In 1870-72, John Marius Wilson's Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales described Whalley like this:
WHALLEY, a village, a township, and a sub-district, in Clitheroe district, and a parish partly also in Blackburn, Haslingden, and Burnley districts, chiefly in Lancashire, but partly also in W. R. Yorkshire. The village stands on the river Calder, and on the Clitheroe railway, 3¾ miles S by W of Clitheroe; is a polling place; and has a post-office‡ under Blackburn, a r. ...
station‡ with telegraph and a hotel. The township comprises 1,890 acres. Real property, £4,107. Pop. in 1851, 945; in 1861, 806. Houses, 163. The decrease of pop. arose from discontinuance of employment in print-works. The manor belongs to J. Taylor, Esq. Moreton Hall is the seat of J. Taylor, Esq., and Clerk Hill, of the Whalleys. A Cistertian abbey was founded here in 1296; was purchased, at the dissolution, by the Asshetons and the Braddylls; and has left splendid ruins in early, decorated, and later English architecture.—The sub-district contains four townships of W. parish and one of Mitton. Acres, 9,000. Pop., 2,963. Houses, 605.—The parish contains forty-eight townships in Lancashire and one in Yorkshire; and is ecclesiastically cut into the sections of Whalley-St. Mary, Accrington, A.-Christchurch, A.-St. John, Altham, Bacup, B.-Christchurch, B.-St. Saviour, Briercliffe, Burnley, B.-St. James, B.-St. Paul, B. -St. Andrew, Chatburn, Church-Kirk, C.-K.-St. Paul, Clayton-le-Moors, Clitheroe, C.-St. James, Colne, C.-Christchurch, C.-Barrowford, Downham, Fence-in-Pendle, Goodshaw, Habergham-Eaves, H.-All Saints, Haslingden, Heyhouses, Holme, Lumb, Great Marsden, Little Marsden, Newchurch-in-Pendle, Newchurch-in-Rossendale, Tunstead, Oswaldtwistle, Padiham, Rawtenstall, Trawden, Whitewell, and Worsthorne. Acres, 105,249. Pop. in 1851, 134,196; in 1861, 167,456. Houses, 32,094. The living of W.-St. Mary is a vicarage in the diocese of Manchester. Value, £310.* Patrons, Hulme's Trustees, The church is ancient, and was repaired in 1855. Three ancient crosses are in the churchyard. There are a Wesleyan chapel, an endowed grammar-school with £51 a year and with a share of scholarships at Oxford, a national school, and charities £63. The other livings are noticed in their own several places.
Whalley through time
Whalley is now part of Burnley district. Click here for graphs and data of how Burnley has changed over two centuries. For statistics about Whalley itself, go to Units and Statistics.
GB Historical GIS / University of Portsmouth, History of Whalley, in Burnley and Lancashire | Map and description, A Vision of Britain through Time.
URL: https://www.visionofbritain.org.uk/place/11023
Date accessed: 05th November 2024
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