Ancoats - enviromental study Flashcards
Historical context
What major changes did the Industrial revolution bring to Manchester?
Urban Growth - population surged, transforming it from a small market town into a bustling industrial city
Industrial Hub - became known as ‘Cottonopolis’ due to its booming cotton industry, making it one of the world’s largest textile producers
Steam Power Adoption - The Boulton & Watt steam engine allowed factories to operate away from water sources, enabling rapid industrial expansion
Historical context
How did Ancoats transform during the Industrial Revolution?
from a village into an industrial hub during the Industrial Revolution, starting with the first steam-powered mill, Ancoats Bridge Mill (1791)
Historical context
By 1816 how many mills were in Ancoats, what was the biggest?
86
Murrays’ Mills complex - quadrangle of buildings and warehouses built around a central canal basin. This became the model for other mill complexes
Historical context
How much did the population of Manchester grow, what did this lead to?
84,000 in 1801 up to 391,000 in 1851
led to poor living conditions and public health issues
Historical context
Why was Manchester a major commercial center during the Industrial Revolution, and what was its global impact on the cotton industry?
transport links
enabled the import of American cotton and global export of textiles, making it responsible for 32% of the world’s cotton textiles by 1871
Historical context
Why was Ancoats known as the world’s first industrial suburb, and what were the living conditions like?
Ancoats became the world’s first industrial suburb as people moved there to work in mills, but living conditions were very poor, with an average worker age of 17
Key Features of Ancoats
What were the Key Features of Ancoats?
- Overpopulation
- Increasing immigration from Ireland and Italy
- Crowded housing, poor air and water quality
- Outbreaks of cholera and typhus and the development of the hospital
Key Features of Ancoats
Descibe the effects of overpopulation
- 20 people to be living in a house that a single family had occupied just a few decades earlier
- the number of houses rose from 3,446 to 1773 and 17,257 in 1821
- By 1850, it was nearly 50,000
Key Features of Ancoats
Describe the effects of Increasing immigration from Ireland and Italy
- By 1851, 50% of Ancoats’ male population was Irish - paid less, given dangerous jobs, and poor housing
- 1840s, 4,000 Irish lived in under 200 houses in ‘Little Ireland’
- Poor conditions led to disease - the Irish unfairly blamed due to prejudice and lack of germ theory knowledge
- Thousands of Italians moved to Manchester in 1835, also facing prejudice and living in ‘Little Italy’
- Some Italians - Ronchettis and Antonio Valvona (inventor of the ice cream cone), found success despite challenges
Signifacance and impact
Who were significant Figures and Their Contributions?
Dr. James Phillips Kay - Linked overcrowding to disease in his 1832 cholera report, influencing the 1834 Poor Law Amendment Act and the 1848 Public Health Act
Edwin Chadwick - link between disease and poverty in Ancoats, advocating for better ventilation and sewerage, contributing to the 1848 Public Health Act.
Signifacance and impact
What were some Public Health Legislation and Reforms?
1848 Public Health Act - Allowed local councils to improve sanitation and more…
Local Actions in Manchester:
* 1844: Ban on back-to-back houses
* 1853: Cellar dwellings made illegal
Signifacance and impact
What was the Long-term Impact and Legacy?
By 1914, most of the old, unsanitary housing in Ancoats was demolished, achieving this earlier than other cities.
