Burnley

"BURNLEY, a chapelry and market town in the parish of Whalley, hundred of Blackburn, in the county palatine of Lancaster, 28 miles to the N. of Manchester, and 217 miles to the N.N.W. of London, by the London and North-Western and the Lancashire and Yorkshire railways, with the latter of which it is connected by a branch line of 9 miles from Todmorden. There are three railway stations in the town. It is situated in a pleasant, fertile, and wooded valley, on the hanks of the river Burn, a branch of the Calder, into which it runs about a mile below the town. It is an ancient town, and is thought to have been the site of a Roman station, numerous Roman relics having been found in the vicinity. A spot named Saxifield, near the town, is noted by tradition as the scene of a battle about the end of the 6th century. Burnley is an important seat of manufacturing industry, and has made rapid progress in population and prosperity during the present century. The cotton manufacture has become the staple business of the place, which was formerly the woollen and worsted manufacture. There are many large mills, some print-works, several flour-mills, besides iron and brass foundries, engine manufactories, several breweries, rope-walks, and tanneries. Coal is obtained in abundance in the neighbourhood, and there are quarries of good freestone and slate. The greater part of the town is of modern date; the houses are mostly built of stone, and the streets are paved and lighted with gas. The water supply is abundant. The Leeds and Liverpool canal passes by the town, winding nearly round it, and greatly promotes its trade by opening easy communication with both the North and Irish Seas. Burnley is the seat of a Poor-law Union, and the head of a County Court district. It is also a polling-place for the north division of the county. Petty sessions are held weekly in the court-house, the chief public building. In the town are the Union poorhouse and a savings-bank.