Darwen is a market town and civil parish in the Blackburn with Darwen borough in Lancashire , England. The residents of the town are known as "Darreners". The A666 road passes through Darwen towards Blackburn to the north, Bolton to the south and Pendlebury where it joins the A6 , about 18 miles (29 km) north-west of Manchester . The population of Darwen stood at 28,046 in the 2011 census. The town comprises four wards and has its own town council.
The town stands on the River Darwen , which flows from south to north and is visible only in the outskirts of the town, as within the town centre it runs underground.
Darwen's name is Celtic in origin. In Sub Roman Britain it was within the Brythonic kingdom of Rheged , a successor to the Brigantes tribal territory. The Brythonic language name for oak is derw and this is etymologically linked to Derewent (1208), an ancient spelling for the River Darwen . [2] Despite the area becoming part of the Anglo-Saxon Kingdom of Northumbria by the mid-8th century, its Brythonic name was never supplanted by an Old English place name. [ citation needed ]