c1000AD  Chinese perfect the invention of gunpowder

1066  District granted to Roger of Poitou by William the Conqueror.  He builds Lancaster Castle.

1080-86  Domesday survey.  The district still forms part of Cheshire.  Granted by Roger of Poitou to Albert Greslet and Roger de Busli, but is in the hands of Robert de Lacy by the end of the century.

1086-1100 Clitheroe Castle built.

1135-54  Altham, Clayton and Accrington given to Hugh, son of Leofwine by Henry de Lacy.

1138  King David of Scotland defeats English army at Clitheroe.  Lands to the north of the Ribble are granted to him.  Stanhill possibly the site of a post guarding against a Scots invasion.

c1140  Altham church founded.

1191-93  Henry de Lacy grants Cliviger to the Abbot of Kirkstal Abbey.  The title is suspect and instead Henry's son, Robert, detatches Accrington from Altham and grants this instead.  The monks take over or build Accrington Grange.

mid 1200s Henry de Lacy granted Elvetham (Altham), Clayton and Akerington to Hugh, son of Leofwine.

1287  Henry de Lacy takes Accrington back from Kirkstall abbey for 50 marks in silver annual payment.

1338  Roger Nowell granted privilege of holding a weekly market in Great Harwood.

1348  The black death kills a third of the population of Europe.

1517  Reformation begins.

1531  Copericus suggests that Earth revolves around the sun.

1545  Accrington Chapel to be built.

1546  Parish church of St James founded, rebuilt 1763.

1610  John Speed maps Britain.

1650  Act of Parliament obtained to secure copyhold land in New Accrington following problems with James.

1665  Isaac Newton discovers the principle of gravity.

1731  Peel Fold acquired by the Peel family.

1757  Robert Peel changes the name of his home in Oswaldtwistle to Peel Fold. 

1760  Peel establishes printing works at Brookside, Oswaldtwistle, abandoned in 1779.

1764  James Hargreaves invents the spinning jenny.  He's forced to leave the district in 1770 to escape persecution.

1768  Rioting in Oswaldtwistle following invention of spinning jenny.

1770  First Act for Leeds and Liverpool canal.

1772  John and Ellen Hacking invent the carding engine in Huncoat.

1779  More rioting in Oswaldtwistle.  Peel's machinery is destroyed by distressed spinners and hand weavers.

1780  Five spinning mills in Accrington employ 40 spinners.

1789  French Revolution.  

1790  Abbey Street is built by John Metcalf.

1791  John Mercer of Great Harwood invents Mercerisation.

1793  Canal route through east Lancashire towns approved.

1796  Burnley to Enfield stretch of Leeds and Liverpool canal opened.

1799  1st Friendly Society founded at Rose and Crown Inn, New Accrington.

1801  Old and New Accrington, Church and Oswaldtwistle agree to amalgamate for Poor Law purposes, a workhouse is built in Union Street.

1805  James Buton, engraver at Peels, works at Church and develops calico printing with engraved wooden rollers.

1812  Luddite riots.

1815  Oak Hill Park built for Thomas Hargreaves.
  Print workers strike.

1816  Steam power introduced at Broad Oak.

1826  Loom breaking riots.  Grange Mill had the first power looms in the district.

1829  Further loom breaking riots.

1830  Further loom breaking riots.

1833  New Accrington has one endowed and five other schools.  Old Accrington has one daily and two Sunday schools.

1834  John Ramsbottom and Richard Holt of Todmorden invent weft fork, improved by William Kenworthy and James Bullough in 1841.

1837  Broad Oak New Mill opens.

1840  First postage stamp, the Penny Black, introduced.

1841  Accrington Gas and Water Company incorporated.
  First reservoir, at Burnley Road, Huncoat, built.

1841-49  Gas works built.

1845  Mechanics Institution founded.
  Seven elementary schools, five church schools, one national school and one at Broad Oak works.

1846  Irish famine.

1848  Accrington to Blackburn railway opened; Accrington to Stubbins railway opened, Accrington to Burnley railway opened.

1850  Government inquiry into adoption of Public Health Act in Accrington.

1851  Population of Accrington 10,374.
  Crystal Palace built.

1856  Sewerage scheme for Accrington approved.

1858  Peel Institute, now the Town Hall, is opened in Accrington.

1859  There are 47 cotton factories, 7 calico print works, 10 chemical manufacturers, 2 corn mills, 8 machine makiers and 4 collieries in the district.

1859  Residents of Clayton le Moors petition for direct water supply.
  Charles Darwin publishes theory of evolution.

1862-88  Cotton famine.

1863  Oswaldtwistle, Clayton le Moors and Great Harwood local boards set up.

1864  New cemetery opened.

1865  Peel Institute purchased by the local board and becomes the Town Hall.

1867  Second proposal to make Accrington a parliamentary constituency.

1868  Market Hall built by local Board of Health.

1869  Market Hall opened.

1870  Police station opens in Accrington.

1872  Public Health Act.  Local Board of Health becomes sanitary authority.  Cellar dwellings condemned.

1873  Alexander Graham Bell invents the telephone.
  Oswaldtwistle Town Hall to be built.

1877  Great Harwood railway loop opened.

1878  Accrington becomes municipal borough.
  Great Cotton Strike
  Accrington Football Club formed.

1879  Public baths opened. 

1880  Borough police force and borough magistrates to be established.

1882  Scarlet Fever kills 138 people in Accrington.

1883  Explosion at colliery at Whinney Hill.  Kills 68 people and injurs 30.

1884  Accrington and Church Joint Sewerage Board set up. 

1885  Accrington parliamentary constituency formed.

1886  Official opening of tramway from Accrington to Church and Clayton.

1887  Baxenden to Haslingden tramway opened.

1888  Accrington FC a founder member of the Football League.

1889  Measles kills 141 people in Accrington.

1890  Coropration stables open with 20 horses.

1893  Oak Hill Park opens.

1894  Local Government Act - Rural and Urban District Councils to be elected.

1895  Marconi invents the radio.

1898   Victoria hospital opens with 16 beds.

1899  Infant mortality in Accrington 179 per 1000.

1900  Accrington electricity works built.

1901  Accrington library opens.

1902  Education Act.  First non-church schools opened. 

1903  Smallpox hospital built in the borough, treats 86 cases.

1904  Ambulance drill hall in Accrington opened by Baden Powell.

1907  Tramway extended to Oswaldtwislte and Huncoat, with through trams to Blackburn and Rawtenstall.
  Steam trams in Accrington leased for 21 years.

1908  First council allotments provided at Miller Fold, Brox, Gallows Hall, Shoe Mill and Miry Lane farms.

1909  Rishton council offices and fire station opened.

1910  Electrical mains extended to Church.

1911  Electrical mains extended to Clayton and Altham.
  New public baths opened.

1912  Coal strike.

1913  George V visits Accrington.

1914  Strike at Howard and Bullough's.

1915  Oswaldtwistle library opened.

1916  Battle of the Somme.  Accrington Pals lose 235 men in 20 minutes, 350 wounded, 17 later to die from injuries.

1917  Russian Revolution.

1919  Housing Act survey discovers only 208 back to backs in Accrington.

1921  Haworth Art Gallery opens.

1924  First council house on Laneside estate occupied.

1927  Infant mortality 61 per 1000 births.

1928  Accrington Coroporation bus services commence.

1931  Last Accrington tram service terminates.  Temporary service continues up Burnley Rd until January 1932.

1933  Joseph Briggs donates Europe's largest collection of Tiffany glass to Accrington.

1941  Polyester developed at Broad Oak works, Accrington.

1962  Accrington Stanley resign from the Football League.

1968  New Accrington Stanley club is formed.

1974  Borough of Hyndburn formed.

1977  Accrington's last weaving shed closes.

1996  Globe works re-opens as Globe Centre, a new office, hotel and restaurant complex.

2004  Hyndburn celebrates 30 years as a borough.