Darwen, Over, mun. bor., market and manufacturing town and township, Blackburn par., NE. Lancashire, 3½ miles S. of Blackburn by rail and 206 miles NW. of London -- bor., 5918ac., pop. 29,744; township, 5134 ac., pop. 27,626; P.O., T.O., called Darwen, 2 Banks, 1 newspaper. Market-day, Saturday. Until about the middle of the 19th century, Over Darwen was an insignificant hamlet; it is now a populous and thriving town. It was incorporated in 1878. The staple mfr. is cotton, which employs numerous mills, but there is also a considerable variety of industries, including iron-castings, earthenware, and bleaching and calico printing. At Over Darwen, also, are the Darwen Paper Mills. The vicinity abounds with coal and stone.

(John Bartholomew, Gazetteer of the British Isles (1887))