Handloom weaving in Didsbury

Now my old botanist friend, Dave Bishop and I have often speculated on there being handloom weavers in Didsbury and looking at the 1841 census there they were.

Which I suppose shouldn’t be too surprising. There is evidence that they were here in Chorlton and in Fallowfield, Withington Burnage, Stretford, Northenden and on out to Urmston.*

In 1800 George Jones who lived in Chorlton had described his occupation as weaver when he baptised his two children at the Methodist chapel on the Row.  And he was joined by another two weavers who had walked over from Stretford and another from Withington to baptise their children in the same chapel.    

So in all likelihood there would have been more.  Handloom weaving was conducted in a wide arc both north and south of Manchester and in the areas bordering on northern Cheshire, Derbyshire and the West Riding of Yorkshire. By the mid 18th century cotton had replaced wool as the main textile material and across the county areas specialized in such things as cambric’s, muslins and ginghams.  Just over 5 miles to the east near Gatley they had been growing flax and weaving linen from at least the mid 17th century.

In all there were 43 of them which it is true is not many.  Some were part of families where three or four were engaged in the trade.  In other cases it is just father and son and sometimes just the male householder.

But there are also single women working the loom as well as children.  The age range ran from an 80 year old woman to a boy of 12.  They were mainly concentrated on the east of the township up towards Burnage and further south near Parrs Wood with a cluster at Spring Hill north of the parish church.  Where they give a more detailed description they are mostly weaving cotton but there is also a lace weaver.

Some no doubt may also have worked the land but others were operating as a commercial family business.  Now there is a lot more to do, but it is a start and fills in a gap.

But 1841 was near the end.  Across the townships to the east and west of our own the industry struggled on into the 1840s and 50s.  In Fallowfield there were still fourteen weavers in 1841, but this had fallen to just one by 1851. Further south and west in that part of Withington running from Hough End Hall down to the village, the number fell from five to just one during the same decade.     In Stretford this dismal picture was repeated.  By 1841 there were just seven weavers which had shrunk to four at the following census.All of which means the search is on in Didsbury.

Picture; Hyms Cottages & Sutton's cottage, © Barri Sparshot, 2011, from original photographs of cottages in Chorlton-cum-Hardy

*http://chorltonhistory.blogspot.co.uk/2012/06/neglected-stories-handloom-weaving-in.html

Later; who they were, where in Didsbury they lived and something of their daily routine