an extensive town and parish in the wapentake of Aybriq, of the west riding of Yorkshire, 187 miles from London. It stands on the river Colne, and is connected by canal navigation with the Calder at Wakefield, a distance of fourteen miles. It is a place of great industry, chiefly occupied in the manufacture of woollen goods of various kinds. A cloth market is held on Tuesday, which is very numerously attended by woollasters and merchants from Leeds, Halifax, and Wakefield, as well as by some from Manchester, with which it has also a canal communication. A new cloth hall was built in 1765, by Sir John Ramsden, the proprietor of the site of the town, and it is a very fine building. The inhabitants amounted in 1801 to 7268, in 1811 to 9671, in 1821 to 13,284, and in 1831 to 19,035. It has been created a borough by the law of 1823, returns one member to parliament, and has about 600 voters.