Waterfoot, Lancashire
| Waterfoot | |
|---|---|
 View of Waterfoot |
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 Waterfoot
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| Waterfoot shown within Lancashire | |
| OS grid reference | SD834217 |
| District | |
| Shire county | |
| Region | |
| Country | England |
| Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
| Post town | ROSSENDALE |
| Postcode district | BB4 |
| Dialling code | 01706 |
| Police | Lancashire |
| Fire | Lancashire |
| Ambulance | North West |
| EU Parliament | North West England |
| UK Parliament | |
Waterfoot is a small Rossendale mill-town between Rawtenstall and Bacup in Lancashire, England, where the B6238 road from Burnley meets the A681 road. It is where the River Whitewell meets the River Irwell.
It is part of the Rossendale and Darwen constituency. Jake Berry became the constituency's Member of Parliament in 2010.
Like the majority of the industrial communities in East Lancashire, Waterfoot expanded rapidly in the nineteenth century with the growth of industrialisation; it became a centre for felt-making, a process related to the predominant textile industry of the region. Before that, the main centre was Newchurch-in-Rossendale, that sits above Waterfoot to the north. The township of Newchurch stretched from Bacup to Rawtenstall, and in 1511 it was recorded as having a population of 1000 people, served by the monks of Whalley Abbey.
Waterfoot was on the railway line between Bury and Bacup, created by the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway Company in 1848 (completed 1852). This was dismantled in 1972 and the route is now hard to trace, although the tunnels can be seen in Thrutch Gorge or 'The Glen', a picturesque cutting to the east of the village.
Woollen manufacture was formerly the chief industry, and there was some silk weaving, but since the 1770s cotton manufacture superseded wool as the principal business, with associated minor trades—size works, slipper works, dye works, foundries, reed and heald manufactories, roperies, saw-mills and cornmills. Stone was also extensively quarried in the vicinity, as well as there being small collieries.
Cotton became focused on the industrial manufacture of felt, which then developed into a footwear, specifically slipper, industry. Nowadays the remnants of this industry imports most of the footwear and act as distribution centres, which still line the roads approaching the village centre.
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Wikipedia