Burnley, a town of Lancashire, England, on the river Burn, 22 m. N. of Manchester, and 40 m. N. E. of Liverpool; pop. in 1871, 31,608. It is on the Leeds and Liverpool canal, and is connected by railway with London. Although near the site of a Roman camp, Burnley is a comparatively modern place, the population in 1801 having been only 3,305. Its charter dates from 1861; and since 1869 it has been a parliamentary borough, returning one member to the house of commons. Its prosperity is mainly due to the abundance of coal in the vicinity. It contains about 30 cotton mills, the principal production being cheap prints. There are also machine works, iron founde-ries, corn mills, breweries, tanneries, and rope-walks, two weekly markets and six annual fairs. In the Roman Catholic chapel of the Virgin Mary is a monument to Charles Townley, whose collection of marbles and bronzes was purchased for the British museum. The free grammar school, founded in the 17th century, has a valuable library; the mechanics' institute has a good reading room; the church of England institute has a large library; and a new market hall was opened in 1868.