Early 19th Century Burnley (Cont.)
| Lowerhouse Printworks c.1830.
This is the earliest known picture of a textile factory in the Burnley area. It was begun by Peel and Yates in 1795 as a spinning mill. The Peels also owned a spinning mill at the bottom of Sandygate, which in 1790 was the first in Burnley to be powered by steam. In 1815 the Lowerhouse factory was taken over by the Dugdale family. It became a printworks when they opened a new mill in 1836.
“Formerly the trade of the town was confined to woollens or worsted goods, but the manufacture of cotton has almost entirely superseded that trade. Upon the rivers are cotton factories and print works of a very extensive nature. Upwards of 3,000 pieces of calico are manufactured each week in the town and neighbourhood, and the number of spindles in motion exceed 60,000.” Pigot's Commercial Directory, 1828 |
| The Market Place
St. James’s
Street.
By the early 19th century, the market had moved from outside the church to the bottom of Manchester Road, then known as Market Street. On the extreme left is the Swan Inn, the only building that still remains. In the centre is the ‘gawmless’ or gas lamp installed in 1823. It was in this year that the Burnley Gas Company was set up.
“Since the year 1822 the improvements to the town have been of considerable magnitude; the streets are well paved and watched, supplied with water by company’s works; and the gas works illuminate the town in a bright and liberal manner.” Pigot's Commercial Directory, 1828 |
