Child Labour in the Woollen Mills of the 1830s – November 9
5km one -way along the canal From Ebley Mill to Brimscombe Mill. Meet at Ebley Mill at 11am.
Refreshments are available from The Long Table (fingers crossed), The Ship Inn or The Felt Cafe.
Return by Bus 67 from Brimscombe or back along the canal. (Note new and improved bus timetable from 1 September).
Amidst agitation nationally for shorter working hours in the textile industry, scandals about children crippled and killed in the cotton mills and the extreme poverty of handloom weavers, government inquiries collected extensive data from clothiers and some workers in the wool industry of the Stroud Valleys on child labour, wages and working hours. Most started work
aged 9, but some as young as 6. Stops along the way will highlight the work that children did in the mills and how this changed during the 1830s. We might also want to consider how conditions here 200 years ago are matched nowadays in the clothing industry.
Contact js@shankleman.com for further information.