In 1870-72, John Marius Wilson's Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales described Oswaldtwistle like this:
OSWALDTWISTLE, a town, a township, a chapelry, and a sub-district, in Whalley parish and Blackburn district, Lancashire. The town stands on the Leeds and Liverpool canal, and on the East Lancashire section of the Yorkshire and Lancashire railway, contiguous to Church village and r. station, 3 miles E S E of Blackburn; is built chiefly of stone; is supplied with water, fromworks constructed in 1865; carries on industry in extensive cotton-factories, print-works, and potteries; conducts traffic also in connexion with neighbouring collieries and quarries; and has a post-office‡ under Accrington, alocal board of health, a church, two large Church schoolsused also as chapels of ease, five dissenting chapels, three national schools, two dissenting schools, a temper-ance library and reading-room, and charities £50. ...
The church was built in 1837; consists of nave and chancel, with a tower; and contains about 800 sittings. The dissenting chapels are Independent, Baptist, Wesleyan, Primitive Methodist, and United Free Methodist. The township contains also the hamlets of Bellthorn, Stanhill, and Knuzden-Brook. Acres, 4, 770. Real property, £27,027; of which £4, 237 are in mines, and £317 inquarries. Pop. in 1851, 7, 654; in 1861, 7, 701. Houses, 1, 396. The manor belongs to Sir Robert Peel, Bart. Peelfold, where the first Sir Robert Peel spent his earlyyears, is in Knuzden-Brook. Bellthorn House, Stanhill House, Knuzden Hall, and Mount Pleasant are chief re-sidences. Two cotton-factories are at Knuzden-Brook; an Independent chapel is in Bellthorn; and national schools are in Bellthorn and Knuzden-Brook. The chapelry is less extensive than the township, and was con-stituted in 1840. Pop. in 1861, 6, 183. Houses, 1, 100. The living is a p. curacy in the diocese of Manchester. Value, £300.* Patrons, Five Trustees. The sub-district comprises the township of Oswaldtwistle and Church. Acres, 5, 3 90. Pop. in 1851, 9, 689; in 1861, 12, 454. Houses, 2, 269.
Oswaldtwistle through time
Oswaldtwistle is now part of Hyndburn district. Click here for graphs and data of how Hyndburn has changed over two centuries. For statistics about Oswaldtwistle itself, go to Units and Statistics.
GB Historical GIS / University of Portsmouth, History of Oswaldtwistle, in Hyndburn and Lancashire | Map and description, A Vision of Britain through Time.
URL: https://www.visionofbritain.org.uk/place/640
Date accessed: 26th April 2024
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