Like much of East Lancashire, Haslingden has a long association with the textile industry. From the 16th century, after the old Forest of Rossendale was opened up to settlement, farmers raised sheep on the moorlands and made woollen cloth. Initially this was small-scale and local but towards the end of the 18th century cloth workers came together to work in small groups of houses. At the same time advances in technology meant that the first mills were appearing in the area. Most of these were small, water-powered buildings; and Haslingden, with its elevated situation, was not a natural place for the development of these early mills. Locally they were situated lower down in the river valleys, such as at nearby Helmshore.