226 History of the 



gift of a wise economy in spending it. With praiseworthy industry 

 they have surrounded their firesides with 'those material comforts 

 which are denied by Nature to the barren and unfruitful soil of 

 their district. And yet to charge Nature with withholding her 

 bountiful hand were ungenerous : the abundant supply of coal, the 

 almost inexhaustible mines of excellent stone which crop out on 

 every slope, and the numberless streams that travel down the hill- 

 sides to the bosom of the ample valley below ; all these, Nature 

 has bestowed on Rossendale with lavish prodigality, and all have 

 contributed to raise her to her present importance as a manufactur- 

 ing district. 



There is little of what is called "ancient blood" in the locality. 

 A few of the oldest families can trace their ancestors back through 

 two or three centuries, but the chief men of wealth and position in 

 Rossendale have risen from the ranks, and with little ostentation 

 and display they yet surround themselves with the substantial com- 

 forts and even the elegancies of life. 



One key to the secret of the success and growing importance of 

 Rossendale is to be found in the circumstance that the spirit of 

 absenteeism has never prevailed to any extent amongst those who 

 have amassed fortunes in the district. They live, as a rule, in the 

 locality, and many of them take an active interest in its progress. 

 The numerous tasteful residences which adorn the hill-sides, and 

 whose cultivated grounds, neatly laid out and planted, relieve the 

 landscape, are evidence of a healthy state of feeling, and of a pre- 

 vailing desire that the prosperity of the district shall be as 

 permanent as it has been rapid. 



In order to show the measure of this prosperity and the rate of 

 its increase within the present century, I have compiled the 

 subjoined table of the annual value of the rateable property in the 

 several townships comprised within the Forest of Rossendale in the 

 several years named. The area of each Township or Booth is also 

 given : — 



