Rooley Moor Neighbourhood Forum

The Rooley Moor Neighbourhood Forum is a great resource detailing the history and context of the famous ‘Cotton Famine Road’ built by workers made unemployed by the Lancashire Cotton Famine. The website features fascinating audio and videos resources and a really useful timeline of events related to contemporary relief efforts – a subject very close to the hearts of many of the writers featured on the Cotton Famine Poetry database.

The Gaskell Society

The Gaskell Society was involved with the project in its early years and hosted several events publicising the uncovering of the poetry associated with the Lancashire Cotton Famine. This was especially appropriate as Elizabeth Gaskell was heavily involved in organising relief for stricken workers during the crisis. Her husband, William Gaskell, a minister based in Cross Street Unitarian Chapel for many years, also helped with relief but in addition was an expert on Lancashire dialect poetry, which Elizabeth famously featured in her first novel, Mary Barton (1848).

This website features a wealth of resources on biography, history and context, and includes news of events relating to the society’s activities.