DARWEN (OVER), a chapelry in the parish of BLACKBURN, lower division of the hundred of BLACKBURN, county palatine of LANCASTER, 4 miles (S. by E.) from Blackburn, containing 6? 11 inhabitants. The living is a perpetual curacy, in the archdeaconry and diocese of Chester, endowed with £620 private benefaction, and £600 royal bounty, and in the patronage of the Vicar of Blackburn. The chapel is dedicated to St. James. There are different places of worship for dissenters, and about one thousand five hundred children are instructed in Sunday schools. Print and bleachingworks are extensively carried on, aiad coal and slate are plentiful. Three annual fairs are held here, on the first Thursday in October, and the first Thursday in May, for cattle and horses, and on Holy Thursday, which is a pleasure fair.