Forty local history enthusiasts donned their walking boots and joined historian Kim Pearson on two guided walks around Wainstalls to learn more about the history of the girls who became known locally as the Wainstalls Waifs.

In the late nineteenth century over 250 girls were brought to Wainstalls from the Liverpool workhouse and the Liverpool Industrial School to work in one of the five small textile mills in the village owned by I & I Calvert.

Many of the girls remained in the area when their apprenticeships finished, often marrying local boys. Some of their descendants still live in the area today.

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placeholder image — Walkers at Wainstalls.

Kim said: “Our aim was to bring the story of these young Liverpool workers to life through the communities, landscape and places connected to them.

"We looked at why the Waifs were here, and how they lived and worked when they came to Wainstalls.”

The wider Wainstalls Waifs Programme, organised with the Wainstalls Community Action Group aims to commemorate the Waifs’ history permanently through two self-guided walks, with audio interpretation and information boards in Luddenden Dean Graveyard and along the walking routes.

Further plans include developing a small permanent exhibition at the graveyard.

There are also plans to erect a permanent memorial at Luddenden Dean to three of other girls who died, to sit alongside the existing, prominently sited gravestone commemorating seven other Waifs who also sadly died -all but one of tuberculosis.

The group is busy raising funds to make these plans a reality.

Anyone who would like to donate is asked to contact Sarah Mclellan at [email protected] for further information.