Darwen is a small market town in Lancashire, which extends onto the West Pennine Moors. Darwen is part of the Blackburn with Darwen borough, which has been a unitary authority since 1998. The town is spread along the route of the A666 road, with Blackburn to the north, and Bolton to the south. The area Darwen currently occupies has been inhabited since the early Bronze Age and the remains of a barrow from approximately 2000 BC have been partially restored at the Ashleigh Barrow in Whitehall, Artefacts including a bronze dagger and urns containing human ashes were found and a small number of the less important finds are now on display at Darwen library theatre. The Romans once had a force in Lancashire. A Roman road is visible on the Ordnance Survey map of the area. Mediaeval Darwen was tiny; little or nothing survives. One of the earliest remaining buildings is dated 1675. The Darwin family of Origin of Species fame seems likely to have had a connection here, but nothing seems to have been reliably traced. Like many towns in Lancashire, Darwen was a centre for the production of textiles during the industrial revolution. Samuel Crompton (of the spinning mule) lived here for part of his life. Rail links and the Leeds-Liverpool canal arrived in about the mid-nineteenth century. The most important textile building in Darwen is India Mill. This was built by Eccles Shorrock & Company but the company was ruined by the effects of the Lancashire Cotton famine of the 1860s. Darwen played a considerable part in the Industrial Revolution and I have heard it suggested parts of this area of the north west should be designated a World Heritage Site. More on Darwen 

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