Hand-loom Weaving in Lancashire
30th April, 2008
Hand-loom weaving was at its peak in Lancashire in the first two decades of the nineteenth century. By 1820 there were around 170,000 weavers, although wages were only a quarter of what they had been in the last decade of the eighteenth century. 40-50,000 weaver's cottages were built to accommodate the hand-loom weavers, which had a significant impact on rural and urban settlements.
In his talk on hand-loom weaving, Prof Timmins showed how, following the industrialisation of spinning in the late eighteenth century, there was an explosion in hand-loom weaving and the demand for weaver's cottages was a primary driver for both rural and urban development in Lancashire and led to such innovations as "club houses" funded by the first terminating building societies.
He demonstrated with numerous examples the typical features of a Lancashire weaver's cottage, and showed how they differed from those in Yorkshire and elsewhere. The typical Lancashire weaver's cottage accomodated four looms on the ground floor or basement, with one living room/kitchen, also on the ground floor and sleeping room upstairs. In Yorkshire the looms were usually on the upper floor to take advantage of the better light but in Lancashire the moist atmosphere required for weaving cotton ensured that the looms were usually sited in a downstairs room or cellar with an earth floor.
Prof Timmins showed how to recognise a weaver's cottage, even where it had been altered, usually to divide large-sized cottages into smaller dwellings after the decline in hand-loom weaving from about 1820 onwards.
See examples of Weaver's Cottages in Ribchester
See examples of other weaver's cottages on Cottontown