17: Industry

The canal flows underneath.

Cottonopolis.

You’ve just entered the worlds first industrial suburb.

Famous throughout the world when cotton goods were called Manchester

goods. Hundreds of factories, towering stories upon stories high.

Chimneys erupting black coal vapours, the hot breath of the

steam-powered engines, that could be seen for miles.

Staining the cramped network of buildings surrounding them black.

Not a scrap of space left to waste.

Turn right.

The dark Satanic Mills,

Powered by the rushing waters of Manchester rivers.

Cotton fibres strengthened by the damp northern air.

That’s why Manchester was the best at it.

Along with The people, powering an industry.

With poor pay, poor working conditions and long hours.

Salt of the earth. Hard working.

Men and women.

The cotton boom making women wage earners.

From 5am to 6pm.

Linda Carver From the countryside and surrounding areas, they were attracted by the prospect of work. So people flocked to the city. And the population of Ancoats increased by, well it was only 11,000 in 1831 but by 1861 it had been increased to 56,000 people so they say, it's true this, Ancoats was built in a hurry, it was built in a hurry and it was a zig zag of mean streets. I mean houses were thrown up to house these thousands of workers and their families.

I am Loom sweepers,

I am Bobbin carriers,

I am weavers,

I am slave grown cotton, that built the city, that paid for the bricks,

I am the campaigners made up of clergy and cotton merchants fighting to put a

stop to that injustice, to sever ties to the slave trade.

I am flint glass

I am barrel pianos and biplanes

I am thick air. The blackened bricks.

I am coal

I am steam

I am power

I am industry.

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