Stone is everywhere in Rossendale. The towns are filled with stone buildings and the countryside is a maze of walls, barns and farms all built with stone. Even the roads, pavements and lanes were originally constructed from the products of local quarries. In this section we look at the variety of ways that stone has been used and how this has changed through time.
Stone in the countryside
Stone walls and buildings seem a natural part of the Rossendale countryside. The colour and texture of their stone is in harmony with their surroundings and the structures themselves seem rooted in the landscape. Farmers and landowners have shown great ingenuity in adapting the local flagstone into strong thin sheets or slabs of stone.The pictures presented here illustrate how stone was used in the countryside and how it defines much of the character of Rossendale’s rural landscape.
Towns of stone
Rossendale’s towns abound with stone buildings for every purpose. The pictures presented here show the rich variety of buildings and other uses of stone in Rossendale’s towns and villages.
Fashions in stone
Almost all of Rossendale’s older buildings are built from stone, but the way stone was used changed over the years. This came about because of changes to the availability of certain types of stone, to changes in technology and to changes in fashion. In this section we look at some of these changes and how they give clues to when a building was built.