Forest of Rossendale

The town of Edenfield is in an area once referred to as the Royal Forest of Rossendale. The word forest is not used here in its modern sense of wooded land, but in the older sense of hunting grounds, and even in the 16th century this area was mostly moor (hilly pasture-land).

Lancashire was undoubtedly one of the poorest counties in England, if not the poorest, due to the low suitability for farming. There were very few land-owning families in that part of the country, and most of the land was undeveloped and stayed the property of the King. Even in 1552, the Rossendale valley was referred to as a "wyld savage contrey ferre from any habitacon" (Lancashire Pleadings, vol. 40, page 130).

Most of the people managed to scratch a living by farming and raising cattle. By the 16th century, many of them were supplementing their incomes by engaging in wool-weaving, and it is likely that the wool trade eventually took the Edenfields to Halifax, W. Yorkshire, since Lancashire did not have much of a wool industry of its own. When Lancashire developed a textile industry in the 19th century, it was in cotton (imported from the U.S.) rather than wool, and even today Lancashire people speak of Lancashire as being "cotton" and Yorkshire being "wool."

This is what local historian John Simpson has to say about the village in his book, Edenfield: Life in a Lancashire Village c.1550-c.1750:

Edenfield lies in southern Rossendale [valley] on a shelf of land sheltered by the heights of Dearden Moor and Scout Moor on the east and dropping down to the Irwell [River] on the west. Apart from the inevitable rash of new housing, the village essentially consists of rows of stone houses strung out along a single road. Travellers into Rossendale or places further north all too often pass through Edenfield not giving it a second glance or, indeed, miss it altogether as they speed along the Rawtenstall-Edenfield By-Pass. Even those who do stop in the village may dismiss it as simply yet another product of Rossendale's industrial past. Yet, in common with many other places in east Lancashire, Edenfield has a long history stretching back hundreds of years. And its past is not dead and buried but reveals itself in the modern village in many different ways. For example, if you visit any of a number of the local farms you are immediately in touch with the Middle Ages since their buildings stand on medieval sites...

The origins of Edenfield lie hidden in the remote past, but the village began to take on a recognizable form in the Middle Ages. It lay within the boundaries of the manor of Tottington which, for several centuries after the Norman Conquest, was administered as a forest or more correctly a chase. This simply meant that it was set aside for hunting by its owners, the de Lacy family, and was governed by strict forest laws. This effectively restricted settlement on any scale, but records show that people were living in the forest and that they were clearing waste land and bringing it into cultivation. In fact, these records provide us with the earliest reference to Edenfield. A rental of 1323-4 records that a number of properties had become vacant. These included several in Aytounfeld like the 5 acres which had been rented by John, son of Geoffrey, for 20d. Other forest records indicate early activity around Edenfield. For example, in October, 1323, Robert de Horneclif was fined 6d for allowing fourteen of his pigs to escape into the forest.

Throughout the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, the gradual process of improving land continued and rent was collected for it. In 1399-1400, for instance, Geoffrey Henrison paid a new rent of 1d for '1 rood of land lying on the lord's waste in Aytonfeld.' By the time that an end was put to forest law in 1507, several families had established themselves in Edenfield as prosperous yeomen or lesser gentry with quite sizeable properties.