Rishton

Its name means “village (or farmstead) where rushes grow”.[2][3]

In late 1776, a handloom weavers shop in Rishton, belonging to Thomas Duxbury may have been the first place that the cotton cloth calico was woven for sale in Great Britain.[4]

Rishton Colliery 53°45′58″N 2°24′50″W on the Burnley Coalfield was begun by P.W. Pickup Ltd in late November 1884 and mining continued until 1941. A tramroad from the pit connected to a coaling wharf on the canal. The National Coal Board used it as a pumping station from 1955 until 1970.[5][6]

The two tiers of local government are Hyndburn Borough Council (a non-metropolitan district with borough status) and Lancashire County Council. Prior to the creation of Hyndburn district in 1974, Rishton had been an urban district, with its own council. It is not within a civil parish. Rishton currently has five elected representatives on the local authorities, all of whom are Labour: two County Councillors (Miles Parkinson and Jenny Molineux) and three Borough Councillors (Michael Miller, Jeff Scales, Kate Walsh).

Rishton is represented in the House of Commons as part of the Hyndburn constituency.

Rishton is situated in an area of low moorland north east of Blackburn and north west of Accrington. Its elevation above sea level varies from 250 feet (76 m) in the east, where Norden Brook flows into the River Hyndburn, to 785 feet (239 m) on Rishton Height, north west of the town.[7]

The 2001 census recorded a population of 7,350, in 2,973 households. 97% of the population were in the White British ethnic group.[8][9]

The 2011 census recorded a population of 6,625 - a decrease of 9.8% from ten years earlier. 96% of the population were in the White British ethnic group. 74.8% of residents identified only as English, while 11.2% identified only as British, and 10.9% identified as British and English. A majority of residents identified as Christian (76.6%), with 16.4% identifying as irreligious, as well as small minorities of Muslims (0.8%) and Buddhists (0.6%) existing in the town.[1]

The main road through Rishton is the A678 Blackburn to Burnley Road; there is also the B6535 (formerly A6064), which connects the town to Great Harwood.[10] The Blackburn Southern Bypass section of the M65 motorway opened in December 1997, bypassing the A678.[11]

In the 19th century, the Leeds and Liverpool Canal was a major transport route in the area. The section of the canal through Rishton was completed in 1810.[12] Rishton Reservoir, which provides water to the canal, was built in 1828.[13] The East Lancashire Railway, which was opened in 1848, crossed the reservoir on a viaduct until 1858; it is now on an embankment.[14]

Rishton railway station, south west of the town centre, is on the East Lancashire line. As of 2018, the route is operated by Northern, and consists of one train per hour between Blackpool South and Colne. Bus services are more frequent, and include the Hyndburn Circular routes and Route 152, both operated by Blackburn Bus Company.

There are three primary schools in Rishton: St. Peter and St. Paul's Church of England Primary School, St. Charles' Roman Catholic Primary School and Rishton Methodist Primary School. There is also one high school: The Hyndburn Academy.

• Martin Dobson – Burnley and Everton F.C. footballer
• Ernest Marsden – assistant to Ernest Rutherford
• Brett Ormerod – Blackpool footballer
• Hardy Falconer Parsons – winner of the Victoria Cross,
• George Tomlinson – Education Minister to Clement Attlee's Government and MP for the Farnworth constituency in Bolton[22]
• Christine Walkden – gardener
• Mark Felix – strongman
• Wendy Ellis Somes – former principal ballerina with the Royal Ballet

• Listed buildings in Rishton

Media related to Rishton at Wikimedia Commons

• "www.rishton.net". rishton.net. Retrieved 15 January 2022.