The Lancashire ORACLE

Introduction and Welcome

The Purpose of ORACLE

ORACLE has been created to help Lancophile genealogists find what they are looking for on the Internet. All other genealogists are welcome to use it too. If you have any queries or problems please email:

The Keeper of the Oracle -Peter Cox.

Sources of Information

A lot of this material has come from my own collection of bookmarks, which I've gleaned from months of reading emails from the LancsGen list (it has a terrific "panel of experts" who are more than willing to share their knowledge) and also from my own efforts at "Surfing the Net", mainly via Alta Vista

Acknowledgments

I have made every effort to acknowledge contributors to this site, if this information is wrong or missing please let me know.

Disclaimer

Whilst I give LancsGen all credit for providing information you will find in here, I must emphasise that this web site has no official connection with LancsGen .

This picture shows the Pack Horse Bridge in Wycoller, near Colne, which is thought to have been built in the 12th or 13th century. It was used by merchants when they transported raw wool by pack horse, over the Pennines from Yorkshire to Lancashire. Before cotton appeared on the scene Colne was the centre of the woollen industry in North East Lancashire.

Processing and weaving of the wool was primarily a cottage industry but by 1795 cotton had gained a foothold and the transition also saw the advent of the factory system with all its horrors of slave wages and child labour.