Haslingden

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About Haslingden

Please post any pictures of Haslingden and the surrounding towns and country-side!


On the windy edges of the west Pennine Chain, sitting comfortably on the rugged landscape can be found one of the highest towns in England. Haslingden “The valley of the hazels” is differently from its neighbours. Certainly it bares the scares of the industrial revolution, and without the textile industry in would still be no more then a picturesque farming village, however it is a town with more then just an industrial history. It is an ancient settlement where once people tracked the movements of heavenly bodies and carefully placed 13 boulders in a circle in moorland just past the lush green valley. Today Haslingden looks much like any other northern industrial town, with its rows of Victorian terrace housing and the occasional mill chimney breaking the skyline. It is the delectable countryside surrounding the town that is the real surprise. Haslingden grane and the west pennine moors are only minutes from the town center. Even here though, in the beautifully bleak landscape recent industrial activity is ever present. The decaying farm buildings scatter the moorland. They were abandoned when the land was flooded to provide clean drinking water to the towns that sprung up in the 19th and early 20th century. They have been left empty so long they have started to return to nature and add drama to the landscape. It is not just past human activity that leaves its mark here, people still use the natural resources to provide a living. The occasional giant hole in the ground can be discovered whilst out walking; some of these quarries are no longer in use, others alive with activity. These quarries have provided building stone that has been used for a number a high profile sites including Trafalgar Square in London. It reminds one that the close relationship between man and nature is still ever important.