The Town of Oswaldtwistle
Oswaldtwistle is a small town in east Lancashire situated between Blackburn and Accrington. The town is centered along the main shopping street Union Road, with a mixture of older terraced housing and more modern housing estates at either side. There is easy access to the local countryside with several pleasant walks including along the Leeds – Liverpool canal.
The town centre boasts a range of independent shops, restaurants, take-aways, pubs and small supermarkets. The Carnegie library has served the community for over a century.
Oswaldtwistle Civic Theatre and Arts Centre sadly closed recently but Community support for the theatre has resulted in the local council approving refurbishment works with a view to its reopening in the near future.
Rhyddings Park is the only formal park within Oswaldtwistle. It was originally the grounds of the home of Robert Watson, a local textile manufacturer, and became a local park in 1909. The Park has an active friends group – Friends of Rhyddings Park
Photo credit: Tina Entwistle Photography
The much smaller Hargreaves Memorial Gardens in Stanhill Village commemorate James Hargreaves (c1720-1788) the inventor of the Spinning Jenny. Information about the heritage of Stanhill Village and the connection with James Hargreaves can be found on the Stanhill Village web site
There is an abundance of green spaces in an around Oswaldtwistle including Foxhill Bank Nature Reserve, and in Stanhill the Brookside Restoration Project aims to transform the old Bury Meadows into somewhere local people can enjoy nature and outdoor activities, as well as tackle and achieve radical climate action changes by improving biodiversity, habitat recovery and carbon capture throughout the site.
There are good transport links from Oswaldtwistle with rail services to Blackpool and Colne with wider network connections through Blackburn & Preston from Church and Oswaldtwistle Railway Station.
The M65 and M66 are within easy reach, and the town is served by regular bus services to Accrington and Blackburn with connections to further afield.