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The ruins of several small settlements in Haslingden Grane can still be seen today. This one, known as “Lower Ormerods”, dates back to the seventeenth century and was made from a type of stone known as Haslingden Flag, quarried locally.

The following draws on an information board near to the site and the website “Abandoned Communities ..... Haslingden Grane” (Link ).

Lower Ormerods, as its name suggests, was owned by the Ormerod family who were one of the wealthiest families in the area, owning several farms on the hillside. It remained in the Ormerod family until sold by John Ormerod in 1746.

Towards the end of the eighteenth century Lower Ormerods, as at SD7522 : Hartley House, became a centre for weaving with a loom shop being added to the back of the building. With the industrial revolution and the development of factories, “home” weaving declined and by the time of the 1871 census the farm itself consisted of just nine acres farmed by John Kenyon, who employed his daughter as a dairymaid. Five other members of the family were working as cotton weavers at the Calf Hey cotton mill.

The last recorded farming at Lower Ormerods was in 1899. Soon after that date, it was abandoned and gradually fell into ruin.


“Abandoned Communities ..... Haslingden Grane” (Link ) includes a photograph of Lower Ormerods taken in 1943. It's in ruins, but there is substantially more standing than remains today. There is also a sketch sjowing how it may have looked in the 1850s.