A little something about Accrington itself.
Accrington derives its name from Acre-Tun , meaning a settlement surrounded by an oak forest . It is of Saxon origin and in 1800 it was little more than a village.
By the 1850's it had become an important stop on the coach road between Manchester and Clitheroe.
As with all Lancashire towns, the Industrial Revolution changed its status and the availability of water power and coal quickly established a thriving cotton industry in the late 18 th century.
Steeped in history, there is a memorial to the famous Accrington Pals Regiment , which was all but decimated during the trench conflicts of the First World War.
The market hall is an architectural gem, built in 1869, selling traditional Lancashire fare and on the exterior you can find stone carvings of poultry and farm animals.
The Town Hall was built in 1858 in the Italianate style as a memorial to Sir Robert Peel (1788-1850), the statesman who founded the police force.
The Hargreaves family have been synonymous with the cotton industry in the town and one member, Reginald Gervis Hargreaves, was the husband of Alice Liddell – the inspiration for Alice in Wonderland .
Accrington is also famous for its red “Nori” bricks, which came about when the mould was spelt wrongly as it should have read “Iron” due to the strength of these industrial building blocks.
Who hasn't heard of Accrington Stanley ? One of the founder members of the Football League, and who re-found fame in the TV advert for milk with the little Scouser who remarked “Accrington Stanley, who are they”?
What does HBC say