Clayton-le-Moors

The town is locally referred to as 'Clayton'. To the west lies Rishton, to the north Great Harwood, to the east Altham and to the south, Accrington.
It is thought the town developed while the stretch of Leeds-Liverpool canal that runs through it was being built. Its main thoroughfare is Whalley Road, which still has a stretch of canal workers cottages in it. Coincidentally, the half-way point of the Leeds Liverpool canal is in Clayton-le-Moors.

Other attractions in Clayton-le-Moors include Mercer Park, the grounds of Mercer House. The house was previously known as Oakenshaw cottage and it was where John Mercer lived towards the end of his life. Mercer, a self-taught chemist who was born and lived in Great Harwood and Clayton-le-Moors, invented the mercerisation process for treating cotton which is still in use today and was a pioneer in colour photography.

Traditionally Clayton-le-Moors was always considered to be a town of two halves. You were either a 'top-ender' or a 'bottom-ender' - depending on which side of the Load O'Mischief pub you lived on. The two had definite opinions about each other and rarely mixed socially. There was, however, an annual football match between players from each faction held at the town's running track at Wilson's Playing Fields. The playing fields sit behind a woodland area in Whalley Road - opposite Sparth House. The ashphalt track is surrounded by several football pitches, a cricket pitch and a changing rooms complex. There is a collection of shops in and around Pickup Street and Barnes Square.

Comedian Eric Morecambe, one half of the comedy double act Morecambe and Wise, once lived above a shop in Whalley Road. Alex Higgins also lived in the town after his arrival from Northern Ireland. East Lancashire had a thriving snooker scene and Higgins was keen to set up there so he could learn from some of the great players in the area. Vicky Entwistle, the actress who played the gobby factory worker Janice Battersby in Coronation Street, also has a link to Clayton-le-Moors. Her parents ran a newsagents shop close to the M65 motorway bridge in Whalley Road.