Haslingden is a town in Rossendale, Lancashire, England. It is north of Manchester. The name means 'valley of the hazels' or 'valley growing with hazels'. At the time of the 2011 census the town (including Helmshore) had a population of 15,969. The town is surrounded by high moorland; 370 m (1215 ft) to the north; 396 m (1300 ft) Cribden to the east; 418 m (1372 ft) Bull Hill to the south. Haslingden is the birthplace of the industrialist John Cockerill (1790–1840) and the composer Alan Rawsthorne (1905–1971), and was the home for many years of the Irish Republican leader, Michael Davitt (1846–1906). Haslingden Cricket Club is a member of the Lancashire League. History There is some evidence of Bronze Age human presence in the area of Haslingden. Thirteen Stones Hill is west of the town and probably dates from about 3000BC. There is now just one stone visible. Part of what is now Haslingden, along with the neighbouring towns of Rawtenstall and beyond that Bacup were part of the Forest of Rossendale, part of the Forest of Blackburnshire. The Forest was a hunting park during the late 13th and 14th centuries; 'Forest' referred to it being parkland rather than being heavily wooded, as the forest declined much earlier, during the Neolithic period. The Forest of Rossendale contained eleven vaccaries (cow-pastures) and was poorly populated, with Haslingden being the only town of significance and with a church. Haslingden appears to have held markets during the sixteenth century, with the first reference in a Court Roll of 1555 where it records a John Radcliffe being fined for being a 'forestaller of the lords market of Haslyngden'. There are later references to markets and fairs in The Shuttleworth Accounts (1582-1621) and the map-maker Richard Blome writing in 1673 describes Haslingden as originally having 'a small Market-town on Wednesdays', and later, at the time of Charles 1st, the market had been moved to Saturday. The market continued to grow and Haslingden was designated a Market Town in 1676. It became a coaching station and a significant industrial borough during the Industrial Revolution. Haslingden benefited in particular with the mechanisation of the wool and cotton spinning and weaving industries from the 18th to the 19th centuries, and the development of watermills, and later steam power. By the final half of the nineteenth century, the diversity and wealth of industry earned the area the name