Photo: Dr Neil Clifton · CC BY-SA 2.0Less crime per resident is recorded in Barnoldswick than in 81% of UK towns of 10,000 to 50,000 people
Violence recorded locally held about level in a year. Barnoldswick grades B− for safety overall (#15 of 65 in Lancashire): close to the middle of UK towns, on crimes police recorded inside its built-up area from September 2023 to August 2026. For every 1,000 residents, 22.6 violent and sexual offences and 9.4 incidents of burglary, vehicle crime and damage were logged a year.
Crimes and reports per 1,000 residents (Census 2021) a year, September 2023 to August 2026.
What stands out about safety in Barnoldswick
Less crime than many places its size
Of 393 UK towns of 8,000 to 15,000 people, Barnoldswick has the 102nd lowest rate of graded crime: lower than Frodsham, Wombourne and Coppull, higher than Attleborough, Newport and Brinsworth. Towns its size ↓
Written from the police.uk and government data on this page. Figures are crimes police recorded, not convictions.
What sits behind Barnoldswick’s B−
A fairly firm grade. Built on 1,048 graded crimes over three years. The grade adds violent and sexual offences and crimes against homes and vehicles per resident and ranks Barnoldswick against every UK town of 1,000 or more.
Per resident, against all UK towns; beside it, how it compares with towns its size.
Police in Barnoldswick identify a suspect more often than across UK towns
No suspect was identified for 50% of Barnoldswick’s burglaries, vehicle crimes and criminal damage, against 69% across UK towns, and for 6% of violent and sexual offences against 19%. Most violent cases close as “unable to prosecute” (62% here), usually because the victim doesn’t support a prosecution. About 6% of violent and 7% of household crimes reached court.
The latest outcome police.uk shows for each crime recorded in the first of the three years (September 2023 to August 2024), so most cases have closed. 362 crimes.
How Barnoldswick’s neighbourhoods rank in England
45% of residents live in the lowest-crime 30% of England’s neighbourhoods, and 0% in the highest-crime 20%. The crime domain scores the risk of violence, burglary, theft and criminal damage where people live, so it can read differently from the town-wide rate, which counts crimes where they happened.
Barnoldswick’s residents by the crime decile of their neighbourhood (LSOA, about 1,500 people) in the English Indices of Deprivation 2025 (crime domain), where 1 is the highest-crime 10% of England’s neighbourhoods and 10 the lowest.
What police recorded in the last 12 months
Shoplifting and burglary sit below it.
Show as a table
| Category | In the grade | Reports | Per 1,000 | Typical |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Violence & sexual offences | Violent | 229 | 21 | 30.4 |
| Anti-social behaviour | not graded | 125 | 11.5 | 12.4 |
| Criminal damage & arson | Home & vehicle | 50 | 4.6 | 6.2 |
| Shoplifting | not graded | 35 | 3.2 | 6.1 |
| Other theft | not graded | 33 | 3 | 4.4 |
| Public order | not graded | 32 | 2.9 | 5.4 |
| Other crime | not graded | 14 | 1.3 | 1.8 |
| Burglary | Home & vehicle | 13 | 1.2 | 2.4 |
| Vehicle crime | Home & vehicle | 9 | 0.8 | 2.8 |
| Possession of weapons | Violent | 8 | 0.7 | 0.7 |
| Drugs | not graded | 3 | 0.3 | 1.9 |
| Theft from the person | not graded | 3 | 0.3 | 0.3 |
| Bicycle theft | not graded | 1 | 0.1 | 0.3 |
| Robbery | Violent | 1 | 0.1 | 0.5 |
“Violent” is police.uk’s violence and sexual offences (which includes harassment, stalking and assault without injury), robbery and possession of weapons. Anti-social behaviour isn’t a crime category; shoplifting and other theft happen mostly in shops and town centres rather than to residents, so neither counts in the grade.
September 2025 to August 2026, per 1,000 residents. The tick on each bar is the typical (median) town among UK towns of 10,000 to 50,000 people.
Barnoldswick is 102nd of 393 UK towns of 8,000 to 15,000
| # | Town | People | Violent | Homes & vehicles | Shops & theft | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Greasby Merseyside | 9,175 | 11.3 | 3.7 | 2.5 | A |
| … | ||||||
| 7 | Longton Lancashire | 10,912 | 14 | 5.6 | 3.5 | A− |
| … | ||||||
| 11 | Tarleton and Hesketh Bank Lancashire | 8,756 | 16.4 | 4.3 | 3.4 | A− |
| … | ||||||
| 94 | Adlington Lancashire | 8,777 | 22.9 | 8.8 | 5.9 | B− |
| … | ||||||
| 99 | Attleborough Norfolk | 11,236 | 26.1 | 5.8 | 5.1 | B− |
| 100 | Newport Shropshire | 14,191 | 24.7 | 7.3 | 9.1 | B− |
| 101 | Brinsworth South Yorkshire | 8,764 | 18.3 | 13.7 | 7.2 | B− |
| 102 | Barnoldswick Lancashire | 10,915 | 22.6 | 9.4 | 6.1 | B− |
| 103 | Esher Surrey | 9,484 | 20 | 12.3 | 9.9 | B− |
| 104 | Hadleigh Suffolk | 8,638 | 24.9 | 7.5 | 7.1 | B− |
| 105 | Oakham Rutland | 12,159 | 22.8 | 9.7 | 11.4 | B− |
| … | ||||||
| 108 | Coppull Lancashire | 8,303 | 24.5 | 8.3 | 3.9 | B− |
| … | ||||||
| 393 | Haverfordwest Dyfed | 12,088 | 91.4 | 28.6 | 32.3 | D− |
Safety letters rank against every UK town of 1,000 or more; the order here is context only.
Graded crime per 1,000 residents a year, September 2023 to August 2026, counting from the least: towns ranked near Barnoldswick, and others in Lancashire.
Violent crime held steady over the year
“Towns its size” pools all UK towns of 10,000 to 50,000 people that police.uk covers each month (Greater Manchester has no data).
Rolling six-month rate, per 1,000 residents a year (longer windows for smaller places, where a few crimes swing a month). In the 12 months to August 2026 against the 12 before: violent -5% (towns its size +1%), homes and vehicles -43% (towns its size -2%), shoplifting and theft +14% (towns its size +1%), anti-social behaviour -53% (towns its size -4%).
Crime in Barnoldswick per 1,000 residents
A crime isn’t a victim: one person can report several, and crimes in a town centre often involve visitors rather than residents.
And about 7 burglaries, vehicle crimes or acts of criminal damage, plus 7 shoplifting and theft reports, in the 12 months to August 2026. Each dot is one resident; each coloured dot is one recorded crime.
Where in Barnoldswick police recorded crime
| At or near | Reports | Mostly |
|---|---|---|
| Supermarkets | 54 | 52% anti-social behaviour |
| Police stations | 31 | 35% violent |
| Petrol stations | 26 | 62% shoplifting & theft |
police.uk places each crime at an anonymous map point; some are named for the kind of place (a supermarket, a car park), and each row adds up every place of that kind in Barnoldswick. We show only these, never streets or homes.
Beside it, the public places police.uk named most often.
No one died in a collision on Barnoldswick’s roads in 2021–2025
Police recorded 36 collisions with injuries inside Barnoldswick in five years. 18 people were killed or seriously injured: 6 on foot and 2 on a bicycle.
That is about what is typical for UK towns of 10,000 to 50,000 people: at their median rate (0.9 deaths per 100,000 residents a year), a town of Barnoldswick’s size would see about 1 in five years. With numbers this small, a death or two either way changes the picture, so Barnoldswick’s own rate (0.0) is context, not a ranking.
Counting serious injuries too, Barnoldswick had 33.0 people killed or seriously injured per 100,000 residents a year, above the median for UK towns of 10,000 to 50,000 people (23.8).
Casualties are counted where the collision happened, not where people lived: a main road through town adds through-traffic, and residents’ own risk on roads elsewhere isn’t here. Seriously injured uses the Department for Transport’s adjusted figures, which even out the police forces’ different ways of recording injuries. There’s no national rate here: more than half of road deaths in England and Wales (58%) happen outside every town’s built-up area. Source: DfT road casualty statistics (STATS19), 2021–2025.
Collisions police recorded inside Barnoldswick’s built-up area, 2021–2025. Described here; not part of the Safety Grade.
Crime in the places around Barnoldswick
Barnoldswick records more graded crime per resident than 2 of its 7 neighbours. Foulridge, 3 miles away, records 14.3 violent and sexual offences per 1,000 residents a year (3-year average), against Barnoldswick’s 22.6.
Per 1,000 residents a year, the same three years. Tap a town for its safety page.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Where crimes happen, not where victims live. police.uk places each crime at a point near where it happened. Town centres with shops, stations, a hospital and nightlife record more crime per resident, and residents of nearby villages who come in to shop or go out are part of that count.
- Bigger towns record more per resident. Across UK towns, recorded crime per resident rises steeply with size, more than in the U.S., so a city’s grade sits low against the whole UK. The “towns its size” figures show where Barnoldswick sits among towns like it; they are context and don’t change the grade.
- Points are approximate. police.uk moves each point to the nearest of a set of anonymous map points, so crimes near the edge of the built-up area can fall either side of it.
Questions about safety in Barnoldswick
Is Barnoldswick safe?
Police recorded 22.6 violent and sexual offences and 9.4 burglaries, vehicle crimes and acts of criminal damage per 1,000 residents a year over the three years to August 2026 (police.uk, inside Barnoldswick’s built-up area). That earns a B− for safety: less crime per resident than 51% of UK towns. Among 393 UK towns of 8,000 to 15,000 people, Barnoldswick is 102nd from the least crime.
Is crime going up in Barnoldswick?
In the 12 months to August 2026, against the 12 months before, violent crime held steady, burglary, vehicle crime and damage fell 43%, shoplifting and theft rose 14% and anti-social behaviour fell 53%. Across UK towns of 10,000 to 50,000 people, violent crime held steady.
What is the most common crime in Barnoldswick?
Violence & sexual offences: 229 in the 12 months to August 2026, which in police.uk includes harassment, stalking and assault without injury. Next came criminal damage & arson (50) and shoplifting (35), with 125 reports of anti-social behaviour.
How does Barnoldswick compare with Burnley?
Burnley records 52.7 violent and sexual offences and 26.2 crimes against homes and vehicles per 1,000 residents a year, against Barnoldswick’s 22.6 and 9.4, over the same three years.
Sources: data.police.uk street-level crime, 36 months to August 2026, points inside the built-up-area boundary · ONS Census 2021, output areas summed to the ONS 2022 built-up area · MHCLG English Indices of Deprivation 2025, crime domain by LSOA (residents from ONS Census 2021) · Department for Transport road casualty statistics (STATS19), collisions 2021–2025, points inside the built-up-area boundary · TownRatings grades: our own summary of the data, ranked against UK towns only. All under the Open Government Licence v3.0.
Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Contains HM Land Registry data © Crown copyright and database right 2026. Contains OS data © Crown copyright and database right 2026 (ONS boundaries). Northern Ireland: Source: NISRA; contains Land & Property Services data and Ordnance Survey of Northern Ireland information, © Crown copyright, licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Scotland: contains National Records of Scotland data, Registers of Scotland data and SEPA data, © Crown copyright / © SEPA 2025, licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.