RAWTENSTALL a town of east Lancashire, is situated on the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway, 8 miles north of Bury and 12 south-east of Blackburn. At the beginning of the century it contained only a few houses, but since the rise of the manufacturing industry it has steadily increased, till it is now a considerable town. The cotton and woollen mills are very extensive, and in the neighbourhood there are stone quarries. The church of St Mary, in the Gothic style, erected in 1837, has lately been restored; and several of the denominational chapels are large and handsome buildings. The town has also good schools. There is a public cemetery, 15 acres in extent. Near the town is the Haslingden Union workhouse, erected in 1869. The population of the urban sanitary district (area, 1667 acres) in 1871 was estimated at 11,307, and in 1881 it was 12,571. Now (1885) by the incorporation of Newchurch, Goodsliaw, and Crawshaw Booth the population is over 30,000.