page_title: Haslingden
section_title: St James's Church and the 'Top of the Town'
hierarchical_section_title: Haslingden / Landmarks / St James's Church and the 'Top of the Town'
caption_attribution_description: English: Landscape view of St. James' Church, Haslingden
context_page_description: Haslingden is a town in Rossendale, Lancashire, England. It is 16 miles north of Manchester. The name means 'valley of the hazels' or 'valley growing with hazels'. At the time of the 2011 census the town had a population of 15,969. The town is surrounded by high moorland; 370 m to the north; 396 m Cribden to the east; 418 m Bull Hill to the south.
  Haslingden is the birthplace of the industrialist John Cockerill and the composer Alan Rawsthorne, and
  was the home for many years of the Irish Republican leader, Michael Davitt. Haslingden Cricket Club is a member of the Lancashire League.
context_section_description: Haslingden's Anglican parish church, dedicated to St James the Great, was rebuilt in 1780 on a site occupied by a church building since at least 1284. Murray's Guide says "it stands well and is plain Georgian, dully Gothicised inside". In 1296 a deed of gift of the Earl of Lincoln to the monks of Stanlaw granted them the parish of Whalley. Haslingden was recorded as being one of Whalley's seven independent chapelries, and was served by two priests. The church is locally known as the 'top church' by reason of its dominating position. 
  St James's Church now sits well to the north of the town centre, but until the 1930s it was adjacent to the 'Top of the Town' - the area between Town Gate and Church Street, and the old centre of Haslingden. This was an area containing several public house drinking places, the original market, the town stocks, and Marsden Square, where travelling shows pitched their tents. Clearance began in 1932 and the area is now largely housing.
  By the west side of the church entrance is a large Plague Stone, with two carved holes. There is some uncertainty about its exact purpose, but most opinion is that such stones were used in times of plague to enable food (or other alms) to be offered to plague victims while avoiding direct contact. A Saxon Cross is mentioned in the Clitheroe court rolls of 1547, and the stone may have been at the base of the cross, so the stone probably dates from the 16th century or earlier.
caption: St James's Church, Haslingden
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