In the early Industrial Revolution, the small settlement of Rawtenstall became a crossroads for trade routes and steadily grew into a thriving town. It became a borough in 1891, taking in many of the much older hillside villages around, although they managed to retain their individual pride and character. Rawtenstall itself had great aspirations, and although these failed to develop, many of the fine buildings of the Victorian and Edwardian periods are still with us today