Marsden Park, Nelson
Nelson shown within Lancashire
|Area||4.64 km2 (1.79 sq mi) |
|Population||29,135 (2011 Census)|
|– density||16,187/sq mi (6,250/km2)|
|OS grid reference|
|– London||184 miles (296 km) SSE|
|Sovereign state||United Kingdom|
|EU Parliament||North West England|
|Website||Pendle Borough Council|
It developed as a mill town during the Industrial Revolution, but has today lost much of its industry and is characterised by pockets of severe deprivation and some of the lowest house prices in the country.
An Iron Age hillfort called Castercliff is on a hill to the east of the town. The area was historically known as Marsden. The modern town spans two townships of the ancient parish of Whalley. Little Marsden was on the southwest of Walverden Water, its lands considered part of the manor of Ightenhill and Great Marsden to the northeast, part of the manor of Colne. Great Marsden included the southern parts of Colne,[a] and Little Marsden included all of modern-day Brierfield. Walverden Water joins Pendle Water next to Nelson & Colne College, that river formed the boundary of the Forest of Pendle. Both the manors and forest where parts of the Honour of Clitheroe. The forest of Pendle was made famous by the Pendle witch trials of 1612. One of the accused in the less well-known witch trails of 1634, Margaret Johnson, confessed that she first met her familiar in Marsden.
A small mill had been established by the Ecroyd family at Edge End as early as 1740, and there were two coal mines nearby, but it was the coming of the Leeds and Liverpool Canal in 1796, followed by the East Lancashire Railway Line in 1849, that spurred its development as an industrial town, with an economy based mainly upon cotton weaving. The first Ordnance Survey map of the area, published in 1848 shows three small villages; Marsden (around St Paul's church), and Hebson and Bradley, both on Walverden Water in the modern-day centre of town. Also apparent are the estates of Marsden Hall to the east and Carr Hall across Pendle Water to the northwest. And the turnpike roads of the Marsden, Gisburn and Long Preston trust (Scotland Road) heading north and the Blackburn, Addingham and Cocking End trust (Manchester Road) heading east. Brierfield railway station was originally called Marsden and Nelson railway station became known as the Nelson Inn, Great Marsden, after the adjacent public house, the Lord Nelson Inn (named after Admiral Lord Nelson). As the villages developed into a town, the name Nelson was chosen to differentiate it from Marsden across the Pennines in the neighbouring county of Yorkshire (West Riding).
There was a worsted mill at Lomeshaye close to a "cotton factory" and another cotton mill along the canal at Reedyford by 1848. Walverden Mill in Leeds Road was built in 1850, and was soon followed by others. From 1862, Phoenix Foundry, the steam engine factory of William Roberts stood at the site of the shopping centre's car park, and has been called "Nelson's most significant engineering site". The town became associated in the 20th century with the production of confectionery as well, including Jelly Babies and Victory V and was where the package holiday company Airtours (formerly Pendle Travel and now part of Thomas Cook) began life as an independent travel agent. The textile industry, in particular, has now sharply declined, leaving the town with low property prices and higher than average unemployment.
Nelson was granted its charter of incorporation as a municipal borough by Queen Victoria in 1890. Radical left wing politics in the early 20th century led to it being labelled "Little Moscow" by both the local and national press; indeed, the Nelson Leader ran the headline "Moscow calling" during the lock-out of 1928. There was significant Communist Party influence in the town between the wars. When the Labour Party came to power in the town, they responded to local political feeling by placing utilities such as gas and water under the control of the municipal council, anticipating by decades the nationalisation of such utilities after World War II. The council refused, moreover, to participate in celebrations for King George V's silver jubilee in 1935, saying that they would rather spend public money on free dinners for school children and the jobless.
The town became, under the Local Government Act 1972, part of the non-metropolitan district of Pendle on 1 April 1974. It currently has three tiers of local government, Lancashire County Council, Pendle Borough Council and a town council, with 24 councillors, which was elected for the first time on 1 May 2008.
Pendle Borough Council has been governed since 2004 by the Liberal Democrats, led by Alan Davies (Liberal Democrat). The mayor – a ceremonial post, which rotates annually – is currently Anthony Beckett (Conservative). The borough comprises sixteen wards in total, six of which – Bradley, Clover Hill, Marsden, Southfield, Walverden and Whitefield – represent the town.
Nelson lies within the North West England European Parliament constituency, which elects eight MEPs by proportional representation – currently three Conservative (ECR), two Labour (PASD), one Liberal Democrat (ALDE), one UKIP (EFD), and one BNP (NI).
The United Kingdom Census 2011 showed a total resident population for Nelson of 29,135. The town forms part of the Burnley-Nelson urban area, which has an estimated population of 149,796; for comparison purposes, this is about the same size as Huddersfield or Oxford.
The racial composition of the town in 2011 was 57.8% White (53.6% White British), 40.4% Asian, 0.1% Black, 1.5% Mixed and 0.2% Other. The largest religious groups are Christian (39.0%) and Muslim (37.6%). 
59.02% of adults between the ages of 16 and 74 are classed as economically active and in work.
The town centre is home to a low number of high street multiples, including: Greggs, Optical Express, Specsavers, Wilko, Superdrug, Home Bargains, Post Office, Thomas Cook, Martin McColl, Poundworld, Store Twenty One, Select Fashion, Boots and Betfred.
A Tesco Metro, which opened in February 2008, closed in August 2010, as did Ethel Austin, Bonmarche, B&M Bargains, Iceland, Poundstretcher, Woolworth's and Argos. On the edge of the town centre, there is a Morrisons, which, when opened in September 1999, and was the chain's 100th supermarket overall; there is also a B&Q in the town, just off the M65, a Plumbase (on Kenyon Road), and a Lidl, which opened in February 2001.
As well as motor dealerships from Citroën (Walker Farrimond), Peugeot (Perry's) and Land Rover (Hillendale), the town has a branch of We Buy Any Car. The town's shopping centre, originally called the Arndale Centre, was renamed the Admiral Shopping Centre in 1998, but it has since been renamed the Pendle Rise Shopping Centre. Shell (which includes a Subway), Esso, BP and Morrisons operate petrol stations in the town.
Another shopping centre in Nelson is The Victory Centre, however, a branch of William Hill is currently the only remaining store. The main road through the town, originally pedestrianised, was converted back to a road in August 2011, to boost trade. Nelson Market, previously Admiral's Market, is a covered market below the Pendle Rise Shopping Centre.
Nelson is served by Junction 13 of the M65 motorway, which runs west to Burnley, Accrington, Blackburn and Preston, and northeast to Colne. From the town centre, the A56 runs southwest to the M65 at Brierfield and northeast to Colne and beyond, while the A682 – Britain's most dangerous road – heads north into the Yorkshire Dales.
In December 2008, the town's new bus and rail interchange was opened at a site which used the existing railway station. The new interchange facility cost £4.5 million and included enhancements such as cycle stands, taxi and car drop off facilities, electronic information displays, a direct link to the railway station including a passenger lift and an enclosed passenger concourse with 10 bus stands.
The main bus operator in Nelson is Transdev in Burnley & Pendle, although Pennine and Tyrer Bus operate some services. National Express operates one coach service to London Victoria Coach Station each day from the Interchange. The town has good bus links into Manchester, compensating for the lack of a frequent rail link: the X43/X44 Witch Way service (operated by Transdev in Burnley & Pendle) runs via Burnley and Rawtenstall to Manchester city centre, using a fleet of specially-branded double-decker buses with leather seats.
The town is home to Nelson F.C., who were Football League members from 1921 until 1931 and played in the lower semi-professional leagues until resigning from the North West Counties League in 2010 (returning in 2011), and to Nelson Cricket Club. Cricket was particularly popular in the town during the inter-war period, when the club enjoyed the services of Learie Constantine, the West Indian cricketer; when in 1969 Constantine became the first person of African descent to be given a life peerage, he chose to be gazetted as Baron Constantine, of Maraval in Trinidad and Tobago and of Nelson in the County Palatine of Lancaster.
Speedway racing was staged at Seedhill Stadium from 1967 to 1970. The Nelson Admirals were founder members of the British League Division Two.) The team later moved embloc to Odsal Stadium, Bradford. The track was also used for stock car racing.
The town also has two golf clubs, a municipal at Marsden Park and a private club in Kings Causeway known simply as Nelson Golf Club.
The town is home to several parks the most notable of which are Victoria Park and Marsden Park. The recently opened Arts, Culture and Enterprise Centre (The ACE Centre)  provides the residents with a new multi-purpose venue and incorporates a cinema, theatre and bistro. The Heritage Trust for the North West have numerous campaigns and projects in the area. One of which has seen the restoration and conservation of a whole street of Victorian workers housing, a former primary school and cotton mill, as it was feared that the Industrial Heritage of the town was at risk. St Mary's Church is also another major project in the town, which is planned to open as an exhibition centre in Summer 2012.
Local radio for Nelson is currently provided by 2BR and BBC Radio Lancashire, and – since September 2007 – by community radio service Pendle Community Radio, aimed primarily at the local Asian community. There are two local newspapers: the Nelson Leader, published on Fridays, and the daily Lancashire Telegraph, which publishes a local edition for Burnley and Pendle.
- Bernie Calvert, musician, The Hollies, born Nelson, 1944
- Learie Constantine, a West Indian cricketer, lawyer and politician who played for Nelson cricket club with great distinction between 1929 and 1938
- Footballer and manager Jimmy Hogan, footballer Mike Phelan and actor John Simm were brought up in the town
- Sir Frank Hartley CBE, (pharmacist) born 1911, Vice-Chancellor, University of London 1976–78
- Tony Hicks, musician, The Hollies, born Nelson, 1945
- CLR James, author, intellectual and writer on cricket, lived in Nelson before moving to London
- Ted Koppel, American broadcast journalist, was born in Nelson
- Eric Knowles, (19 February 1953–) is a British antiques expert whose main interest is in ceramics
- John Pickles, distinguished professor of geography, University of North Carolina, USA
- Kevin Smith, entrepreneur, born Nelson, 1954
- Office for National Statistics. Accessed 15 April 2008.
- www.communities.gov.uk. Accessed 4 August 2008. The most deprived Lower Layer SOA ranks 262nd out of 32482, placing it in the 1% most deprived areas in the country.
- Sold House Prices. Nelson appears in 10th place in the list of towns with the lowest property prices (averaging £97,307); Oxford Street in Brierfield, Nelson appears in 4th place in the list of streets with the lowest property prices (averaging £19,943).
- Farrer and Brownbill 1911, pp. 536–541
- "Great and Little Marsden CP/Tn through time". visionofbritain.org.uk. GB Historical GIS / University of Portsmouth. Retrieved 25 February 2015.
- An Early History of Burnley, Pendle and West Craven Clayton 2006, p.118
- Lancashire and Furness (Map) (1st ed.). 1 : 10,560. County Series. Ordnance Survey. 1848.
- Metcalfe 2005, p.7.
- Metcalfe 2005, p.8.
- Nicolaisen 1970, p.140
- Metcalfe 2005, p.8
- www.visionofbritain.org.uk. Accessed 23 April 2008.
- Pendle Borough Council. Accessed 15 April 2008.
- Lancashire County Council. Accessed 24 April 2008.
- European Parliament official site. Accessed 24 April 2008.
- Office for National Statistics. Accessed 6 September 2007.
- 2011 census. Accessed 24 November 2013.
- 2011 census. Accessed 24 November 2013.
- 2011 census. Accessed 24 November 2013.
- 2011 census. Accessed 24 November 2013.
- Office for National Statistics. 2001 census. Accessed 24 April 2008
- www.bbc.co.uk, 24 June 2007. Accessed 6 September 2007.
- "News: Multi-storey car park". Motor. Vol. nbr 3518. 22 November 1969. p. 57.
- "Interchanges". Lancashire County Council. Retrieved 23 October 2011.
- "Nelson Interchange". Lancashire County Council. Retrieved 23 October 2011.
- The Edinburgh Gazette: . 28 March 1969.
- HTNW (2010) "Lomeshaye Mill, School and Bridge Cottage", http://www.htnw.co.uk/lmill.html
- HTNW (2010) "St Marys Church, Nelson", http://www.htnw.co.uk/stmarys.html
- El Bombín: Tales of British Football Coaches Around The World. Accessed 24 April 2008.
- "John Simm: The time of his life", The Independent, 11 February 2007. Accessed 24 April 2008
- Farrer and Brownbill (1911), The Victoria History of the County of Lancaster Vol 6], Victoria County History – Constable & Co, OCLC 270761418
- Clayton John A. (2006). The Valley of the Drawn Sword – The Early History of Burnley, Pendle and West Craven. Barrowford Press. ISBN 978-0-9553821-0-9.
- Metcalf M. (2005). Nelson (Images of England). Tempus Publishing Ltd. ISBN 978-0-7524-3630-2.
- Nicolaisen W. F. H.; Gelling M. & Richards M. (1970). The Names of Towns and Cities in Britain. B. T. Batsford Ltd. ISBN 0-7134-0113-3.
|Wikivoyage has a travel guide for Nelson, Lancashire.|
- Media related to Nelson, Lancashire at Wikimedia Commons