Colne

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COLNE, a town, a township, three chapelries, and a sub-district in Whalley parish, Burnley district, Lancashire. The town stands on the river Henburn, and on the Lancashire and Yorkshire railway, near the Leeds and Liverpool canal, 2¼ miles SW of the boundary with Yorkshire, and 5½ NE of Burnley. It is thought by some to have been the Colunio of the Romans; but it has yielded no other evidence of Roman occupation than some Roman coins. It occupies a rising-ground; presents chiefly a modern and manufacturing aspect; and has a head post office, a r. station with telegraph, a banking-office, two chief inns, three churches, five dissenting chapels, a cemetery of 1860, a mechanics' institute, and two endowed schools. The chief of the churches, St. Bartholomew's, is perpendicular English, with some Norman traces; has two chantry chapels, a fine screen, and an old font; and was restored and enlarged in 1857. The two endowed schools have £15 or £48 from endowment; and one of them had as a pupil Archbishop Tillotson. A weekly market is held on Wednesday; and fairs on 7 March, 13 May, 11 Oct., and 21 Dec. Manufactures of woollen and worsted were formerly extensive; but manufactures of cotton are now the chief. Pop., 6,315. Houses, 1,357. The township comprises 4,575 acres. Real property, £20,817; of which £800 are in gas-works, and £120 in quarries. Pop., 7,906. Houses, 1, 701. The property is much subdivided. The manor belonged anciently to the Lacys; and Barnside was an old seat of the Townleys. The surface is hilly; the rocks include coal, limestone and slate; and a double-ditched camp, 360 feet by 330, is at Castor Cliff. The three chapelries are St. Bartholomew, Christ Church, and Barrowford; and the first is a rectory, the others p. curacies, in the diocese of Manchester. Value of St. Bartholomew, £300;* of Christ-Church, £150;* of Barrowford, £150. Patrons of all, Hulme's Trustees. The sub-district contains six townships. Acres, 15,435. Pop., 21,203. Houses, 4,369.

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