Industry

Brownback’s were classed as the lowest of the low, people didn’t want to know them or discuss them in conversation. In 1878 a letter appeared in the Sheffield Daily Telegraph which the Bacup Times reprinted. The “factory hands” are an entirely different class. They are as insignificant physically as the “brownbacks” (quarrymen) are prodigious. Cadaverous […]

Henry Heys, a bookkeeper, and farmer’s son from Lower Cockham, relocated with his family to Rakehead sometime between 1851 and 1861. His father, also named Henry and affectionately dubbed “Old Harry,” was renowned for his uncanny ability to estimate the precise amount of stone required for construction projects just by sight, a skill he demonstrated

The Rossendale Shoe and Slipper Industry is set to celebrate its 150th anniversary in November 2024. This historic industry was pioneered by John William Rothwell, a resident of Holts Buildings, Millar Barn Lane Waterfoot. In November of 1874, John, a married man, fulfilled his first order which consisted of six dozen pairs of slippers featuring

The introduction of a new manufacturing process in 1854 by Edward Rostron marked a significant development in the Rossendale district. This new industry involved the production of felt and emerged as a consequence of the declining importance of Rossendale as a traditional woollen manufacturing centre. The felt manufacture in the region evolved as a complementary