Rossendale - district with borough status in Lancashire, England

The Rossendale Valley is a borough in Lancashire, consisting of a number of small towns and villages including Haslingden, Rawtenstall, Bacup, Waterfoot and Acre, 53.720°, -2.324°. . It lies within the West Pennine Moors.

Understand

Haslingden 📍 in the 14th century was a Royal Hunting Park, the "Forest of Rossendale". Parts of the park's boundary are still clearly visible around Helmshore, which lies a mile or so south and west of Haslingden. The town includes the suburb of Acre.

Haslingden became a mill-town during the Industrial Revolution, but few signs of its textile heritage are now immediately apparent. However, on closer inspection the visitor will find a number of cotton mills remaining - mostly without their chimneys, and either derelict or taken over by other businesses. The town has a slightly neglected air, although improvements to Higher Deardengate where the original cobbled road setts were restored, and a replica Big Lamp erected, have smartened up parts of the town centre.

It is the birthplace of the composer Alan Rawsthorne (1905–1971). Bacup 📍 is a textile mill-town community that developed rapidly during the Industrial Revolution. However, in the late 20th century it suffered from serious economic decline from chronic depopulation and urban decay. Great efforts have been made to regenerate the town, with some success. Bacup's historic character, culture and festivities have encouraged the town's development as a commuter town and English Heritage has proclaimed Bacup as the best preserved cotton town in England, and its town centre is designated as a conservation area for its special architectural qualities.

Bacup is the base of the Britannia Coconut Dancers, a unique folk dance group of uncertain origin, who appear on Easter Saturday to dance around the town, attracting large crowds. Rawtenstall 📍 is the largest town in Rossendale, about 16 miles north of Manchester, and like most of East Lancashire's towns is known as a 'mill town', meaning it was a centre of the textile industry during the Industrial Revolution. Only a small proportion of the many mills and mill chimneys that once dotted the Rossendale Valley now survive; and some can still be seen in Rawtenstall. The textile industry declined from the 1930s, steeply after 1950, and has now almost disappeared. Rawtenstall can therefore be viewed as a town in decline.

Rossendale also includes the village of Waterfoot 📍.

Get in

By bus

The x43 is a frequent bus service to Manchester and Blackburn.

The 464 (dead link: January 2023) is a frequent local bus running from Rochdale to Accrington, via Haslingden, passing through Bacup.

By car

The M65/A65 runs directly to Rawtenstall from the M62. Rawtenstall is a little over 30 minutes drive from the centre of Manchester. A regular and high-quality bus service, the X43 and X44, or the Witch Way, runs from Manchester to Rawtenstall and on to Burnley and Nelson.

By train

Rawtenstall and Rossendale generally suffers from the lack of rail links, although there are steam and heritage trains running at the weekend (and at other times, but infrequently) from Bury, via Ramsbottom.

Get around

Most towns are small, and easy to walk around, although there's no shortage of taxis if you need one.

Local buses run from Rawtenstall bus station to most neighbouring towns and the rest of the Rossendale Valley.

See

• The most interesting features are probably the landscapes around the town of Haslingden, which are stunning - with a wonderful view from 'the Halo', a short walk above the town, which looks down the Irwell Valley to Manchester and beyond to the Cheshire hills. The Halo is sculpture set in a landscaped park, known as a Panopticon. One unique feature is that it is lit after dark and glows a sky-blue colour, giving the effect of hovering above the town. The landscaped site around has information boards and a viewpoint.
• Helmshore Mills Textile Museum, Haslingden (a mile or two south). It tells the story of the Lancashire textile industry. It's made up of two mills: the 18th-century Higher Mill with a large working waterwheel and fulling machinery that was used during the time of the industrial revolution. The second is Whitakers Mill, an adjacent Victorian cotton mill with original mule spinning and other related machinery. This building also house the Revolution Gallery, with interactive displays, an original Spinning Jenny, the unique Arkwrights Water Frame and a Lancashire Loom. The museum offers regular demonstrations of the waterwheel, fulling stocks, spinning mules and carding engines, and also offers visitors the opportunity to try hand spinning and weaving for themselves.
• Helmshore village is picturesque and set in lovely countryside. It offers several walks, notably alongside the distinctive hill known as Musbury Tor; by the three Grane reservoirs and also at Snig Hole ('eel hole' in dialect) which is a popular local riverside walk.
• Bacup Natural History Museum, Bacup (near the centre on the road to Todmorden). Thursday evenings from 7:30PM and Easter Saturdays 10AM-3:30PM. Characterful, contains collections of domestic, industrial, religious and military artefacts. There is so much to be seen that only a visit can adequately describe it. The library has a collection of around 2000 books and copies of Bacup newspapers dating from 1863.
• Whitaker Park Museum, Rawtenstall.
• Fitzpatricks Temperance Bar, Rawtenstall. Britain's last temperance bar.

Do

• Visit the Textile Museum (see above), which has a cafe and gift shop and frequent demonstration days showing working textile machinery.
• Lee Quarry Mountain Bike Trail, Bacup. Over 8 km of technical mountain bike trails have been completed in Lee Quarry
• Watch out for__Juliet Bravo__ locations. The series was largely filmed in Bacup.
• Lee Quarry is perfect for mountain biking.
• Use Rawtenstall as a base to explore the local countryside and industrial archaeology.
• Ski-slope, Rawtenstall.

Events

• The Britannia Coconut Dancers, or 'Nutters', on Easter Saturday and other local events.

Buy

• Ruby & Daisy, 15 Deardengate, Haslingden, +44 1706 217000, info@rubyanddaisy.co.uk. M-Sa 09:00-17:00. Well known locally for good service, quality and value. Suppliers of on-trend ladies fashion. Free parking is available outside of the shop or at one of several free car parks in Haslingden. 2016-05-23
• Perhaps oddly, Rawtenstall is the centre for a number of high quality women's clothes shops - clustered around 'Sunday Best' on Bank Street.
• Rawtenstall has a characterful market, open Thursday and Friday, 09:00-16:00, at the far end of Bank Street on Newchurch Road. It's where 'Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit', Jeanette Winterson's semi-autobiographical novel was filmed for the BBC.
• Helmshore Farmers Market is held outside the textile museum on the first Sunday of the month.
• Fitzpatricks traditional botanical brews can be bought in the shop to take away.

Eat

The area has several restaurants, and a number of take-away food outlets.

• Cissy Green's Pie Shop, Higher Deardengate, Haslingden. It sells pies with a high reputation, especially the cheese and onion pie.
• Mario's. Bacup's main restaurant
• The White Horse Helmshore Rd., Helmshore, Rossendale BB4 4LU, +44 1706 213873. A friendly pub with a good selection of local craft beers, plus a reasonably-priced restaurant, using locally sourced ingredients. Welcomes walkers.
• There are plenty of small restaurants: a tapas bar, a number of Indian and Chinese restaurants and takeaways and Italian restaurants in Rawtenstall.

Drink

• Russian Tea Room, Bacup. It serves over 82 varieties of tea – most from a traditional Samovar. It also serves snacks with a Russian theme.
• There are plenty of pubs, many of which are very basic drinking holes.
• Fitzpatricks Temperance Bar, 5 Bank Street, Rawtenstall, BB4 6QS, +44 1706 231836. Founded in 1890, it's the last remaining Temperance Bar in the UK. Have a pint of black beer, sarsaparilla, blood tonic, cream soda or home-made lemonade! 2017-04-06

Sleep

• Sykeside Country House Hotel, Rawtenstall Road End, Haslingden, 53.695666°, -2.314556°, +44 1706 831163.
• {{sleep | name=Marmalades B&B | alt= | url=http://www.marmaladesbedandbreakfast.co.uk/ (dead link: December 2020) | email= | address=357 Newchurch Road, Stacksteads, Bacup, OL13 0LD | lat= | long= | directions= | phone=+44 1706 876625 | tollfree= | fax= | checkin= | checkout= | price= | lastedit=2016-04-10 | content=Free wifi. Email via contact form on website }}
• {{sleep | name=Parrock Lumb Cottages | alt= | url=http://www.parrocklumbcottages.co.uk/main/ (dead link: December 2020) | email= | address=Parrock Forge, Todmorden Road, Bacup, OL13 9UT | lat= | long= | directions=Just off the A681, 1.2 miles outside Bacup | phone=+44 1706 873598, +44 7920 095415 | tollfree= | fax= | checkin=4PM - 9PM | checkout=10:30AM | price=£65-90 / night or £455-630 / week | lastedit=2016-04-10 | content=A group of 4 converted holiday cottages in a rural setting. Email via contact form (dead link: December 2020) on website. }}
• {{sleep | name=The Britannia Bed and Breakfast | alt= | url=http://www.thebritanniabandb.co.uk/ (dead link: December 2020) | email=info@thebritanniabandb.co.uk | address=1 Britannia Heights, Rochdale Road, Britannia, Bacup, OL13 9SD | lat= | long= | directions= | phone=+44 1706 879152 | tollfree= | fax= | checkin=4PM - 7PM | checkout=10:30AM - 11AM | price=£55-85 / night | lastedit=2016-04-10 | content=Small B&B with 4 en-suite bedrooms. Free Wifi. }}
• One 3 One Guest House, 131 Haslingden Old Rd, Rawtenstall, +44 1706 600463.

Connect

As of April 2022, the valleys have 4G from all UK carriers, and you might get 5G with Three.

Go next

Head east - into West Yorkshire (the next stop), with a picturesque route over the hills or 'tops' to Todmorden, and then on to characterful Hebden Bridge.