The Earliest Factory

[Heartland]

Whilst the Arkwright Mill at Cromford built for spinning cotton in 1771 is sometimes given credit for being the first factory. It may be the case that other places could claim this title. Such a search must include a final product being produced there. A case which has occurred to me is the original Bilston Mill, a water powered mill that was associated with the Bilston Enamel trade- a business that can be traced to that mill in 1748.

 

[mikejee]

I suppose it depends on what you define as a factory. I would guess that most people think of it as where a large building carries out a process or processes using substantial numbers of people, as opposed to a small business employing just a few. Would Bilston Mill satisfy that criteria ? It cannot just be the use of powered machinery rather than manpower, as water power had been used for a long time to power machinery.

 

[Radiorails]

Cromford is described as being the first 'true' factory. I understand that meant a strict and regulated regime which employed in its outset large numbers of people and in Cromford's case apparently some 300 people climbing to 800 twenty years later.
I suspect the Bilston set up is how much of the industrial revolution of the West Midlands was created; that is to say small workshops which employed a far less number of employees. What is often referred to as 'cottage industries' had been known since Roman times - and maybe before.