Oakenshaw is part of

Clayton-le-Moors Clayton-le-Moors is an industrial town in the borough of Hyndburn in the county of Lancashire, England. located two miles north of Accrington. The town has a population of 8,522 according to the 2011 census. To the west lies Rishton, to the ...

Lancashire Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated Lancs) is the name of a historic county, ceremonial county, and non-metropolitan county in North West England. The boundaries of these three areas differ significantly. The non-metropolitan county of Lancashi ...

, England. Thomas de Clayton was the first grantee of Oakenshaw in the middle of the 11th-century. A

Calico Calico (; in British usage since 1505) is a heavy plain-woven textile made from unbleached, and often not fully processed, cotton. It may also contain unseparated husk parts. The fabric is far coarser than muslin, but less coarse and thick than ...

printworks was established here (on

Hyndburn Brook Hyndburn Brook is a minor river in eastern Lancashire. It is approximately long, and has the catchment area (not including the River Hyndburn) of . Thought to begin at the confluence of Tinker Brook and White Ash Brook, to the west of Church, t ...

) by J Peel in the late 18th century.

History

The history of Oakenshaw is bound up with the cotton fabric printing industry, specifically the Oakenshaw Print Works, which employed many residents of the village in the first half of the 19th century. The history of the Oakenshaw Print Works cannot be separated from the career of Oakenshaw's most notable resident, the dye and fabric chemist, John Mercer. (He is remembered in the word

mercerisation Mercerisation is a textile finishing treatment for cellulose fabric and yarn, mainly cotton and flax, which improves dye uptake and tear strength, reduces fabric shrinkage, and imparts a silk-like luster. Development The process was devise ...

, a process used in textile finishing.) Mercer moved to Oakenshaw in 1809 as an apprentice at the Oakenshaw Print Works. Napoleon's embargo of British trade with the continent of Europe caused a depression in the print works of Lancashire. After 1810, the

Berlin Decree The Berlin Decree was issued in Berlin by Napoleon on November 21, 1806, after the French success against Prussia at the Battle of Jena, which led to the Fall of Berlin (1806), Fall of Berlin. The decree was issued in response to the British Order- ...

, which forced the destruction of goods held in bond, stifled trade so much that the Oakenshaw Print Works reduced its work force.In part, this was done by voluntary redundancy of apprentices, including Mercer. Messrs. Fort recognised the value that Mercer brought to the company and made him a partner in 1825 to secure his continued services. The company prospered despite an excise duty on printed calico (until it was abolished in 1831). Mercer and his and his wife were active members of the Wesleyan society. He established a Sunday school in the village about 1815. In 1829, Wesleyan chapel was built at Oakenshaw. It was the only Protestant place of worship for many years. In 1837, Messrs. Fort thanked Mercer for his religious effort and granted the chapel property and burial-ground. In 1840, the Church of All Saints, Clayton-le-Moors was consecrated, a result of Mercer's sense of responsibility for providing facilities for public worship in the village. The company helped Mercer to form a lending library and a few years later built a house for a public reading room. Mercer introduced several novel styles of

calico Calico (; in British usage since 1505) is a heavy plain-woven textile made from unbleached, and often not fully processed, cotton. It may also contain unseparated husk parts. The fabric is far coarser than muslin, but less coarse and thick than ...

prints. Some of these were so popular in the

Manchester Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The t ...

market that the Oakenshaw Works couldn't keep up with demand. Another style became known as "dole yellow" because its introduction provided employment to many workers who had previously been receiving relief ("dole") from the firm due to lack of work. Mercer had a high opinion of Oakenshaw workers saying "as regards good practical men, no district could excel Lancashire". Nearing the middle of the century, competition grew from heavy production of cheaper goods rather than the quality product of the Oakenshaw Printworks. Consequently, in 1848 the principal partners decided to retire and the partnership was dissolved.

References

Villages in Lancashire Geography of Hyndburn {{Lancashire-geo-stub