Spotlight on village life

IN this week’s Memory Lane, we take a look back at Crawshawbooth in years gone by.

This small village sits on the edge of the Pennines, north of Rawtenstall and south of Loveclough. It has a school, shops and eateries. Many of the houses are Victorian.

The English Heritageowned property, Crawshaw Hall, is a Grade II-listed mansion built in 1831 by John Brooks, a printer and quarry owner.

There is also a Quakers Meeting House, one of the oldest in existence, at nearly 300 years old.

This week our regular Memory Lane contributor, Peter Fisher, has sent us a host of pictures, showing the events, people and places of Crawshawbooth.

The first image (top left) shows Crawshawbooth Victoria Mill’s spinning room in the early 1900s.

The machines are mules, and spinners employed their own piecers, the lads who joined broken ends.

The workers are in bare feet, which was normal practice, as they walked up to 20 miles a day.

The second picture of the week (top right) shows harvest decorations in St John the Evangelist’s Church on September 15, 1907.

Below this is a shot of Crawshawbooth School pupils, taken in 1917.

Next is a snap of a ceremonial procession to mark the coronation of King George V in 1911.

Bottom right is another picture of coronation celebrations, this time of a ceremonial arch erected in Crawshawbooth to mark the coronation of Edward VII in 1902.

Finally, bottom left, there is a picture of the Crawshawbooth Shepherd’s Club procession which took place on September 6, 1915.

If these pictures bring back memories, please get in touch. Many thanks to all our regular nostalgia contributors.