ACCRINGTON, a village (considerable), in that part of the parish of WHALLEY which is in the higher division of the hundred of BLACKBURN, county palatine of LANCASTER, 3 miles (N.N.W.) from Haslingden, comprising the chapelry of Old, and the township of New, Accrington, containing 5370 inhabitants, of which number, 1261 are in Old Accrington, 6 miles (E.), and 4109 in New Accrington, 5 miles (E.byS.), from Blackburn. Within the last few years this place has acquired considerable importance, from its situation in the centre of the calico-printing business. Several large establishments for spinning cotton thread, and weaving and printing calico, have been formed; in consequence of which the population has increased nearly twofold. The living of Old Accrington is a perpetual curacy, in the archdeaconry and diocese of Chester, endowed with £1000 private benefaction, £1000 royal bounty, and £1000 parliamentary grant, and in the patronage of the Vicar of Whalley. The chapel was taken down and rebuilt upon a larger scale in 1826. There are places of worship for Baptists, Wesleyan Methodists, and Swedenborgians. A National school was erected by subscription in 1806, in which about one hundred and thirty children are educated. Jonathan Peel, Esq., in 1824, gave £1000 towards its support.