The power loom riots of 1826 were of a much more formidable character than the Shuttle Gathering riots of 1812 and they resulted in the loss of life. The outbreak of the Power Loom Riots occurred on the 23rd April 1826 and during that day and the three succeeding days all the power looms in the area were broken from Edenfield in the South to Burnley in the North and Westward as far as Accrington.  The rioters were mostly strangers in the district, at least that is, the ringleaders, as it was the policy of the organisers to detail men to places where they were not known in order to avoid detection. Under the name of the leader rejoicing in the appropriate nick name of  "Tackle-ti-mash," the mob swept up the valley destroying the looms on their way from Rawtenstall to Bacup, without hindrance from constables or the military. An eye witness stated that at Waterbarn mill the ringleaders entered the mill and first cut out the warps and destroyed the reeds and healds and then with a few well aimed blows they destroyed the looms. Tunstead Mill was next on the destroyers list. Irwell Mill at Bacup was the next to fall victim to the rioters who then made their way to Mr Munns mill at Irwell Springs.

 

 

One eye witness who was at the time of the riots fitting a new pane of glass into  one of the front windows of Fern Hill House, home of the then George Ormerod, brother in law to James Whittaker J.P., Broadclough Hall. Mr Whittaker, who as a magistrate was obnoxious to the rioters, was at the time at Fern Hill, and was observing the rioters,  from the terrace overlooking the road as they passed from Waterbarn to Bacup. As soon as the ringleaders saw Mr Whittaker they halted and began to hoot and shout. A cry was raised to attack the house and capture the magistrate as a hostage, however this was soon overruled and the mob proceeded on its way to Bacup.

 

A young man named Isaiah Bowden, a hatter in Bacup, but a native of Oldham, was conspicuous in the attack on Irwell Mill and was  afterwards sentenced to transportation for life for aiding and abetting the rioters.Two other Bacupians, a man named Cockerill, and a woman named Betty Cunliffe, who took more subordinate parts in the riots were each sentenced to two years imprisonment for being concerned in the loom breaking. The day after the riot at Bacup, a large mob gathered together and proceeded over the hills to Burnley, where the  looms were once again destroyed.

 

The mob according to a young man who was a  witness ,was composed mainly of Quarrymen or Brownback's, from Brandwood and Shawforth. Having been piped into Burnley by a young man playing a flute to the tune of  " a nutting we will go " the rioters soon dealt with the looms, and also dealt with some men in a foundry who had mistreated a young boy. One publican in Burnley either through fear or good will, trundled a barrel of porter into the street and allowed the thirsty rioters to help themselves. At this time there was of course no police force as we know it today in Bacup for instance there were two or three watchmen of the old " Charley" type. The most conspicuous of these being Long George, or as often pronounced Lung George whose tall ungainly figure was a prominent object in the streets of Bacup. When the rioters arrived in Bacup George and his other watch brothers, Bill o'th Loin, Jim Blacksmith, and Long Sam kept out of the way. 

 

 

 


 

 

 

 

 

The Plug Riots as is generally known, originated in the belief of the Chartists leaders and their followers that but a voluntary and compulsory cessation of work for a given time throughout the country six weeks it is believed, was the limit fixed the Government would be compelled to concede the Charter and it's six points. For a long time  previously the Chartist party had been divided into moral and physical force sections the latter of which is responsible for the disturbances which brought the country to the very verge of revolution. In Rossendale and Bacup in 1842 the it was known as the Plug Riots, owing to the mob  stopping the work of the mills in the valley by taking possession of the premises and knocking out the boiler plugs, by which the water drowned out the fires and brought the work to a  standstill. The mobs were organised on the principles adopted by the rioters of  1826, a crowd of strangers from where none knew well, suddenly made their appearance in the valley and as most of them were unknown they pursued their unlawful work almost with impunity and very few were prosecuted.

After the mills had all been brought to a standstill a company of soldiers arrived in Bacup from Burnley for the purpose of checking the disturbances. At the time the soldiers arrived  the local Chartist leaders were holding a open air meeting in the quarry behind what was once the Co-operative stores and the Maden Baths. The soldiers were accompanied by the Magistrate of the time Mr James Whittaker,esq, of Broadclough Hall, who subsequently read the riot act and called upon the meeting to disperse. The only entrance to the quarry, where th meeting was being held was by a narrow passage between the houses in Rochdale Road, close to the premises once owned by the Liberal club and better known today as the old school clinic.

The walls and housetops surrounding were crowded with persons listening to the speakers. The commanding officer, who seemed to take in the situation at a glance, refused to march his men through the narrow passage into the  quarry where several thousands of persons were assembled listening to the speakers. Though his men had their bayonets fixed and their muskets loaded, he was afraid of sustaining loss by a volley of missiles from the adjacent rooftops upon whichso many people were swarming. Accompanied by the magistrate he wheeled his men round and marched up Thorn Lane to the high ground  overlooking the quarry, the site of the present Co-op houses but at that time a empty field. From this commanding position the soldiers overlooked the vast concourse of people on the low ground  beneath and on the walls and  roofs of the houses opposite. The speakers called upon the people gathered to stand firm and offer no resistance to the military. At this point the magistrate Mr Whittaker  mounted the wall overlooking the quarry in order to read the riot act. His foot slipping suddenly he disappeared in a somewhat undignified manner, to the huge delight of the crowd.

Securing a better footing he continued to read the riot act and called on the meeting to disperse. However the crowd counselled by the speakers refused and the meeting continued. The officer in charge of the military saw that the crowd was non violent and ordered his men to pile arms, and subsequently in a short time the crowd was fraternising with soldiers and supplying them with drink a turn affairs which seemed to be very welcome to the soldiers who had had a tough hot march from Burnley. Before the arrival of the soldiers a portion of the crowd had grabbed a man by the name of Henry Wolfenden, who it was alleged had made to order a large number of bludgeons to be used against the rioters. For some time  he was rather roughly knocked about. He was afterwards placed in a cart, and with a large white cross painted on his back paraded up and down  the principal streets and in the vicinity of the place of the meeting, the mob jeering and hooting furiously. He was eventually rescued by some of  his friends.