Kirjahaku

An absorbing and well researched work which paints a graphic picture of life in a Victorian manufacturing town. The book describes the dramatic and radical effects of the Industrial Revolution on a small rural area and examines its impact on the landscape and local society. In addition to the background of rapid industrial development, the subjects of immigration and urban population growth are explored in some depth. However, the main focus of the work centres on the activities of ordinary men and women whose lived experiences form the basis of this book. Numerous fragments of the past have been pieced together to provide an authentic and moving account of the intolerable social and economic pressures of those times. The book also offers a glimpse of some of the dark and disturbing deeds which occurred in Victorian Widnes and its hinterlands.

An account of how, in the wake of The Industrial Revolution, a little known corner of rural England was transformed into an area of dense industrial activity. The arrival of the alkali trade in Widnes, and the subsequent explosion in population, changed the social structure of the area and created great divisions in society. The indigenous communities, who had lived and worked in time honoured rural occupations for generations, were swallowed up by a growing workforce of migrant workers from all corners of Britain and Ireland. As a consequence, the social fabric of the area was irrevocably altered and the devastating effect of industry on the landscape and environment created huge problems. This book allows us to see how a new unskilled workforce struggled to adapt to factory disciplines and routines, as well as a new urban way of living.