ABSTRACT
Burnley was a county borough with a population of almost 100,000 in 1931, and was one of the main centres of cotton weaving. It was situated on the north-east edge of the Lancashire cotton textile district in the Pennine foothills, not far from the Yorkshire border. The town was largely isolated from the main areas of commercial and industrial development on the Lancashire plain until the coming of the Leeds-Liverpool Canal in 1796. Apart from being a market centre, a number of earlier features of the town's economy were to influence the borough after the First World War. Of importance were skills in handloom weaving generally and the weaving of cotton in particular, both prevalent since the early eighteenth century. The natural advantages for cotton manufacture that existed in the eighteenth century were still extant when 'cotton was king' in the Victorian age. The soft and ample water supply for power, damp climate to prevent thread breakage, and a skilled workforce, were all local advantages effectively exploited. These advantages contributed to Burnley's important position in Lancashire's burgeoning cotton export trade. Improved transportation links aided the development of the textile industries. The coming of the railway to Burnley supplemented the canal link. By 1848 the town was connected to Accrington. The next year saw further connections to Leeds and Manchester and by 1876 there was a branch line to Blackburn.
