Rawtenstall

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RAWTENSTALL, a town and a chapelry in Whalley parish, Lancashire. The town stands on the Manchester, Bury, and Bacup railway, 8 miles N by E of Bury; was, not long ago, a secluded village; consists now of regular and well-built streets; is a seat of petty sessions, and a polling-place; carries on cotton and woollen manufactures; and has a r. station with telegraph, a post-office under Manchester, a hotel, a mechanics' institution, a church, four dis-senting chapels, a Roman Catholic chapel, and four large public schools. The church was built in 1837 at a cost of £2,500; and has an embattled tower. The Wesleyan chapel is at Longholme; and was built in 1842, at a cost of nearly £5,000. The United Free Methodist chapel was built in 1862, at a cost of more than £6,000; and is in the Corinthian style. The Unitarian chapel was built in 1853, the Roman Catholic chapel in 1844, each at a cost of £1,500, and are in the pointed style. The chapelry was constituted in 1841. Pop. in 1861, 7,823. Houses, 1,562. The living is a p. curacy in the diocese of Manchester. Value, £300.* Patrons, Trustees.

John Marius Wilson, Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales (1870-72)