ROSSENDALE THIS is a large and populous manufacturing district, including Newchurch, Rawtenstall, Crawshaw Booth, Stacksteads and several other villages and hamlets, besides a number of dispersed dwellings. It contains a surface of twenty-four square miles, and was originally part of the domain of the great honour of Clitheroe. The region was for many years uninhabited , except by wolves and other wild beasts. The first part enclosed and planted was Brandwood, by the Abbot of Stanlaw, about the year 1200. At the commencement of Henry VIII’s reign, it is said, the population numbered only 80. During that King’s reign the place was disforested, and in the time of Edward VI the population amounted to 1,000. By the census of 1861, the number of inhabited houses in Rossendale was 2,480, and by that of 17=871 the number was 14,409, showing an increase of 1,772 in ten years. /the excess of registered births over registered deaths in the ten years was 1,907. NEWCHURCH &c., Is a populous and highly important manufacturing district, and is situate 2½ miles SW from Bacup and 3½ miles E by S from Haslindgen, and 20 N from Manchester. The cotton and woollen establishments here are numerous and extensive, and coal and free-stone are found in great abundance. The township of Newchurch, which also includes Bacup, has increased its population from16,919 in 1851 to 26,823 in 1871, and its rateable value, as allowed in 1872, is £79,468. Its area in statute acres is 5,857, and the manorial rights of the whole of Rossendale belong to the Duke of Buccleuch. St Nicholas Church was mostly re-built in 1826, but the original and first church in Rossendale was erected in 1512. A new organ was put up in 1865 at a cost of £600. The church has a square embattled tower, containing a peel of six bells. There are 1,400 sittings, of which 227 are free and unappropriated. The benefice is a rectory, value £580, in the patronage of the vicar of Whalley, and the incumbency of the Rev John B. Phillips, MA. At Lumb, about two miles north, is a Church, dedicated to St Michael, of which the Rev James W. Baron MA, is the incumbent, and for whom a parsonage house is about to be erected. The Church is a small stone building, and was consecrated in 1848. At Waterfoot, a village adjoining Newchurch, is a Church, dedicated to St James, and erected in 1863 from designs by Mr Robinson, of Derby. It consists of a nave, chancel, one aisle, vestry, porch, and graceful spire. The latter was added in 1873 and contains a peel of six bells, which, with the clock, cost £1,350. The cost of this handsome church was about £4,000, and it will seat 650; 320 of the sittings are free. There has recently been erected a good parsonage, which cost nearly £3,000. The living is a vicarage, value £200 a year, in the patronage of three trustees, and is held by the Rev Alexander James Harrison, MA, PhD, ThD. The Dissenting places in Rossendale are numerous. Those in Newchurch and neighbourhood are as follows, viz:- The Wesleyan Chapel of Newchurch, built in 1804 at a cost of £700, and that at Whitewell Bottom, erected in 1865, at an expense of £1,200; the Baptist chapels at Clough Fold, Edge Side, Lumb and Waterfoot; the United Methodist Chapels at Newchurch and Scout; and the Unitarian Chapel at Newchurch, built in 1865, at a cost of £2,500. The Grammar School was erected in 1711, by John Kershaw of Wolfenden, who endowed it with two small estates at Weald, in Bacup booth. The endowment now amounts to some £45 a year, and the school is generally attended by between 50 and 60 pupols. There is here also a Mechanics Institute, established in 1850, with a library of above 1,000 volumes. Fairs for cattle are held on the 29th of April and for pigs, pedlary, and clothing on the first Monday after Midsummer Day. RAWTENSTALL Is a populous village about midway between Haslingden and Newchurch, on the East Lancashire section of the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway, and 17½ miles from Manchester. Here also the cotton and woollen trades are extensively pursued. It stands partly in the township of Lower Booths, which contains 1,600 acres, and its population in 1851 was 3,778; 1861, 4,655; and 1871, 5,114. Rateable value, £15,118. The Church of St. Mary was erected in 1837, at a cost of £2,400. It will seat 800 persons. The living is a vicarage, in the gift of the executors of Henry Hoyle, Esq., who endowed the church. The population of the ecclesiastical district in 1861 was 7,823. Rev. William Whitworth, MA, incumbent. The Catholic Church, dedicated to St James the Less, is a substantial Gothic edifice, erected in 1844-5, at a cost of £1,500. The chancel window is of stained glass, and the pulpit is of hewn stone. Over the vestry door is a marble tablet to commemorate the Rev. Thomas Rimmer. Contiguous to the church is a commodious Presbytery, built about a dozen years since. Rev. Denis Byrne is the pastor of this congregation. A school in connection with this place of worship was opened 10th of April, 1866, and the cost of its erection was £800. The Wesleyan Chapel at Rawtenstall is a beautiful grecian structure of cut stone, with an elaborate front supported by four Corinthian columns. It was erected in 1842 at an expense of £5,082, including decorations, fittings &c., and contains 1,700 sittings. The United Methodists have two chapels here, one built in 1851 at a cost of nearly £1,000 and the other built in 1857 at a cost of £10,000, including the erection of large and commodious schools. It is in the Corinthian style of architecture, and has sitting accommodation for about £1,000. The Unitarian Chapel was built in 1853, and the cost of its erection was £1,700. It is a gothic edifice, and will seat 500. The Primitive Methodists have two chapels here, and the Baptists have a place of worship in the village. There is a Mechanics Institute in the place, and Petty Sessions are held at the Queen’s Arms hotel on every alternate Monday. DIRECTORY OF NEWCHURCH, STACKSTEADS, WATERFOOT, RAWTENSTALL, CRAWSHAW BOOTH, LUMB &C. POST OFFICE, MONEY ORDER OFFICE AND SAVINgS BANK, Newchurch; John Taylor, postmaster. Letters arrive, via Manchester, from all parts at 7-45 am and 4-15 pm; and are despatched at 10-20 am and 7-0 pm. POST OFFICE &c., Waterfoot; george Henry Cockcroft, postmaster. Letters arrive at 7-25 am and 4 pm; and are despatched, 10-35 am and 7-20 pm. POST OFFICE &c., Rawtenstall; Alfred King, postmaster. Letters arrive via Manchester, 7-20 am and 4-0 pm; and are despatched at 10-30 am and 7-20 pm. POST OFFICE &c., Crawshaw booth; Benjamin Driver, postmaster. Letters from all parts arrive (from Manchester via Rawtenstall) at 8-40 am and 5-0 pm; and are despatched, 6-35 am and 6-20 pm. POST OFFICE, MONEY ORDER, TELEGRAPH OFFICE AND SAVINgS BANK, Stacksteads; John Pawsey, postmaster. Letters, via Manchester, arrive 7-20 am and 3-50 pm; and are despatched at 10-35 am and 7-20 pm. POST OFFICE, Lumb. Letters despatched to Newchurch at 5-30 pm. POST OFFICE, Clough Fold; Henry Hoyle, postmaster. Letters, via Manchester, from all parts, arrive at 7-15 am and 4-55 pm; and are despatched at 10-30 am and 7- 20 pm. Miscellany ASHWORTH, Edward, Esq, JP woollen manufacturer (E Ashworth & Co) Stag hills, Waterfoot ASHWORTH, Mr George Green Bank terrace, Stacksteads ASHWORTH Henry manager, Underwood Stacksteads ASHWORTH Holt flax dealer (Bertwistle & Ashworth) h. St James terrace, Waterfoot ASHWORTH, John manager Ash cottage, Stacksteads ASHWORTH, Mrs Jane Lea bank, Clough fold AHWORTH, Miss Betsy Green bank, Rawtenstall ASHWORTH, Miss Mary Rose hill, Newchurch ASHWORTH, Mr Richard Ivy cottage, Waterfoot ATKINSON, Mrs Susan Willow cottage, Egypt, Rawtenstall BAILEY John W calico print works manager Broad Ing house, Crawshaw booth BARCROFT, Edward spirit merchant (Nuttall & Barcroft) h Egypt BARKER, James registrar of cemetery Fern Hill terrace, Stacksteads BARLOW, Ashworth cotton spinner (A Barlow & Bros) h Crawshaw booth BARLOW, Mr Henry Oak villas, Rawtenstall BARLOW, Mr John Newbarn, Newchurch BARLOW, Mr Moses Forest bank, Crawshaw booth BARON, Rev James Wilkie, MA vicar of St Michael's Church, Lumb BARNES, Mr Kenyon Lower Clowes, Rawtenstall BATE, george station master Rawtenstall BAXTER, Mr Watson Glenville, Waterfoot BAXTER, William brewers' traveller Glen top, Waterfoot BELL, Mrs Betty Albert Terrace, Crawshaw booth BIRTWISTLE, George flax dealer (Birtwistle & Ashworth) h Cowpe BISHOP, Mr Thomas Derby terrace, Rawtenstall BLACKLEDGE, William gas works manager Spring villa, Clough fold BOLTON, W. H. colliery manager Height side, Newchurch BLEASDALE, Thomas bookkeeper Primrose hill, Stacksteads BRIDGE, george bookkeeper Bank top, Rawtenstall BRIMSCIMBE Rev Walter (Wesleyan) Longholme, Rawtenstall BROOKS, Thomas Esq JP stone merchant (Butterworth & Brooks) h Crawshaw hall, Crawshaw booth BROWN, James traveller Wood top, Rawtenstall BROWN, Scarlett quarryman Sunny bank, Stacksteads BUTTERWORTH, Mrs Lucy Fern Hill terrace, Stacksteads BYRNE Rev Dennis (Catholic) Constablee, Rawtenstall CHADWICK, John mill manager Clough fold CLARKE James waterworks manager Oakley terrace, Rawtenstall Constitutional Association E CROSSLEY sec Stacksteads COUPE, Mr Edmund Springfield House, Rawtenstall COWAN Mr John Sunnyside, Rawtenstall CRABTREE, Mrs Alice Martha Waterfoot CRANKSHAW, William bookkeeper Crawshaw booth CRYER, Thomas bookkeeper Love clough, Crawshaw booth CUNLIFFE, Clare C bookkeeper Newchurch CUNLIFFE, Abel woolstapler (H & A Cunliffe) h Booth fold, Newchurch CUNLIFFE, Henry woolstapler (H & A Cunliffe) h The Cross,