The Georgians - Industry

The corn to be ground into flour was brought to Sarehole Mill on a horse drawn wagon. First of all water and later steam was used to grind the grain.

Sarehole Mill in Birmingham harnessed water power for various different processes at different times - grinding corn into flour, boring guns and rotating whet-stones to grind edges on to steel blades.

The mill was in the country-side so it was the right sort of location for corn mill. It was used for the other two purposes because it was near the source of power - water.

All the early, water-powered manufactories were sited near fast running water. It was only when steam engines were developed that industrialists had more freedom in where to build their factories.

What evidence can you see to tell you that this mill had a steam engine installed in Victorian times?

The 'spinning jenny' was the first move towards automating the spinning industry.

This was followed by Richard Arkwright's more complicated spinning frame shown in the picture.

They were designed to speed up the spinning of yarn to supply the weavers who had had their industry revolutionised by improvements to the loom.

It was Hargreaves' and Arkwright's machines, and later improvements on them, that moved spinning out of the cottages and into factories. The larger machines needed to be near the source of power that worked them - at first water and later steam.

The spinning and weaving of wool and linen was overshadowed as the eighteenth century went on by processing a new textile - cotton.

How did the spinning machine in the picture work?

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