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Local Information for Accrington

Accrington, in the County of Lancashire, is a small former mill town in the industrial north-west of England. Its name is thought to be a corruption of 'acorn-ring-town', although the old oak woods that once encircled the town have long-since gone, victims of the Industrial Revolution. Since the redrawing of the political boundaries in 1974, the town has formed part of the Borough of Hyndburn — a merging of Accrington together with the smaller 'satellite' towns of Oswaldtwistle, Church, Clayton-le-Moors, Great Harwood and Rishton, into one political 'seat'.

The 2001 census gave the population of Accrington town proper as 35,203. The figure for the built-up area ("Accrington Urban Area") was 71,224, up 1.1% from 70,442 in 1991. For comparison purposes that is approximately the same size as Aylesbury, Carlisle, Guildford or Scunthorpe urban areas.

For many decades, the textile industry was the central activity of the town. Mills and dye works provided work for the inha...More