Quarry Bank Cotton Mill

Having left mum, we met up with Phil and Phyl in Chester and spent the Satuyrday at Styal, at the NT Quarry Bank mill and apprentice house. A part of peak industrial Revolution, this place took children and worked them into adulthood, leaving them deaf, choking and generally missing a few bits.

It was not our first visit, but perhaps they've improved their presentation or we've become more aware, but the terrible conditions, two hundred years past the Peterloo Massacre, really sank in this time.

I've tried to give the impression of the speed at which these machines operated. Creating 25' of tightly woven cloth where hand looming could only produce a foot, it required the nimble fingers of children to tie off each thread, done of course while the unguarded machines were working flat out.

Back blipped Sunday night.