Haslingden

Haslingden, a market-town and municipal borough in the Rossendale and Heywood parliamentary divisions of Lancashire, England, 19 m. N. by W. from Manchester by the Lancashire & Yorkshire railway. Pop. (1901), 18,543. It lies in a hilly district on the borders of the forest of Rossendale, and is supposed by some to derive its name from the hazel trees which formerly abounded in its neighbourhood. The old town stood on the slope of a hill, but the modern part has extended about its base. The parish church of St James was rebuilt in 1780, with the exception of the tower, which dates from the time of Henry VIII. The woollen manufacture was formerly the staple. The town, however, steadily increasing in importance, has cotton, woollen and engineering works—coal-mining, quarrying and brickmaking are carried on in the neighbourhood. The borough, as incorporated in 1891, comprised several townships and parts of townships, but under the Local Government Act of 1894 these were united into one civil parish. The corporation consists of a mayor, 6 aldermen and 18 councillors. Area, 8196 acres.

* * *