BOOK SIXTH 



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CHAPTER I. 



"All men are interested in their ancestors. 

 All men love to look back into the days that are past." 



T. Love Peacock,— rAe Four Ages of Poetry. 



rpHE question has been asked : From whence did the bulk of 

 -*- the original inhabitants of Rossendale spring ? I have 

 devoted some attention to the subject, and am led to the conclu- 

 sion that it was from Pendle and the district around it, including 

 Clitheroe and some distance northward, and also in a southerly 

 direction winding down towards Blackburn on the west, to Burnley 

 on the east, that the original inhabitants of Rossendale, at the time 

 of the disforesting or " Granting of the Forests," three hundred and 

 eighty-six years ago, and during subsequent years, actually came. 



My chief reasons for arriving at this conclusion are these : If we 

 recognize the circumstances of the two districts, there will be found 

 striking coincidences to incline the people one to the other ; and if 

 we examine the distinctive names of many of the places and objects 

 in and about Pendle, Clitheroe, and the adjacent country, and com- 

 pare them with names of places and objects in Rossendale, we 

 shall find not only a similarity or family hkeness, but in some 

 instances a positive identity, thus : 



Both Pendle and Rossendale are of the same hilly character ; 

 both were part of the Ancient " Forest of Blackburnshire " in early 

 days, and they have always been under the same lord of the honor. 



