Soon after, in 1862 Edwin Waugh describing Manchester in the Cotton Famine mentions 'swarms of strange, shy, sad-looking singers and instrumental performers in the work-worn clothing of factory-operatives'.
Non-conformist religion had been an important feature of working-class life in Northern England since the evangelical awakening of the first part of the eighteenth century.
The group who called themselves The Larks of Dean carried their instruments over the rough moorland terrain every Sunday to perform in the chapel.
[4] A collection of instruments and manuscripts belonging to the original Larks of Dean are on display in Whitaker Park Museum, Rawtenstall.
Edwin Waugh, in his 'Home-Life of the Lancashire Factory Folk during the Cotton Famine' gives a vivid but historically interesting insight into the lives of the Larks of Dean in the following passage: "Up in the forest of Rosendale, between Deerply Moor and the wild hill called Swinshaw, there is a little lone valley, a green cup in the mountains, called "Dean."
"In the twilight of a glorious Sunday evening, in the height of summer, I was roaming over the heathery waste of Swinshaw, towards Dean, in company with a musical friend of mine, who lived in the neighbouring clough, when we saw a little crowd of people coming down a moorland slope, far away in front of us.
As they drew nearer, we found that many of them had musical instruments, and when we met, my friend recognised them as working people living in the district, and mostly well known to him.
"Sure, yo con, wi' o' th' plezzur i'th world," replied he who acted as spokesman; and a low buzz of delighted consent ran through the rest of the company.