IT was the inventiveness of the machine makers, which drove the cotton industry in East Lancashire.

From its beginnings as a cottage hand craft, the new technology of the time revolutionised textiles so that our county become the cotton capital of the world.

A new book The Story of Lancashire Cotton, by author and Lancashire Telegraph columnist Ron Freethy, now charts the rise of the industry and the impact it had on the people, complemented by a wealth of photographs.

Before the Industrial Revolution, textiles were produced in the home, but as demand grew, the men making a fortune from linen and woollen goods had enough influence to have laws passed which imposed fines on those wearing cotton gloves — and it also became a penal offence to be buried in anything other than a woollen shroud.

The first laws to relax these conditions were, however, passed in 1736.

In weavers’ cottages, the wife and daughters — spin-sters — carded and spun the raw cotton into yarn, while the father and sons worked the heavy wooden handloom which dominated the house.

The finished fabric was then taken to a central point, known as piece halls, as the textiles were sold by the piece to a merchant.

Soon demand for cotton goods exceeded supply and the ‘putting out’ system was developed — with ambition handloom weavers and merchants combining to develop a production line.

Benjamin and Robert Walmsley saw the potential of this system and converted a couple of barns at Rough Hey, between Accrington and Blackburn into warehouses.

Local weavers would visit the barns to collect raw cotton, which then arrived at the docks at Liverpool from India and the West Indies and then delivered the finished pieces to the accounts department.

From the mid 18th century, however, new inventions helped evolve the Lancashire textile industry into one of the largest complexes anywhere in the world.

In 1910, the British cotton industry produced 480 million miles of thread per week, equal to two miles of thread per day, for every man woman and child in the country.

Whole new industries were created to supply the factories with shuttles and looms. Loom making companies included Pillings of Colne and Howard and Bullough of Accrington.

Pillings and Sons set up their loom works, foundry and textile mill in 1819 and become so successful that, 50 years on, they built a huge complex at Primet Bridge, which finally closed in 1974. it is now a listed building.

By 1930 the floor space at Howard and Bullough reached over 50 acres and the works was fed by a network of train lines. At its peak the company employed 6,000 people.

In the mills, owners would fine the workforce for being late, and ne Haslingden firm urged its workers to wash themselves every morning, or at least twice a week, on Monday and Thursday and anyone who didn’t was fined 3d.

n The Story of Lancashire Cotton, by Ron Freethy, is published by Countryside Books, priced £9.95.