I have been taking a look at a book called Lancashire Mill Town Traditions by W.R. Mitchell.

The book is “based mainly on the heartland of Lancashire, in and the towns…” Manchester, Victoria, Bolton, Accrington, Blackburn, Burnley, Nelson and Colne.

The introduction talks about the author’s views about “the voices of the older Lancashire folk talking about mill town life and culture…” This is something that interests me and is part of my project. The author goes on to say how they want to “faithfully record what people told me about days that are historically recent but now have curiosity value. The brave new Lancashire is not dependent upon cotton mills. It is cleaner and tidier than it was. The people are more affluent and better nourished than were their parents and grandparents.”

From the first 35 years of the twentieth century “the reign of King Cotton began a decline that continues to this day. I’m not sure that this statement is true now, as the cotton industry is being revived in Dukinfield. English Fine Cottons Yet when the century opened he had about 400,000 mills sustained the late Victorian and Edwardian trade expansion, generating much of the wealth that was poured into investment overseas. So immense was the Lancashire cotton industry at its peak that by breakfast-time on any working day the looms had met the demands of the home market. The rest of the cloth they produced could be exported. By the end of the 19^th century, about one-third of Lancashire was covered with mills, terraced houses, flagstones and cobbles.” This is quite an immense statement in my view and I am very interested in researching more about it. I have recently seen a photo of where my mum grew up and her backyard where she lived and it relates well to this description by the author “Industrial areas had been hurriedly grafted on to historic towns. Villages became sprawling communities in which new factories and homes were tastelessly intermingled, bound together by soot. The inflow of labour from many parts of Britain had made the cotton region one of the most densely-populated areas in Europe.”

My mum’s backyard where she lived in Grafton Street, Hyde. I was quite struck by this photograph. It just gives literally a snapshot of life when it was so hard, a split-second step into history.