A HISTORY OF LANCASHIRE 



!s croscJ by one coming touth from Bury and 

 passing through RnvtensMll, Constable Lee, Liunds 

 and Reeds Holme to Goodshaw and Burnley. 

 From the centre of Rawten;t.ill other roads go e.ist 

 to Xewchurch and west to Haslingden. The Bury 

 and Bacup branch of the Lancashire and York- 

 shire railway passes through the township along 

 the Irwell Valley, and has a station called Raw- 

 tenstall. The line was opened as far as this place 

 in 1846. 



The township ceased to exist n 1^94, being then 

 absorbed in the new townships of Rawtenstall and 

 Haslingden. 



A fair is held by custom on 21 J jne at Rawtenstall, 

 in which town are the principal bjildings, including 

 a Liberal club, co-operative stores and theatre. A 

 Mechanics' Insiitute was opened in 1846. 



The people are chiefly employed in the cotton 

 and woollen factor i-S. The agricultural land of the 

 neighbourhood is mostly in pasture, the returns 

 giving under Rawtenstall (Haslingden portion) — 

 permanent grass 4,275 acres, w( ods and plantations 

 18, arable V 



The Territorials are represented by the E,l^t 

 Lancashire Brigade Transport .ind Supply Column 

 of the Army Service Corps. 



There are two weekly newspapers issued from the 

 5 .me office, the Rosuniiale Fice Press and the Echo. 



The accounts of the king's ministers 

 FOREST f>r 1323-4 show the stucks at the booths 

 or vaccarics of Rawtenstall and Constable 

 Lee,' while a summer lodge at Oakenhead existed 

 in 130;.' William Leyland in 1464 paid j^io a 

 year fur the vnccary of Rawtnstall and j^io for 

 Constab!e Lee and the close called Oakenhe.,d 

 Wood.' The survey of 1507 records that the 

 vaccary of Rawtenstall had been demied by copy 

 of Cuurt Roll to Thomas and John Pickup, Peter 

 Cros-lc) and Robert Heap for £^ 16/. SJ., as against 

 53/. 4(2'. the old rent; while Constable Lee and 

 O.ikenhead Wood.formerlylcttogethcr at^^io I 3/. 41/., 

 had been divided, the former having been demi^ed 

 to Lawrence Holt, Reynold Ingham, Ottiwell and 

 Charles Haworth for £^, and Oakenhead having 

 been divided into two parts, each demied at ^^4 6s. SJ., 

 to Ottii\c!l and Charles Haworth and to Richard 

 Hey, KJ:nund and Oliver Ramsbottom.' There are 

 references to various tenements in the pleadings of 

 the la:tcr half of the l6th centur)-.' 



The lamily of Townley of Oakenhead, an offshoot 

 of that of Barnside, recorded a pedigree in 1664.' 



Borough of RAwxrv- 

 9TALL. Or on a ftiic 

 gulci benveen tivo itagi 

 trippant at gaze in chief 

 proper and a mound in 

 bale vert^ thereon rwo 

 cozes grazing sable^ a 

 •wolf courant of the first 

 befu'ecn ttvo luool-packs 

 of the third, in chief 

 point a sinister hand 

 couped of the second. 



A local board was forme 1 at RAIf'- 

 BOROIGH TE.\STWLL in 1874,' and '" '883 

 its district i' as extended to include 

 parts of Lower Booths, Higher Booths, Neu church 

 and Haslingden ; also the 

 township of Cowpe and 

 Lenches with part of Tott- 

 ington.' The district was 

 incorporated as a municipal 

 borough in 1891, and in 

 1 894 ^vas formed into a tcwn- 

 ship, the old townships being 

 obliterated.'" This completed 

 the process by which the 

 chapelries of Haslingden and 

 Newchurch were divided into 

 three new borough-townships 

 — Haslingden, Rawtenstall 

 and Bacup. The council con- 

 sists of a mavor, six aldermen 

 and eighteen councillors, who 

 are chosen by six wards named 

 North, Central North, Cen- 

 tral South, West, East, and 

 South-east. Gas is supplied by 

 I private company and waljr 



by the Bury Corporation ; the sewerage of the dis- 

 trict is controlled by the 1 .'aillngden, Rawtenstall and 

 Bacup Outfall Se\vi.rage BuarJ. The cemetery, formed 

 in 1S77-83, is managed by a burial board. A free 

 library given by Mr. Carnegie was opened in 1907. 



The places of worship at Rawtenstall are with one 

 exception of comparatively recent origin. For the 

 Church of England St. IVIary's in Oakenhead was 

 built in 1837 ; the patronage Is vested in five trustees." 

 At Ci instable Lee a chapel of case was consecrated 

 in 1903. 



Methodism is represented by the churches of the 

 Wcsleyan Methodists at Rawtenstall (1843)" and 

 Rising Bridge, the Primitive Methodists (Jubilee) 

 and the United Free Methodists at Rawtenstall (185 1) 

 and Oakenhead (1857). 



The Baptists have a church, formed in 1872. 



The Independents built a meeting-house in 1760, 

 but about thirty years later the congregation became 

 Unitarian." It was afterwards used as a joiners' shop, 

 the Unitarians building in 1853 a new chapel, which 

 thus represents the first one built there.'* 



The Roman Catholic Mission was begun in 1828 

 in a small building lent for a chapel ; the church of 

 St. James the Less, Oakenhead, was opened in 1845. 



* Statistics from Bd. of Agric (1905). 



* Lanes, Inq. and Extents (Rec. Sric, 

 Lane?, and Ches.), ii, 198, 201. 



» De Lacy Co-r.poti (Chct. Soc), S-. 

 Adam de Balsfaaw released to Henry de 

 Lacy his right in a messuage and 16 seres 

 of land, &c, in the forest of Rosscodale 

 at Oakenhead ; Duchy of Lane. Great 

 Coucher, i, tol. -S, no. -5. 



^ Whitaker, //'/rj.'.Vv, :, 359. 



' MS. at Huntroyde. 



The tenants in 15:7 were : Rawten- 

 stall — James and John Pickup, Thomas 

 Shepherd and Robert Heap, each paving 

 i8j. ^d. Constable Lee — Robert Pritstlev, 

 Richard Scholfield, Reginald Ingham, 

 O'.we'.l and Charles Haworth, pa' ing 

 £^ lis. loji. in alL O: kenhcad \V .od 

 —The Abbot of WhaJfv, John, Thcr- 

 itan and Chri:-cpher Ramsbottom, 



Richard Hey, Otwell, Edward, Charles 

 and John Haworth, paying ^^9 6s. y^d. j 

 Duchy of Lane Rcnta's, bdle. 5, no. i 2. 



In 1609 the chief tenant in Rawten- 

 stall was Edward Rawstorne of New Hall, 

 and Lawrence Rawstorne in 1662 ; the 

 rest of the land was much divided. 



In Constat e Lee In i6og George 

 Haworth was the chief tenant, two other 

 Haworths, Ecward Rawstorne, John 

 Ashworth and Edward Ingham also 

 holding. In 1662 the tenants were 

 Richard Battersby (Ashworth), Elizabeth 

 Holden (Ingham),' Lawrence Whitaker 

 (Ra\v stornc;, John and Denis Haworth, 

 &c. 



In Oakenhead Wood in 1609 Peter 

 Hey, three Ramsbottom^ and two 

 Haworths v.ere ch;cf tenants ; and in 

 i652 the ch.cf w.re Randlc Sharfki, 



Adam Ramsbottom, Henry Haworth and 

 George Ormerod. 



' Oakenhead Wood . — Ducalui Lane. 

 (Rec. Com.), i, 288, 297 ; ii, 378 ; iii, 

 506. Constable Lee — ibid, ii, 331 (pur- 

 chase by Rawstorne). 



' Dugdale, Visit. (Chet. Snc), 313. 



" Lond. Gaz. 28 July 1874. 



' Act 46 & 47 Vict. cap. 225. 



"> Loc. Govt. Bd. Order 32291. The 

 area of the borough is 9,535 acre', in- 

 eluding 106 acres of inland water ; in 1 90 1 

 the population was 31,053. 



^^ A parish was assigned to it in 1841. 



" This is at Long Holme, standing in 

 the township of Newchurch. There is a 

 mission school at Springside u^ed for ser- 

 vices. The first chapel was built in lii''. 



'■■ Nightingale, Ltir.:s. Nononf. •':, :4i. 



t' Nc—':;;glng, kissendal, 164. 



