| Bacup | |
Yorkshire Street, Bacup's main thoroughfare |
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Bacup
Bacup shown within Lancashire |
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| Population | 12,763 (2001 Census) |
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| OS grid reference | SD868231 |
| - London | 175 mi (282 km) SSE |
| District | Rossendale |
| Shire county | Lancashire |
| Region | North West |
| Country | England |
| Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
| Post town | BACUP |
| Postcode district | OL13 |
| Dialling code | 01706 |
| Police | Lancashire |
| Fire | Lancashire |
| Ambulance | North West |
| EU Parliament | North West England |
| UK Parliament | Rossendale and Darwen |
| List of places: UK • England • Lancashire | |
Bacup ( /ˈbeɪkəp/)[1] is a town within the Rossendale borough of Lancashire, England. It is located amongst the South Pennines, along Lancashire's eastern boundary with West Yorkshire. The town sits within a rural setting in the Forest of Rossendale, amongst the steep-sided upper-Irwell Valley, through which the River Irwell passes. It is 3.5 miles (5.6 km) east of Rawtenstall, 6.4 miles (10.3 km) north of Rochdale, and 21 miles (34 km) east of Preston. At the time of the United Kingdom Census 2001, Bacup—which encompasses the outlying communities of Britannia, Stacksteads, Rockcliffe, Trough Gate and Weir—had a population of 12,763.
Bacup emerged as a settlement following the Anglo-Saxon settlement of Britain in the Early Middle Ages. For centuries, Bacup was a small and obscure centre of domestic flannel and woollen cloth production, and many of the original weavers' cottages survive today as listed buildings. Following the Industrial Revolution Bacup became a mill town, its landscape dominated by distinctive and large rectangular woollen and cotton mills. Bacup received a charter of incorporation in 1882, giving it honorific borough status and its own elected town government, consisting of a mayor, aldermen and councillors to oversee local affairs.
In the late 20th century Bacup became part of the borough of Rossendale – at which time the town was suffering from chronic depopulation and urban decay with little in the way of infrastructural change in a century.[2] Nevertheless, Bacup's historic character, culture and festivities have encouraged the town's suburbanisation and redevelopment as a commuter town; English Heritage has proclaimed Bacup as the best preserved cotton town in England, and its town centre is designated as a conservation area for its special architectural qualities.
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The name Bacup is derived from the Old English fūlbæchop. The Oxford Dictionary of British Place Names translates this as "muddy valley by a ridge"; the fūl- element, which meant "foul" or "muddy" was used in the earliest known reference to the area, in a charter by Robert de Lacey, around the year 1200, as used in the Middle English spelling fulebachope.[3] The prefix ful- was dropped from the toponym.[3] The -bæchop element is less clear, possibly meaning "ridge valley",[3] or else "back valley" referring to the locale's position at the back part of the Irwell Valley.[4][5]
Bacup and its hinterland has provided archeological evidence of human activity in the area during the Neolithic.[6][7] Anglo-Saxons settled in the Early Middle Ages, naming the area fūlbæchop, meaning "muddy ridge valley" in the Old English language. In the 10th century the Anglo-Saxons battled against Gaels and Norsemen at Broadclough in northern Bacup.[8][9][10] Medieval Bacup was an obscure and lightly populated chapelry linked with the parishes of Whalley and Rochdale, and divided between the townships of Newchurch and Spotland in the hundred of Blackburn. This chapelry spanned scattered hamlets and farmsteads spread across the hillsides and open moorland.
The geology and topography of the village lent itself to urbanisation and domestic industries; primitive weavers' cottages, coal pits and stonequarries were propelled by Bacup's natural supply of water power in the Early Modern period. The adoption of the factory system, which developed into the Industrial Revolution, enabled the transformation of Bacup from a small rural village into a mill town, populated by an influx of families attracted by Bacup's cotton mills, civic amenities and regional railway network. Locally sourced coal provided the fuel for industrial scale quarrying, cotton spinning and shoe making operations, stimulating the local economy. Bacup received a charter of incorporation in 1882, giving it honorific borough status and its own elected town government, consisting of a mayor, aldermen and councillors to oversee local affairs.
Bacup's boom in textile manufacture during the Industrial Revolution resulted in the town developing into a prosperous and thickly populated industrial area by early-20th century. But the Great Depression and the ensuing deindustrialisation of the United Kingdom largely eliminated Bacup's textile processing sector and economic prosperity.
Bacup followed the regional and national trend of deindustrialisation during the early and mid-20th century; a process exacerbated by the closure of Bacup railway station in 1966. Bacup also experienced population decline; from 22,000 at the time of the United Kingdom Census 1911, to 15,000 at the United Kingdom Census 1971. Much of Bacup's infrastructure became derelict owing to urban decay, despite regeneration schemes and government funding. Shops became empty and others appeared tatty or downmarket. The houses along the main roads endured as the original terraces from Bacup's industrial age, but behind these, on the hillsides, are several council estates.[2][11][12]
Records in 2005 show Bacup to have some of the lowest crime levels in the county,[13] and the relative small change to Bacup's infrastructure and appearance has given the town a "historic character and distinctive sense of place".[2] In 2007, the murder of Sophie Lancaster attracted media attention to the town and highlighted its urban blight and lack of amenities and regeneration.[11][14][15]
Lying within the historic county boundaries of Lancashire since the High Middle Ages, Bacup was a chapelry linked with the parishes of Whalley and Rochdale, and divided between the townships of Newchurch and Spotland in the hundred of Blackburn.[16]
Bacup's first local authority was a Local board of health established in 1863;[17] Bacup Local Board of Health was a regulatory body responsible for standards of hygiene and sanitation in the Bacup Urban Sanitary District. The area of the sanitary authority was granted a charter of incorporation in 1882, giving it honorific borough status and its own elected town government, consisting of a mayor, aldermen and councillors to oversee local affairs.[8][10][17][18] The Municipal Borough of Bacup became a local government district of the administrative county of Lancashire under the Local Government Act 1894, meaning it shared power with the strategic Lancashire County Council.[18] Under the Local Government Act 1972, the Municipal Borough of Bacup was abolished, and since 1 April 1974 Bacup has formed an unparished area of Rossendale, a local government district of the non-metropolitan county of Lancashire.[18]
Since 1983, Bacup has been represented in the House of Commons as part of the parliamentary constituency of Rossendale and Darwen, by Janet Anderson, a member of parliament belonging to the Labour Party.[19] Bacup had previously formed part of the Rossendale constituency.
At (53.704°, −2.199°), 15.4 miles (24.8 km) north-northeast of Manchester city centre and 175 miles (282 km) north-northwest of central London, Bacup stands on the western slopes of the South Pennines, amongst the upper-Irwell Valley. The River Irwell, a 39-mile (63 km) long tributary of the River Mersey, runs southwesterly through Bacup towards Rawtenstall from its source by the town's upland outskirts at Weir.[20] The Irwell is mostly culverted in central Bacup but it is open in the suburbs.[20] Bacup is roughly 1,000 feet (305 m) above sea level;[21] the Deerplay area of Weir is 1,350 feet (411 m) above sea level;[20] Bacup town centre is 835 feet (255 m) above sea level.[8]
| Crawshawbooth | Weir | Cliviger | ||
| Waterfoot | Walsden | |||
| Bacup | ||||
| Stacksteads | Whitworth | Shawforth |
Bacup is surrounded by open moor and grassland on all sides with the exception of Stacksteads at the west which forms a continuous urban area with Waterfoot and Rawtenstall.[22][23] The major towns of Burnley and Accrington are to the north and northwest respectively; Todmorden, Walsden and the county of West Yorkshire are to the east; Rochdale and the county of Greater Manchester are to the south; Rawtenstall, from where Bacup is governed, is to the west. Areas and suburbs of Bacup include Britannia, Broadclough, Deerplay, Dulesgate, Stacksteads and Weir.[2][8][9][16]
Bacup experiences a temperate maritime climate, like much of the British Isles, with relatively cool summers and mild winters. There is regular but generally light precipitation throughout the year.
English Heritage, a public body responsible for the management and maintenance of England's significant historical architecture and archaeology, has proclaimed Bacup as the best preserved cotton town in England; the town centre has been designated a Conservation Area of Special Architectural and Historic Interest.[8][24][25] The majority of Bacup's culturally significant architecture is in the Victorian period, but there are older buildings of note are Fearns Hall (1696), Forest House (1815) and the 18th century Stubbylee Hall.[10] The Bacup Natural History Society Museum was formed in 1878.
Bacup is home to the 17 ft (5.2 m) long Elgin Street which held the record as the shortest street in the world until November 2006, when it was surpassed by Ebenezer Place, in the Scottish Highlands.[26]
The Rochdale and Facit Railway was extended to Bacup in 1883. It rose over a summit of 967 feet (295 m) between Britannia and Shawforth. At Bacup passengers used the terminus opened 30 years earlier by the East Lancashire Railway, joining the Rossendale line just outside the station. Closed in 1947.[27]
The key date in Bacup's cultural calendar is Easter Saturday, when the Britannia Coco-nut Dancers beat the bounds of the town via a dance procession. Britannia Coconut Dancers are an English country dance troupe from Bacup whose routines are steeped in local folk tradition. They wear distinctive costumes and have a custom of blackening their faces. The origin of the troupe is claimed to have its roots in Moorish, pagan, medieval, mining and Cornish customs.[28] The Easter Saturday procession begins annually at the Traveller's Rest Public House on the A671 road. The dancers are accompanied by members of Stacksteads Silver Band and proceed to dance their way through the streets.[28]
Bacup Museum is local history hub and exhibition centre in Bacup. The Bacup Natural History Society was formed in 1878. The work of the society is carried out by a group of volunteers who have a base in the Bacup Museum which contains an idiosyncratic collection.
Bacup has been used as a filming location for the 1980s BBC TV police drama Juliet Bravo, Hetty Wainthropp Investigates, parts of The League of Gentlemen and much of the film Girls' Night. Elements of the BBC TV drama Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit were also filmed on location in Bacup.
Sir Paul Stephenson, Former Chief Constable of the London Metropoloitan Police force was Bacup born and bred.
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