[2][3] It heads northward through the town centre, collecting Pleck Brook and turning west, flowing under the East Lancashire railway line viaduct and continuing to Church.

Here it turns northward again, meeting Hyndburn Brook just before it passes under the M65 motorway bridge to the south of Dunkenhalgh,[4][5] which continues past Clayton-le-Moors and Great Harwood, ultimately joining the River Calder.

An early mention of the name can be found in the "Chetham miscellanie", which contains an entry from 1360; "Bounds of Magna (Great) Harwood.

[9] An ongoing river improvement scheme aimed to allow migrating salmon, trout and eels access to the River Hyndburn, saw the construction in 2017 of a fish bypass at the 4-metre (13 ft 1 in) high, 19th-century Oakenshaw Print Works weir on Hyndburn Brook.

[13] On 11 July 2018, Woodnook Vale and Peel Park were officially designated as local nature reserves, becoming the two largest in Lancashire.