Albion Mill Bacup

"From the hill top at Sharneyford  twelve hundred and fifty feet above sea level, were the cotton wedge waves it's white fleeces, on the moorland and were once upon a time there was some cotton spinning and weaving. You look down to smoky Bacup which lies  deeply at this end of the Rossendale Valley."

Between the years 1824 and 1865, 35 cotton mills were erected in Bacup. People flocked from the agricultural districts such as Norfolk, Suffolk and Cambridgeshire  to work in Bacup. The beautiful wooded valleys and the clear fish filled river Irwell soon disappeared and instead of growing trees we grew chimneys that belched out smoked 24 hours a day. Money was made so quickly that the  valley became known as " The Golden Valley". The spin off from the industrial revolution was of course a mass increase in population. The demand for labour was tremendous. Migrating here from places such as Norfolk, Suffolk, Cambridge, Carlisle and Ireland they had been induced to come by promises made by the manufacturers agent many of which the agent knew would never be fulfilled. Promises such has all expenses paid, with a furnished house on arrival, a good trade and good wage. The reality was to prove very different. Many of them were told on arrival they they owed the cost of their journey and found they had entered into contracts for six or twelve months service for small wages and long hours with only enough to keep body and soul together. Houses had been provided but none had furniture and so the poor workers had no choice but to sleep on the earthen floor.

 Prosperity reigned until the year 1861 when the American Civil war  stopped the supply of cotton to Bacup amongst many other towns and villages in Lancashire.  It is said that of 6,000 operatives in Bacup 3,000  were out of work the other 3,000 working  2 - 3 day weeks. For four years the people of Bacup were without work or wages. Practically every family  needed help from the parish coffers as well as the individual church funds just to survive. Relief funds were sent from bigger towns in Lancashire as well as places such as Australia. Most of the immigrants were affected and had to apply to the same manufacturers for poor relief at which time the manufacturer replied " No you must return to your own parish we can't help you". Asked to sign papers in order to be returned to their own parishes many refused explaining they had no homes to go back to having broken them up to come North. The manufacturer then left his position of Guardian of the poor and entered into his other position in the community, that of local magistrate at which time the poor immigrant worker was  brought up in front of the magistrate  as a criminal and was sent to prison for seven  days.  James Maden Holt J.P master of Stubylee tried to help by giving the local men work on building a road over the moor from behind Height Barn farm, Lee Quarries and Brandwood Moor. It became known as " The Cotton Panic Road". His intention was to have the land drained and erect farmsteads on the land. But the four to seven feet of peaty soil proved a barrier to the project and scheme was abandoned.

When the first load  of cotton arrived at Bacup after the termination of the war men and women followed it through the streets, weeping for joy as they knelt in the streets  to thank god. By 1864 the worst appeared to be over and the immigrants began coming back to the valley to once again work in the mills. On Thursday the 19th April 1866  over 80 people principally from Norfolk, arrived in Bacup ready to begin work in the various mills. The following week saw more hands returning from the southern counties of Norfolk , Suffolk and  Cambridge and the steady influx continued at a rate of 30 - 40 per week. Many of the locals declined to teach the new hands the trade of weaving even though many of the mills were only partially running after having lost many hands during the famine. A report from the Bacup Rossendale News 5th May 1866 read. "On Tuesday at one of the railway stations near Bacup a small batch of thinly clad shivering " foreigners" alighted in the midst of a heavy snow storm, with snow-flakes falling as big as a half crown, and driven by a cold easterly wind. They stared with astonished dismay at the high with bleak hills of Rossendale, almost covered  with melting snow, and it is not to be wondered at, that the comparison they drew of the fields green with wavering spring wheat, and the hedge rows covered with luxuriant foliage which they had left behind in search of better wages, was not favourable to Rossendale"

In November 1875 Joshua Hoyles and Son Ltd imported more  labour from other counties at this time fifty families, farm labourers had arrived from Norfolk. These families had been brought to work in the mills of Bacup and Sharneyford, belonging  to the firm of Joshua Hoyles. Homes and houses had been provided and due to the wet weather carts were provided to transport them from Bacup station.

 By 1880 there were 67 cotton and woollen mills  in Bacup. Although the mill owners were hard task masters with their employees  during this gold age they were generous with their wealth in relation to the health and education and general well being of their employees.

The air in the cotton mills had to be kept hot and humid (65 to 80 degrees) to prevent the thread breaking. The air in the mill was thick with cotton dust which could lead to byssinosis - a lung disease. Eye inflammation, deafness, tuberculosis, cancer of the mouth and of the groin (mule-spinners cancer) could also be attributed to the working conditions in the mills. The Royal College of Nursing journal for February 1911 reported a article written by Dr John Brown of Bacup in which he calls attention to the habit many weavers called Kissing the shuttle. During the process of threading the shuttle is kissed many times daily with no attempt to disinfect the shuttle eye and the shuttle being passed from weaver to weaver diseases could spread rapidly. The oil from the shuttle was responsible in many cases for causing mouth cancer. Long hours, difficult working conditions and moving machinery proved a dangerous combination. Accidents were common and could range from the loss of a finger to fatality especially for the many child workers. Knocked up at 5.30 by the knocker upper rattling his cane against the window panes never failing to waken the sleeping occupants dressing quickly and making their way down to the kitchen for a quick cup of tea  and perhaps a jam butty. All too soon the morning stillness is shattered by the piercing whistle of the mills calling them to their work. Latecomers found the mill gates closed against them or if they did get admitted the then faced a fine.  Doors opening doors closing the sound of clogs on flags tip-tapping their way to the daily grind. Men , women, boys and girls, hurrying by in the dusky morning light. The women and girls wrapped warmly in thick shawls with home knitted woollen socks. After twelve hours in a hot weaving shed or spinning room the operatives rushed out then  back to their homes.

The average earnings in 1906  for a ordinary weeks work for Bacup's cotton operatives was.