Rawtenstall - Encyclopedia

GEOGRAPHICAL NAMES

RAWTENSTALL, a municipal borough in the Rossendale parliamentary division of Lancashire, England, 171 m. N. by W. from Manchester by the Lancashire & Yorkshire railway. Pop. (1901) 31,053. This town is a modern creation of the cotton industry; at the beginning of the 19th century it was a secluded village in the wild hilly district of Rossendale Forest. The cotton and woollen industries employ the majority of the inhabitants, and there are stone quarries in the neighbourhood. The town was incorporated in 1891, and the corporation consists of a mayor, 6 aldermen and 18 councillors. Area, 9535 acres.