Aspden is the historic name of a valley a mile west of Church and a mile north of Oswaldtwistle, between Accrington and Blackburn, in Lancashire, England. The modern name of this location is Aspen.
By 1990, there were three houses there: Aspen Cottage, a large ruinous farm, and a large house, apparently Elizabethan, which has in its grounds a small plain house, said to be older. The valley is bounded on three sides by a loop of the Leeds and Liverpool Canal, and on the fourth by a high railway embankment (Aspen Viaduct). On the other side of the canal, overlooking the valley, is the Accrington and District Golf Club. [1]
The road into the valley is now called Lower Aspen Lane upon which is located Lower Aspen Farm. The OS grid reference is grid reference SD735284 . The postcode is BB5 4NY. A map of the location may be found here.
Aspen Colliery (disused by 1930) [2] is now a scheduled ancient monument. [3]
The national and international significance of Aspden is that it is the source of the surname Aspden which is common in east Lancashire and has now spread elsewhere in England, North Wales and the English speaking world. [4] Adam de Aspden is seen witnessing charters through a period beginning in 1262. By the 1380s the Aspden estate (inherited by Elizabeth, daughter of Roger de Aspden and wife of John Grimshaw) amounted to some 400 acres (1.6 km2), of which 40 was land, 40 was meadow, 20 was wood and 200 was pasture.
Accrington is a town in the Hyndburn borough of Lancashire, England. It lies about 4 miles (6 km) east of Blackburn, 6 miles (10 km) west of Burnley, 13 miles (21 km) east of Preston, 20 miles (32 km) north of Manchester and is situated on the culverted River Hyndburn. Commonly abbreviated by locals to "Accy", the town has a population of 35,456 according to the 2011 census.
The Leeds and Liverpool Canal is a canal in Northern England, linking the cities of Leeds and Liverpool.
Hyndburn is a local government district with borough status in Lancashire, England. Its council is based in Accrington, the largest town, and the borough also covers the outlying towns of Clayton-le-Moors, Great Harwood, Oswaldtwistle and Rishton. The borough was created in 1974 and takes its name from the River Hyndburn. It had a population of 80,734 at the 2011 Census. Elections to the council are held in three out of every four years, with one third of the 35 seats on the council being elected at each election. Both the Conservative and Labour parties have controlled the council at different times, as well as periods when no party has had a majority.
Elsecar is a village in the Metropolitan Borough of Barnsley in South Yorkshire, England. It is near to Jump and Wentworth, it is also 2 miles (3.2 km) south of Hoyland, 6 miles (9.7 km) south of Barnsley and 8 miles (13 km) north-east of Sheffield. Elsecar falls within the Barnsley Metropolitan Borough Ward of Hoyland Milton.
Oswaldtwistle is a town in the Hyndburn borough of Lancashire, England, 3 miles (5 km) southeast of Blackburn, contiguous with Accrington and Church. The town has a rich industrial heritage, being home to James Hargreaves, inventor of the spinning jenny and Sir Robert Peel of calico printing fame. The Leeds and Liverpool Canal passes through the town and was responsible for the export of much of the area's cotton produce.
The Astley Green Colliery Museum is a museum run by the Red Rose Steam Society in Astley near Tyldesley in Greater Manchester, England. Before becoming a museum, the site was a working colliery that produced coal from 1912 to 1970; it is now protected as a Scheduled Monument. The museum occupies a 15-acre (6 ha) site by the Bridgewater Canal which has the only surviving pit headgear and engine house on the Lancashire Coalfield.
Dunnockshaw or Dunnockshaw and Clowbridge is a civil parish in the borough of Burnley, in Lancashire, England. The parish is situated between Burnley and Rawtenstall. According to the United Kingdom Census 2011, the parish has a population of 185.
Clifton is a suburb of Swinton in the City of Salford in Greater Manchester, England. It lies along the edge of Irwell Valley in the north of the City of Salford. Historically in Lancashire, it was a centre for coal mining, and once formed part of the Municipal Borough of Swinton and Pendlebury.
Altham is a village and civil parish in the Borough of Hyndburn, in Lancashire, England. The village is 4 miles (6.4 km) west of Burnley, 3 miles (4.8 km) north of Accrington, and 2 miles (3.2 km) north-east of Clayton-le-Moors, and is on the A678 Blackburn to Burnley road.
Rishton is a town in the Hyndburn district of Lancashire, England, about 2 miles (3 km) west of Clayton-le-Moors and 4 miles (6 km) north east of Blackburn. It was an urban district from about 1894 to 1974. The population at the census of 2011 was 6,625.
Church is a large village in Hyndburn, Lancashire, England, situated one mile (1.6 km) west of Accrington. The village had a population of 5,186 at the 2011 Census, an increase from 3,990 according to the 2001 census.
Reddish Vale is in the Tame Valley close to Reddish, Greater Manchester, England. The centre of the vale is around the bottom of Reddish Vale Road. Reddish Vale Country Park is a country park managed by Stockport Metropolitan Borough Council (SMBC). It covers 161 hectares in all and comprises some of the traditional Reddish Vale area, Reddish Vale Farm and the grazing land and Woodhall Fields, about 0.5 miles (0.80 km) to the south. Part of it is a designated local nature reserve.
Baxenden is a village and ward in the Borough of Hyndburn in Lancashire, North-West England. The ward population taken at the 2011 census was 4,042. Baxenden is sometimes known to locals as Bash.
Hapton is a village and civil parish in the Borough of Burnley in Lancashire, England, 3 miles (4.8 km) west of Burnley, with a railway station on the East Lancashire Line. At the United Kingdom Census 2011, it had a population of 1,979.
Hameldon Hill is a Carboniferous sandstone hill with a summit elevation of 409 metres (1,342 ft), situated between the towns of Burnley and Accrington in Lancashire, England. It is listed as a "HuMP" or "Hundred Metre Prominence", its parent being Freeholds Top, a Marilyn near Bacup.
Oswaldtwistle is a village in Hyndburn, Lancashire, England. It contains 15 buildings which are designated by Historic England and recorded in the National Heritage List for England. Of these, one is listed at Grade II*, the middle grade, and the others are at Grade II. Until the arrival of industry, the area was rural, and the most of the earliest listed building are, or originated as farmhouses. One building does retain a former loomshop, an example of domestic industry. The Leeds and Liverpool Canal and the former East Lancashire Railway pass through the area, and the listed buildings associated with these are two canal bridges and a railway viaduct. The remaining listed buildings are a church and a war memorial.
The Burnley Coalfield is the most northerly portion of the Lancashire Coalfield. Surrounding Burnley, Nelson, Blackburn and Accrington, it is separated from the larger southern part by an area of Millstone Grit that forms the Rossendale anticline. Occupying a syncline, it stretches from Blackburn past Colne to the Yorkshire border where its eastern flank is the Pennine anticline.
Towneley Colliery or Towneley Desmesne was a coal mine on the Burnley Coalfield in Burnley, Lancashire, England. Sunk in the late 1860s, it was linked to the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway's Burnley to Todmorden line which became known as the Copy Pit route and, by tramway, to the Leeds and Liverpool Canal.
This is a list of scheduled monuments in the English county of Lancashire.