Rubble at mill

It's only a little over two centuries ago that Richard Arkwright built his first factory for cotton manufacturing in what is now the centre of the city of Manchester. In doing so, he turned the city into the power house and driving force behind the new cotton industry. As the industrial revolution gathered pace, many thousands of people flocked in from the countryside to find work in the new factories, often enduring terrible conditions both at home and at work. The factory owners and Manchester's new middle class accumulated phenomenal wealth on the proceeds.

Arkwright's mill, the building at the heart of this story, helped to revolutionise British society. Built in 1780, today what is left of it lies buried beneath a car park. Time Team had three days to locate and investigate one of the most important historic sites in Britain.

Text only