Forest of Rossendale. 289 



panniers over the backs of donkeys or Shetland gals) came 

 regularly out of Yorkshire to make their purchases at Hareholme. 



The mill was the first building in Rossendale lighted with gas. 

 This mode of illumination was then so rare, and thought so 

 wonderful, that visitors from all parts, for miles round, came to 

 witness the unusual sight which it presented when lighted up at 

 night. From the time of its erection down to 1851, it continued 

 to be a worsted mill, and during that period passed through several 

 hands. It has now fallen into disuse. 



In addition to the Woollen Spinning and "Weaving Trade, the 

 Combing of Wool was an industry rather extensively practised in 

 Rossendale during the first quarter of the present century. Many 

 of the inhabitants have a vivid recollection of the time when the 

 festival in honour of Bishop Blaize, the patron saint of the wool- 

 combers, was celebrated with much pomp and ceremony in 

 Rossendale ; (f) on which occasion the handsomest female in the 



(f) " St. Blasius is generally represented as Bishop of Sebaste in Armenia, 

 and as having suffered martyrdom in the persecution of Licinius in 316. The 

 fact of iron combs having been used in tearing the flesh of the martyr appears 

 the sole reason for his having been adopted by the wool-combers as their 

 patron saint. The large flourishing communities engaged in this business in 

 Bradford and other English towns are accustomed to hold a septennial jubilee 

 on the 3rd of February, in honour of Jason of the Golden Fleece and St. 

 Blaize ; and not many years ago this fete was conducted with considerable 

 state and ceremony. First went the masters on horseback, each bearing a 

 white sliver; then the masters' sons on horseback ; then their colours ; after 

 which came the apprentices, on horseback, in their uniforms. Persons 

 representing the king and queen, the royal family, and their guards and 

 attendants followed. Jason, with the golden fleece, and proper attendants, 

 next appeared. Then came Bishop Blaize in full canonicals, followed by 

 shepherds and shepherdesses, wool-combers, dyers, and other appropriate 

 figures, some wearing wool wigs. 



"Apparently for no better reason than the sound of the prelate's name, it 

 was customary to light fires on this day, or evening, on hill-tops or other 

 conspicuous places. So determinedly anxious were the country people for the 

 celebration by a blaze, that they would sacrifice articles of some importance 



