Mill town


A mill town, also known as factory town or mill village, is typically a settlement that developed around one or more mills or factories, usually cotton mills or factories producing textiles.

United Kingdom

In the United Kingdom, the term "mill town" usually refers to the 19th century textile manufacturing towns of northern England and the Scottish Lowlands, particularly those in Lancashire and Yorkshire.
Some former mill towns have a symbol of the textile industry in their town badge. Some towns may have statues dedicated to textile workers or have a symbol in the badge of local schools.
CountyTowns
Cheshire mill towns
Congleton, Crewe, Macclesfield
Derbyshire mill towns
Glossop, Hadfield, New Mills
Greater Manchester mill towns
Ashton-under-Lyne, Bolton, Bury, Chadderton, Failsworth, Heywood, Hyde, Lees, Leigh, Manchester, Middleton, Oldham, Radcliffe, Ramsbottom, Reddish, Rochdale, Royton, Shaw and Crompton, Stalybridge, Stockport, Wigan
Lancashire mill towns
Accrington, Bacup, Barnoldswick, Blackburn, Burnley, Calder Vale, Chorley, Colne, Darwen, Nelson, Oakenclough, Padiham, Preston for others see table below.
Yorkshire mill towns
Batley, Bingley, Bradford, Brighouse, Cleckheaton, Dewsbury, Elland, Halifax, Hebden Bridge, Heckmondwike, Holmfirth, Huddersfield, Keighley, Morley, Mytholmroyd, Ossett, Pudsey, Shipley, Skipton, Sowerby Bridge, Todmorden, Yeadon

The list below includes some towns where textiles was not the predominant industry. For example, mining was a key industry in Wigan and Leigh in Greater Manchester, and in Ossett in Yorkshire.

Spindleage of Lancashire mill towns producing spun cotton between 1830 and 1962


Date1883189319031913192319261933194419531962
Accrington59043846766019171846928715292
Ashton1,5741,7311,7811,95518981,144644633182-
Blackburn1,6711,3981,3211,2801,2241,071672451309103
Bolton4,0864,7705,4576,7977,3717,8427,5076,2044,8861,772
Burnley1,12673466756353850724018214414
Bury87589983395510501000745630524268
Chorley552527541856838837739491397122
Farnworth5577799661,4851,4781,4841,3441,2371,104162
Glossop1,1061,15896888282183952420415410
Heywood6608878361,0701,1001,09686454553368
Hyde59049953374179369647536633758
Leigh1,3371,5141,6792,4452,7612,9252,8912,6152,336548
Manchester2,4452,353,2,2253,7033,3073,4393,4172,9741,934271
Middleton4984946451,2781,2681,2521,0411,193923161
Mossley1,1531,2171,0331,2881,2971,289371264256-
Oldham9,31111,15912,23016,90917,23117,66913,7328,9487,6212,478
Preston2,1461,8832,0742,1611,9971,9651,5921,1461,024278
Rochdale1,6271,8352,4223,6453,7493,7933,5392,4591,936983
Stalybridge1,0831,1571,0271,2361,1041,103801483426122
Stockport1,6011,7421,5682,2662,3821,9241,4271,141154-
Wigan8647758881,0851,1231,141922681575352

In thousands of spindles.

On his tour of northern England in 1849, Scottish publisher Angus Reach said:

Italy

Żyrardów

The town grew out of a textile factory founded in 1833 by the sons of Feliks Lubienski, who owned the land where it was built. They brought in a specialist from France and his newly designed machines. He was French inventor, Philippe de Girard from Lourmarin. He became a director of the firm. The factory town developed during the 19th century into a significant textile mill town in Poland.
In honour of Girard, 'Ruda Guzowska' as the original estate was called, was renamed Żyrardów, a toponym derived of the polonised spelling of Girard's name.
Most of Żyrardów's monuments are located in the manufacturing area which dates from the 19th and early 20th centuries. It is widely believed that Żyrardów's textile settlement is the only entire urban industrial complex from the 19th-century to be preserved in Europe.

United States

New England

Beginning with Samuel Slater and technological information smuggled out of England by Francis Cabot Lowell, large mills were established in New England in the early to mid 19th century. Mill towns, sometimes planned, built and owned as a company town, grew in the shadow of the industries. The region became a manufacturing powerhouse along rivers like the Housatonic, Quinebaug, Shetucket, Blackstone, Merrimack, Nashua, Cocheco, Saco, Androscoggin, Kennebec or Winooski.
In the 20th century, alternatives to water power were developed, and it became more profitable for companies to manufacture textiles in southern states where cotton was grown and winters did not require significant heating costs. Finally, the Great Depression acted as a catalyst that sent several struggling New England firms into bankruptcy.
A. C. Lawrence Leather Co. a factory town circa 1910.
StateTowns
Connecticut mill towns
Bridgeport, Danbury, East Windsor, Enfield, Hartford, Killingly, Manchester, Middletown, Naugatuck, New Haven, New London, Norwich, Putnam, Seymour, Shelton, Torrington, Vernon, Waterbury, Willimantic, Winchester, Windham, Windsor Locks
Maine mill towns
Anson, Auburn, Baileyville, Biddeford, Brunswick, Chisholm, Corinna, Lewiston, Lincoln, Lisbon Falls, Livermore Falls, Millinocket, Milo, Newport, Old Town, Orono, Pittsfield, Rumford, Saco, Sanford, Skowhegan, Waterville, Westbrook, Wilton
Massachusetts mill towns
Adams, Amesbury, Athol, Attleboro, Chicopee, Clinton, Dalton, Fall River, Fitchburg, Framingham, Gardner, Grafton, Greenfield, Haverhill, Holyoke, Hudson, Lawrence, Lowell, Ludlow, Lynn, Maynard, Merrimac, Methuen, Milford, Millbury, Monson, New Bedford, North Adams, North Andover, Northbridge, Orange, Pittsfield, Russell, Southbridge, Springfield, Taunton, Uxbridge, Waltham, Ware, Webster, Winchendon, Worcester
New Hampshire mill towns
Belmont, Berlin, Claremont, Dover, East Rochester, Franklin, Gonic, Gorham, Greenville, Groveton, Harrisville, Jaffrey, Keene, Laconia, Lancaster, Lebanon, Lincoln, Manchester, Milford, Milton, Nashua, Newmarket, Newport, Penacook, Pittsfield, Rochester, Rollinsford, Somersworth, Suncook, Tilton, Troy, Wilton
New York mill towns
Amsterdam, Corning, Mechanicville, Troy, Schenectady, Rochester
Rhode Island mill towns
Bristol, Burrillville, Central Falls, Coventry, Cumberland, Lincoln, Pawtucket, Providence, Slatersville, Valley Falls, West Warwick, Westerly, Woonsocket
Vermont mill towns
Bellows Falls, Bethel, Brattleboro, Bridgewater, Burlington, Ludlow, Newport, Springfield, Vergennes, Winooski

Mid-Atlantic

South

Sawmill towns

South America

Colombia