeare is reputed to have worked
as a teacher), Astley Hall, and the beautiful countryside at
Rivington Pike
and Country Park, which served as host to the Manchester XVII
Commonwealth Games Outdoor Cycling events. . The town boasts
a clean and thriving urban environment with many pretty surrounding
villages like Heskin, Croston and Mawdesley well worth the visit.
Clitheroe
Clitheroe
is a small ancient market town and borough in the parish of
Whalley and part of the old Norman Blackburn Hundred which has
been represented in Parliament since Elizabethan times. It is
located about 30 miles north west of Manchester and 20 miles
north east of Preston.
Its most distinctive feature is Clitheroe Castle, a Norman edifice
dating from the reign of William the Conqueror, or his son William
Rufus. Otherwise, Clitheroe was of little importance until it
developed in the late 18th and early 19th century as a major
centre cotton spinning and textile power loom manufacturing.
Its early mills were water powered by the River Ribble and later
a steam engine added. The banks of the Ribble were were also
a convenient source of natural limestone, and its ten kilns,
supplied quicklime and plaster for mortars and building use
throughout much of the county.
See
Also: Mick Pye's Local History & Families website at:
www.oldclitheroe.co.uk.
Colne
Colne
is a small old market town, second largest in the Borough of
Pendle with which it has been combined since Local Government
reorganisation in 1974. It has around 19,000 inhabitants. From
1895 Colne had been granted Borough status in 1895. Its long
history dates to pre-Roman times. After Roman withdrawal from
the British Isles, there were various continental invasions
of the region, including the Angles, and this is reflected in
local place names like Trawden and Marsden. Later Scandinavian
invasions (Vikings, Norsemen or Danes), are betrayed by words
in placenames like 'gill' and 'slack'.
Viking occupation of the region came to an end when Athelstan,
grandson of King Alfred the Great of Wessex, defeated a combined
army of Picts, Scots, Welsh and Danes to become the first King
of all England.
During the Norman period, after 1066, Colne included Great Marsden
and Foulridge, and the Forests of Trawden and of Pendle were
created, so as to afford deer hunting for Norman noblemen. The
actual town of Colne grew up at the top of the hill around the
church, built before 1122 AD. It was in the churchyard that
the weekly market was held unofficially, without a Royal Charter,
having already grown through tradition and custom. Textiles
production began here in very early times too, with a town fulling
mill in existence in 1296. Even in Tudor times Colne's workforce
were chiefly occupied in the woollen manufacturing cottage industry.
Townships
continue on the Next Page >
See
Also:
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