Haslingden

Haslingden is a town in Rossendale, Lancashire, England. It is 19mi north of Manchester. The name means 'valley of the hazels'. At the time of the 2001 census the town had a population of 16,849.Haslingden is the birthplace of the industrialist John Cockerill (1790–1840) and the composer Alan Rawsthorne (1905–1971), and was the home for many years of the Irish Republican leader, Michael Davitt (1846–1906). Haslingden Cricket Club is a member of the Lancashire League.HistoryPart of what is now Haslingden, along with that of the neighbouring towns of Rawtenstall and beyond that Bacup were part of the Forest of Blackburnshire, that part being the Forest of Rossendale. The Forest was a hunting park during the late 13th and 14th centuries; 'Forest' referred to it being parkland rather than being heavily wooded, as the forest declined much earlier, during the Neolithic period.Haslingden grew from a market town (a market was established in 1676) and later a coaching station to a significant industrial borough during the period of the Industrial Revolution. In particular with the mechanisation of the wool and cotton spinning and weaving industries from the 18th to the 19th centuries, and with the development of watermills, and later steam power.