Burnley probably existed as a small hamlet as early as 800 AD, but not until 1122 is it first officially mentioned, in a charter by which one Hugh de la Val granted the church of St Peters to the monks at Pontefract Priory. Sometime around 1200 Geoffrey married the daughter of Roger de Lacy and was granted land to maintain a dwelling in the area. Thereafter the name of Towneley has closely connected with the Burnley district. Burnley was one of the possessions of the Lacys, a powerful family who were Lords of Blackburnshire for several generations up to the end of the 13th century. In 1294, Henry de Lacy obtained a charter from King Edward I granting the right to hold a weekly market at his house in the manor of 'Bruneley' and to have a three day fair once every year, on the "...eve and morrow of the feast of the Apostle Peter and Paul".
In 1559 Burnley Grammar School was founded by Gilbert Fairbank. The town was once known as the greatest cotton-manufacturing place in Britain and during its heyday at the end of the 19th century boasted over 100,000 looms operating within the borough. With 20th century decline in the textile industry, saw the town fall on hard times, but now it seems to have fully recovered and to have replaced its old industries with light engineering and other commercial ventures.

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