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The National Gazetteer of Great Britain and Ireland - 1868

"COLNE, a chapelry and market town in the parish of Whalley, in the higher division of the hundred of Blackburn, in the county of Lancaster, 30 miles N. of Manchester, and 45 S.E. of Lancaster. It comprises the townships of Colne, Great and Little Marsden, Barrowford, Foulridge, and Trawden, together containing a population of 21,196. The market town of Colne is situated on Colne Water, a tributary of the Calder, and near the Leeds and Liverpool canal. It is the terminus of the Lancashire and Yorkshire, and also of the Midland system of railways. It contains a cloth-hall, a branch of the Craven bank, a savings-bank, gas and water works, besides several extensive cotton factories. The population is chiefly employed in the manufacture of fabrics suited for the Manchester and Bradford markets. Coal, excellent freestone, flags, and slate are abundant in the neighbourhood. There are two churches, St. Bartholomew's and Christ Church, both perpetual curacies, in the patronage of Hulme's Trustees, value £179 and £180 respectively. St. Bartholomew's is an ancient structure in the perpendicular style, built in 1515, and restored and enlarged in 1857. It has two chantry chapels, an ancient font, and a screen, in good preservation. Christ Church was built in 1836. The charities amount to £103 per annum. Acre are Baptist Inghamite, Wesleyan, Primitive Methodist, and Independent chapels. There is a grammar school, with a small endowment, at which Archbishop Tillotson is said to have been educated; besides National and British schools. In the vicinity many Roman antiquities have been discovered, which has led to the supposition that Colne was the Roman Colunio; this is supported by the existence of an extensive camp, 360 feet by 340, with double trench and vallum at Castor Cliff. A weekly market is held on Wednesday, and a monthly market for cattle on the same day. Fairs are held on the 7th March, 13th May, 11th October, and 21st December."