The Textile Mills of Lancashire: The Legacy

Lancashire’s historic textile industry holds a particular place in Britain’s history. Its success was a direct result of the Industrial Revolution, which resulted in the region blossoming into a leading economic force between the late eighteenth and early twentieth centuries. This was, important, essential to Britain’s place and dominance as the world’s first industrial nation. During this period, Lancashire’s textile industry was at the forefront of innovation, adopting both steal power and the factory-based system of production, which in turn greatly shaped the historic character of the region, and left an enduring legacy. Whilst this legacy is still deeply ingrained in Lancashire’s consciousness, its most graphic reflection lies in the textile mills, which were established across the historic county, man of which were directly responsible for the formation of the distinctive urban landscapes associated with the region’s mill towns. However, since the demise of the textile industry in the second half of the twentieth century, the loss of historic mills, through demolition, decay and fire, has been a cause of increasing concern amongst those who recognise their heritage value, and their importance in providing and enduring sense of place for the residents of the mill towns. This threat has been felt perhaps most keenly in Lancashire, a county in which history and identity were bound closely to the development of the industry, and this danger has prompted a recognition of the need for urgent action. This publication represents the culmination of a decade of research on the textile mills of Lancashire by Oxford Archaeology North, born out of two phases of survey funded by Historic England designed to assess the survival of, and threats to, modern Lancashire’s historic textile mills. It highlights the historic growth of the region’s textile industry, and also the architectural form and evolution of Lancashire’s textile mills and ancillary industries, such as bleaching, dyeing, and printing. Importantly, it also aims to show that such buildings can be readily adapted to modern use as viable spaces, which, significantly, allows each settlement actively to retain its ‘sense of place’.