16th March, 2007
18th Century Inventions
During the latter part of the 18th century, there were many improvements in the processes involved in the textile industry.
Hargreaves' "spinning jenny" (1760s), Arkwright's "water frame" (1769) and Crompton's "mule" (1779) increased the speed at which yarn could be manufactured.
Carding became mechanised at a similar time but efficient power-looms needed the development of effective steam engines and came a little later.
Early Mills
These technical developments led to the end of the "domestic" system, as the new machinery was too expensive for most people to buy or hire. Entrepreneurs placed the devices in purpose-built "manufactories" and recruited labour from previous "home workers" and farm workers, whose labour was no longer required because of technical improvements in agriculture.
Wigan was slow to adapt to the factory system, possibly because there were better employment opportunities in mining. Even so there was a thriving textile industry in the town.
Pigot's Directory of 1816 states:
"The manufacture of linen checks has long been a staple trade here and added much to the benefit of the town - calicoes, fustians etc are also made to a very considerable extent, of a quality equal, at least, to any other town in the county."
Pigot mentions no less than 54 "Cotton Manufacturers", but it is difficult to ascertain under what circumstances they operated, as an 1818 survey states that there were only 8 cotton mills working in Wigan.
These mills were mostly small "jenny mills", employing less than 40 people. This was unusual as in most manufacturing towns, jennies had been largely replaced by mules before the end of the 18th century.
There were several larger concerns, however.
One of Thomas Darwell's two "Pepper Mills" in 1811 had 3,000 "jenny spindles" and 2,300 "throstles" (an improved form of water frame). Note that the figures represent "spindles" and not "jennies" - each "jenny" would have many "spindles". But even so, this mill seems to have been on a bigger scale than most in Wigan.
Another larger building was Penson's Mill in Scholes. It had "billies", "jennies", "throstles" and "carding machines". Steam power was used in this mill.
(A "billy" was a machine used for "slubbing" - a process of drawing and twisting cotton slivers in preparation for spinning.)
The 1820s and 1830s saw an end to many of the smaller mills and the construction of larger concerns. Notable among these was J. and W. Eckersley's "Swan Meadow Mill" and T. Wood's "Trencherfield Mill", both of 1822-1823.
These mills were later rebuilt but retained their original names. The "new" buildings still stand as a testament to Wigan's past cotton heritage.
Mill Buildings
The "jenny" mills were small concerns - one in Pemberton in 1779 is described as a "dwelling house".
Mills increased in size and those built after about 1820 were probably 4 or more storeys high.
There is a description of the Sovereign Mill as it was in 1867. The article suggests that the building had changed little since it was built - probably in the 1820s.
"(It) was 50 yards by 12 yards... Four storeys and an attic, ground floor for carding, second as throstle rooms, top two as mule rooms (each one with four pairs of mules)."
The offices, mechanic shops, winding, warping and storage areas were housed in a separate building running parallel and joined to the main mill by an iron bridge.
This design follows the specifications laid down in 1833 by J. Montgomery in "The Theory and Practice of Cotton Spinning" - apart from carding which was recommended to be on the 3rd or 4th floor.
Hand Weavers
Power-looms were first used in Wigan in 1815 but home-based hand weavers were the norm until at least the 1840s. There were still many hand weavers operating in Wigan in 1851.