ACCRINGTON, municipal and parliamentary borough, Lan cashire, England, 23m. N. by W. of Manchester, on the London Midland and Scottish railway. Population (1891) 38,6o3 ; (193i ) It lies in a deep valley on the Hindburn, a feeder of the Calder.
Accrington (Akerenton, Alkerington, Akerington) was granted by Henry de Lacy to Hugh, son of Leofwine, in Henry II.'s reign, but came again into the hands of the Lacys, and was given by them (c. 1200) to the monks of Kirkstall, who converted it into a grange. It returned to the Lacys in 1287, was granted in parcels, and like their other lands became merged in the duchy of Lancaster. In 1836 Old and New Accrington were merely straggling villages with about 5,000 inhabitants. By 1861 the population had grown to 17,688 owing to the railway junction, and it increased with the rapid development of the Lancashire coalfield. Cotton spinning and printing works, cotton-mill ma chinery works, dye-works, collieries and transport work employ the people. The church of St. James dates from 1763. The original chapel was probably an oratory which was an offshoot of Kirkstall Abbey. Ecclesiastically, Accrington was dependent on Altham till after the middle of the 1 gth century. The charter of incorporation is of 1878. The borough is under a mayor, eight aldermen and 24 councillors. Together with the urban districts of Church, Clayton-le-Moors and Oswaldtwistle, Accrington re turns one member to parliament. Area of municipal borough 3,427 acres.