Manchester
Manchester In Lancashire was the very first industrial city in recorded history, as well as the first centre of mass production. Its story epitomises the highs and lows experienced by Britain as a whole during and after the Industrial Revolution.
At its peak in the 1800s with 108 textile mills and surrounded by towns supplying services that contributed to its dominance of the cotton industry, Manchester’s success had unlikely beginnings. Once a wooden Roman fort on an inland plain, the tiny settlement stuttered into life, sustained by the wool trade. Cloth-making began and by 1400 the population was around 1,500. By 1650 this had grown to 5,000. In the 1700s cotton began to be imported, spun and woven.
The first big time-saving breakthrough was the British invention of the Spinning Jenny. By 1801 the population was 70,000, a boom which led to slums and poor working conditions, since administrators were new to the situation. Meanwhile, the now wealthy owners and middle-men had splendid public buildings erected.
However, the American Civil War, WW1 and WW2 all affected Manchester’s production capabilities. Today, the population is around 630,000 and the mills and warehouses have been converted. The Manchester Ship Canal, which once made Manchester the UK’s third busiest port, closed in 1982.
(Image: David Dixon at geograph.org.uk / CC BY-SA 2.0)