Accrington

Accrington
Population
OS grid reference	SD755286
District	Hyndburn
Shire county	Lancashire
Region	North West
Country	England
Sovereign state	United Kingdom
Post town	ACCRINGTON
Postcode district	BB5
Dialling code	01254
Police	Lancashire
Fire	Lancashire
Ambulance	North West

File:Arms-accrington.jpg

Arms of the former Accrington Municipal Borough Council

Blackburn Road near Church

Accrington is a small former mill town in Lancashire, England; situated in the North West.

The 2001 census gave the population of Accrington town proper as 35,203. The figure for the built-up area ("Accrington Urban Area", which includes Church, Clayton-le-Moors, Great Harwood and Oswaldtwistle) 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.

There is a sizeable shopping area and precinct in Accrington, with a selection of major chain stores such as Marks and Spencer, JJB Sports and Boots.

Transport

The town is linked to Burnley and Blackburn by railway and by the M65 motorway. There was once a rail link south to Manchester via Haslingden and Bury, but this was closed in the 1960s as part of cuts following the Beeching Report. The trackbed from Accrington to Baxenden is now an attractive treelined cycleway / footpath. the section from Rising Bridge to Carr's Industrial estate at Haslingden is now the A56 dual carriageway road, which provides a link to the M66 motorway.

History

The name Accrington 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.

For many decades, the textile industry was the central activity of the town. Mills and dye works provided work for the inhabitants, but often in very difficult conditions. There was regular conflict with employers, most famously in the 1842 'Plug riots' where a general strike spread from town to town, as thousands of strikers walked over the hills from one town to another to persuade people to join the strike. It was a marvel of robust Accrington spirit, that has been remembered through the years as Accrington D-Day. The deliverance of a better working environment for all. 'Hip-hip Horray'. The strike joined up with the Chartist movement, but was not successful in its aims. The town is famed for manufacturing allegedly the hardest building bricks in the world, "The Accrington NORI" Which is IRON spelt backwards.

Accrington became incorporated as a municipal borough in 1878. Under the Local Government Act 1972, since 1974, the town has formed part of the larger borough of Hyndburn, also including Oswaldtwistle, Church, Clayton-le-Moors, Great Harwood and Rishton.

Tiffany Glass

The Haworth Art Gallery in Accrington contains an outstanding collection of Tiffany glassware presented to the town by Joseph Briggs, an Accrington man who had joined Tiffany’s in the late 19th century and eventually became art director and assistant manager. The Art Nouveau vases are considered to be the most important such group in Europe. One of the most striking items is a glass mosaic exhibition piece, designed by Briggs himself and entitled Sulphur Crested Cockatoos.

The Accrington Pals

One well-known association the town has is with the 'Accrington Pals', the nickname given to the smallest home town battalion of volunteers formed to fight in World War I. The Pals battalions were a peculiarity of the 1914-1918 war: Lord Kitchener, the Secretary of State for War, believed that it would help recruitment if friends and work-mates from the same town were able to join up and fight together. Strictly speaking, the 'Accrington Pals' battalion is properly known as the '11th East Lancashire Regiment': the nickname is a little misleading, since of the four 250-strong companies that made up the original battalion only one was actually composed of men from Accrington. The rest volunteered from other East Lancs towns such as Burnley, Blackburn, and Chorley.

The Pals' first day of combat, Saturday 1st July 1916, took place in Serre in the north of France. It was part of the 'Big Push' (later known as the Battle of the Somme) that was intended to force the German army into a retreat from the Western Front, a line they had held since late 1914. The German defences in Serre were supposed to have been obliterated by sustained, heavy, British shelling during the preceding week; however, as the battalion advanced it met with fierce resistance. 235 men were killed, and a further 350 wounded — more than half of the battalion — within half an hour. Similarly desperate losses were suffered elsewhere on the front, in a disastrous day for the British army.

Later in the year, the East Lancs Regiment was rebuilt with new volunteers — in all, 865 Accrington men were killed during World War I. All of these names are recorded on a war memorial, an imposing white stone cenotaph, which stands in Oak Hill Park in the south of the town. The cenotaph also lists the names of 173 local fatalities from World War II.

After the Great War and until 1986, Accrington Corporation buses were painted in the Regimental Colours of Red and Blue with Gold lining. Mudguards were painted black as a sign of mourning.

Further information: [[:Recruitment to the British Army during World War I]]

External link to Andrew Jackson's |Accrington Pals.

Accrington's football teams

The town's other famous association is with Accrington Stanley F.C., the butt of many (largely affectionate) jokes. The team's name is often invoked as a symbol of British sport's legion of plucky but hopeless causes (much like British ski-jumping's 'heroic failure' Eddie 'the Eagle' Edwards). The club entered the Football League in 1921 with the formation of the old Third Division (North); after haunting the lower reaches of English football for forty years, they eventually resigned from the League in 1962, due to financial problems, and folded in 1965. The club was reformed for the 1968/69 season and then worked their way through the 'non-league' divisions to reach the Nationwide Conference in 2003 and in the 2005-06 season Accrington Stanley, after winning against Woking with 3 matches to spare, secured a place back in the Football League and the town celebrated with a small parade and honours places on senior executives of the team. The football stadium is called the Fraser Eagle Stadium, with the Fraser Eagle company, who are also sponsors of Burnley F.C., sponsoring the team.

An earlier club, Accrington F.C., were one of the twelve founder members of the Football League in 1888. However, their time in league football was even less successful, and considerably briefer, than that of Accrington Stanley: they dropped out of the league in 1893, and folded shortly afterwards due to financial problems. The town of Accrington thus has the unique 'distinction' of having lost two separate clubs from league football, over the years.

Emergency Services

Accrington has all of the main three emergency services. These include Police, Fire service and an Ambulance Station. The fire station which has just been rebuilt at another location for quick response is now near the main motorway that runs past Accrington. This is so that the squad can help neighbouring towns such as Burnley or Blackburn if needed.

Famous sons and daughters

• Jon Anderson, singer with rock band Yes
• David "Bumble" Lloyd, a former cricketer, now a pundit for Sky Sports.
• Graeme Fowler, Foxy Fowler, (cricketer), former England batsman, cricket coach and occasional pundit on BBC Radio's Test Match Special
• Jeanette Winterson, an author whose Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit is an account of her childhood in the town.
• Harrison Birtwistle (composer).
• John Virtue, artist
• Ron Hill, long-distance and marathon runner, born 25/09/38, won Commonwealth Marathon Gold in 1970.
• J.R.Whinfield, chemist, inventor of Terylene (polyester), the first completely synthetic fibre invented in UK.
• Navid Afzal, Up and coming Bollywood singer and actor
• Julie Hesmondhalgh, an actress who plays Hayley Cropper in the TV Soap Coronation Street.
• Andy Hargreaves, Thomas More Brennan Chair in Education at the Lynch School of Education at Boston College.
• Famous ex-residents include darts player Ronnie Baxter and the National Lottery's Mystic Meg

References

• William Turner Pals: the 11th (Service) Battalion (Accrington), East Lancashire Regiment ISBN 0-9507892-4-0

• Accrington's own forum Accyweb