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This was a time of great technological innovation that transformed the way people lived and worked. In the cotton industry, for instance, inventions such as the flying shuttle (1733), the spinning jenny (1764) and the power loom (1786) meant that, during the course of the 18th century, the entire process for producing cotton cloth was mechanised.
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The steam engine allowed manufacturing on a bigger scale than ever before. Factories – and the rapidly growing towns that supplied them with labour – were established close to supplies of coal and ore Those who worked in the factories were no longer surrounded by their families and the communities they had grown up in, but by fellow workers with common concerns and common grievances.
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As trade grew, transport needed to keep pace. Turnpike trusts were set up to charge tolls that would finance new and better roads. But this led to serious rioting by people who were not prepared to start paying for roads they had always used for free.
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