Cheshire and the Industrial Revolution
The
history of Cheshire during the Industrial Revolution
|
Return to the Home Page of the Bakers Family part of the website |
The Bakers of Highfields Story
The Story of the Dods and Bakers and of Highfields,
Fenton House and Hasfield Court. A journey through the history of Cheshire and
Staffordshire, an Anglo-Saxon nobleman who retained his lands after the
Conquest, pottery at Stoke on Trent, an encounter with Elgar, and the history
of an Elizabethan manor house at Audlem |
The family tree of the Bakers of Highfields |
The Family Tree of the Dods, predecessors to the
Bakers of Highfields |
The Bakers of
Fenton House and Hasfield Court
The Family Tree of the pottery Bakers of Stoke on Trent |
The Family Tree of the Bellyse Family |
The main part
of this website tells the story of the Farndale family from Yorkshire Descendants of Arthur Baker, the story of the
Farndale ancestry is told through the main part of this website You can also return to the Farndale
website home page |
The genealogy of the family of James Hall, linked to
the Baker family through marriage to Arthur Baker |
Headlines of are
in brown.
Dates are in red.
Hyperlinks to
other pages are in dark
blue.
References and
citations are in turquoise.
Context and local
history are in purple.
This page is work in progress
During the Industrial Revolution,
Cheshire transitioned from a quiet farming region into a vital industrial and
transport hub. The county capitalised on its natural resources, including salt
and water power, while new canals and railways connected its growing towns to
economic powerhouses like Manchester and Liverpool.
Salt Mining was centred around
Northwich. Salt extraction expanded rapidly to supply domestic and chemical
needs.
Eastern Cheshire became a major
centre for silk production in towns like Macclesfield and Congleton, alongside
iconic cotton sites like Quarry Bank in Styal.
The nineteenth century brought heavy chemical works (such as
Brunner Mond) and massive railway engineering work.
Canals provided navigable waterways which linked Cheshire's raw materials
to manufacturing districts. The arrival of railway lines in the 1830s
transformed settlements, turning Crewe into a famous railway junction and
engineering town.