220 History of the 



The Friends, or Quakers, established themselves in Rossendale 

 about, or shortly after, the middle of the seventeenth century. 

 Their first place of meeting was in a small walled, but roofless 

 enclosure at Chapel Hill (hence the name), a considerable eminence 

 bounding the valley to the north-east of Rawtenstall. This enclo- 

 sure was also used as their burying-place, as appears by the 

 following inscription above the entrance : " Friends' Burial Ground, 

 1663. The walls rebuilt 1847." At one time a stone ledge ran 

 round the walls, inside, and this afforded sitting accommodation to 

 the worshippers. Later, until the erection in 17 16 of their present 

 Meeting-house at Crawshawbooth, they were accustomed to 

 assemble in one of the rooms of a farm-house near to the same 

 place. The first interment in the burial ground at Chapel Hill 

 took place in 1663, and the last in 1849. The first interment at 

 Crawshawbooth in 1728. In the earlier years of their existence, 

 the Friends suffered persecution for conscience sake. The 

 Crawshawbooth register records cases of imprisonment in Lancaster 

 Castle on account of tithes, and in other matters bears witness to 

 the intolerance e.xercised towards the members of this small 

 community in Rossendale. Representatives of the Quaker families 

 of Gurney, Field, and Fox, occasionally attended the Meeting-house 

 at Crawshawbooth about the beginning of the century ; and the 

 celebrated Elizabeth Fry held public meetings there in 1818 and 

 1828. Their numbers in Rossendale, never very considerable, 

 have gradually diminished to about twelve at the present time. 



The Unitarians have places of worship at Rawtenstall and 

 Newchurch respectively. The original chapel at Rawtenstall, 

 erected in 1760, is now, and for many years past has been, used as 

 a joiner's shop or warehouse. Many interments took place within 

 it ; amongst others, that of the minister, John Ingham, of 

 Crawshawbooth, who officiated in it for fifty-one years, down to the 

 time of his decease in 1833. A tablet to his memory is in the 

 New Chapel. The old school in the Fold, at Rawtenstall, was 

 originally intended to have been built as an upper room over this 

 chapel, but it was subsequently erected on a separate plot of 



