Editing Accrington (section)

===Industrial Revolution===
<!-- *Historical importance *Economic Significance *Industrial Gorwth *Pre and Post industrial Accrington -->

Until around 1830, visitors considered Accrington to be just a "considerable village".<ref name=BHO /> The [[Industrial Revolution]], however, resulted in large changes and Accrington's location on the confluence of a number of streams made it attractive to industry and a number of mills were built in the town in the mid-18th century. Further industrialisation then followed in the late-18th century and local landowners began building mansions in the area on the outskirts of the settlement where their mills were located while their employees lived in overcrowded unsanitary conditions in the centre.<ref name=Assessment />

Industrialisation resulted in rapid population growth during the 19th century, as people moved from over [[North West England]] to Accrington,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.localpopulationstudies.org.uk/PDF/LPS30/LPS30_1983_28-34.pdf |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221009/http://www.localpopulationstudies.org.uk/PDF/LPS30/LPS30_1983_28-34.pdf |archive-date=2022-10-09 |url-status=live|title=Patterns of Migration of Textile Workers into Accrington in the Nineteenth Century|publisher=William Turner|access-date=18 June 2011}}</ref> with the population increasing from 3,266 in 1811 to 10,376 in 1851 to 43,211 in 1901<ref name=Assessment /> to its peak in 1911 at 45,029.<ref name=Frith>{{Cite book|author=H Barrett & C Duckworth|title=Accrington Old & New|publisher=Frith Book Company Ltd|year=2004|isbn=1-85937-806-4}}</ref>

This fast population growth and slow response from the [[Church of England|established church]] allowed [[Nonconformist (Protestantism)|non-conformism]] to flourish in the town. By the mid-19th century, there were Wesleyan, Primitive Methodist, United Free Methodist, Congregationalist, Baptist, Swedenborgian, Unitarian, Roman Catholic and Catholic Apostolic churches in the town.<ref name=BHO /> The [[The New Church (Swedenborgian)|Swedenborgian church]] was so grand that it was considered to be the 'Cathedral' of that denomination.<ref name=Frith />

For many decades the textiles industry, the engineering industry and coal mining were the central activities of the town. [[Cotton mills]] and [[dye]] works provided work for the inhabitants, but often in very difficult conditions. There was a regular conflict with employers over wages and working conditions. On 24 April 1826 over 1,000 men and women, many armed, gathered at Whinney Hill in [[Clayton-le-Moors]] to listen to a speaker from where they marched on Sykes's Mill at Higher Grange Lane, near the site of the modern police station and [[magistrates' court]]s, and smashed over 60 looms. These riots spread from Accrington through Oswaldtwistle, Blackburn, Darwen, Rossendale, Bury and Chorley. In the end, after three days of riots 1,139 looms were destroyed, 4 rioters and 2 bystanders shot dead by the authorities in Rossendale and 41 rioters sentenced to death (all of whose sentences were commuted).<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.cottontimes.co.uk/1826-03.htm |title=Cotton Times |publisher=Doug Peacock |access-date=17 June 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110604221023/http://www.cottontimes.co.uk/1826-03.htm |archive-date=4 June 2011 |url-status = dead|df=dmy }}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|last=Turner|first=William|title=Riot! Story of East Lancashire Loom Breakers in 1826|publisher=Lancashire County Books|year=1992 |isbn=978-1-871236-17-0}}</ref>

In 1842 [[1842 General Strike|'plug riots']] a [[general strike]] spread from town to town due to conditions in the town. In a population of 9,000 people as few as 100 were fully employed.<ref>"An alarming statement of distress", the Newcastle Courant, 1 July 1842</ref> From 15 August 1842 the situation boiled over and bands of men entered the mills which were running and stopped the machinery by knocking out the boiler plugs. This allowed the water and steam to escape shutting down the mill machinery.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Newbigging|first=Thomas|title=History of the Forest of Rossendale|publisher=Rossendale Free Press|year=1893}}</ref> Thousands of strikers walked over the hills from one town to another to persuade people to join the strike in civil disturbances that lasted about a week.<ref>"Riot in Accrington", the Preston Chronicle, 3 September 1842</ref><ref>"Disturbances in the Manufacturing Districts", the Liverpool Mercury, 19 August 1842</ref> The strike was associated with the [[Chartism|Chartist]] movement but eventually proved unsuccessful in its aims.<ref>"State of Trade", the Preston Chronicle, 12 November 1842</ref>

In the early 1860s the [[Lancashire cotton famine]] badly affected Accrington, although less so than the wider area due to its more diverse economy,<ref>"The Distress in Lancashire", The Leeds Mercury, 25 October 1862</ref> with as many as half of the town's mill employees out of work at one time.<ref>"State of Employment", The Preston Guardian, 3 December 1864</ref>

Conditions were such that a Local Board of Health was constituted in 1853 and the town itself incorporated in 1878 allowing the enforcement of local laws to improve the town.<ref name=BHO /><ref name=Assessment />