BLACKBURN HUNDRED 



WHALLEY 



In recent years a number ot new churches have 

 been erected. Christ Church, Quarry Hill, was built 

 in 1 840-1 ^5 ; the patronage is vested in five trustees. 

 The iron mission church of St. Paul is connected with 

 it, and services are held in St. Mary's School. St. John 

 the Evangelist's, Burnley Road, was built in 1 864-70 ™ ; 

 St. John's, Baxenden, 1877^1 ; St. Peter's, Richmond 

 Street, 1889 ''2; St. Mary Magdalen's, Milnshaw, 

 founded as a school church in 1895,^' raised a per- 

 manent building in 1904 ; St. Andrew's, 1898, is a 

 temporary iron church.''' The vicar of St. James's 

 presents to all except Baxenden, which is in the gift of 

 the Bishop of Manchester. 



The Free Church of England is represented by 

 St. Matthew's, built in 1889. 



Methodism was introduced a century ago and the 

 Wesleyans built a chapel in Union Street in 1 807, 

 replaced by the present church in 184;. An addi- 

 tional one was opened in 1 866 and more recently 

 others at Antley and Baxenden ; there are also three 

 school-chapels and a mission room. The Primitive 

 Methodists built a chapel about 1828 and it was 

 rebuilt in 1894; they have also another, and the 

 United Free Methodists have one also. 



Congregationalism was introduced in 1839, when 

 a church of six members was formed ; they built a 

 chapel in Oak Street, opened in 1842, to which the 

 present church succeeded in 1889.''° A secession in 

 1875 led to the founding of a school-chapel in 

 Whalley Road ''^ ; another chapel has since been 

 added. 



A Baptist cause was founded from Bacup at 

 Oakenshaw in Clayton-le-Moors about 1735,'' and 

 from it sprang the Accrington church in 1760 ; the 

 present building in Cannon Street was erected about 

 1874. There are two other churches dating from 

 1858 and 1891 ; also two Particular Baptist chapels 

 and one Strict Baptist (Salem). 



The Swedenborgians built their first place of 

 worship in 1805 ; this was succeeded by the present 

 New Jerusalem in 1849. 



The Unitarians, Catholic Apostolic Church (Irving- 

 ites) and Salvation Army have meeting-places and 

 there is also an unsectarian mission room. 



The Roman Catholic mission was formerly served 

 from Clayton-le-Moors.''' The first chapel in the 

 town was opened in 185 I '' and the present church 

 of the Sacred Heart was built in 1868 ; it is in the 

 hands of the Jesuits. St. Anne's school-chapel, served 

 by secular priests, was founded m 1897. 



A school was built in 1 7 16, but was not endowed 

 till a century later.'" 



HASLINGDEN 



Heselingedon, 1241 ; Haselingden, Hesselindene, 

 1269. 



The township of Haslingden spreads out from the 



triangular ground between the Irwell on the east 

 and Musbury on the west ; going north the surface 

 rises, and the town of Haslingden lies in a valley 

 some 700 ft. above sea level between hills which 

 attain another 500 ft. The newer part of the 

 town is built at the foot of the hill or on its lower 

 slopes, the older part lying higher up to the east. 

 Through the valley a small stream called the Swinnell 

 flows south to join the Irwell. Another valley ex- 

 tends westward round Musbury ; in it is the hamlet 

 of Haslingden Grane, which has Broad Holden and 

 Holden to the east. The area of the historical town- 

 ship is 4,341^ acres ; that of the extended township 

 or borough is 8,196 acres, including 104 of inland 

 water. In 1901 the population of Haslingden proper 

 numbered 16,327, but that of the borough was 

 18,543. 



The town has been built upon the road leading 

 up the valley from Bury and Holcombe to Accrington. 

 Entering at the south end of the township this road 

 proceeds north by Helmshore, Flax Moss and Rye 

 Hill, and entering the town by the street called 

 Deardengate it reaches the New Market Place, and 

 thence goes north by Church Street, through Hudrake, 

 Acre (by which is Carter Place) and Rising Bridge. 

 Another more easterly road from Bury through Eden- 

 field crosses the Irwell and enters the township at 

 Ewood Bridge, and skirting the eastern boundary 

 passes through Bentgate, where it is joined by the 

 road from Rawtenstall and Bacup, to reach the town 

 at Lane Side. Here it divides, the main portion 

 going straight to the New Market Place and the 

 New Road bending to the left to go round the 

 town on the west side. A road from Blackburn 

 through Haslingden Grane reaches the town from 

 the south-west, passing through Waterfoot to join 

 Deardengate, while a second road from Blackburn 

 joins the Accrington Road at the north end of the 

 town. 



The Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway Company's 

 line from Clifton to Accrington runs northward 

 through the township, having stations at Helmshore 

 and at Haslingden, opened in August 1848. 



The story of the church makes it probable that 

 one or more villages existed at Haslingden, on the 

 edge of the forest country, from an early time, but 

 practically nothing is known of them. Names of 

 ancient crosses remain on the western side.^ 



Halfpenny tokens were issued at Haslingden by 

 James Hargreaves in 1667 and John Lord in 1668.^ 



There was a race-course close to the town, but just 

 outside the township within Crawshaw Booth. The 

 races were discontinued before 1825.' 



The woollen manufacture was formerly the chief 

 one, but during last century cotton surpassed it ; size 

 works, engineering works, quarries and collieries are 

 carried on also."* The agricultural land is almost 

 entirely in pasture, the return showing 4,773 acres 



^^ The parish was formed in 1842. 



^0 A district was assigned in 1871; 

 Land. Ga%. 28 Mar. 



^^ The parish was formed in 1878; 

 ibid. 22 Jan. 



'" The parish was formed in 1890. 



'^ The parish was formed in 1895. 



'^ The parish was formed in 1898. 



'^ Nightingale, Lanes, Nonconf. ii, 128. 

 One of the ministers (1863-6), the Rev. 



Evan Lewis, has a memoir in Diet, Nat, 

 Biog. 



^^ Nightingale, op. cit. ii, 136. 



" A. J. Parry, Chughfold Baft. Ch. 



'99- 



'8 There were eighty-six * Papists ' in 

 Altham and Accrington in 1767; Trans. 

 Hist. Soc. (new set.), xviii, 216. 



^^ A school-chapel known ?! St. 

 Oswald's. 



427 



80 Gastrell, Notstia Cestr. ii, 305-6. 



^ Lanes, and Ches, Antiq. Soc. xviii, 12 ; 

 Holden Cross and Alley crosses. 



^ Ibid. V, 78. Some notes about the 

 family of Hargreaves of Haslingden 

 (1769-1809) are printed in Loc. Glean^ 

 Lanes, and Ches. i, 81, 95. 



^ Baines, Lanes. Dir. i, 644. 



* For the trade of the district in general 

 see Newbigging, Rossenda/e, 



