The Lancashire town of Oldham was a boom town of the Industrial
Revolution and among the first ever industrialised towns in England. At
its peak it was the most productive cotton-spinning mill town in the
world, producing more cotton than France and Germany combined. It was
not until the last quarter of the eighteenth century that Oldham changed
from being a cottage industry township producing woollen garments via
domestic manual labour to a sprawling industrial metropolis of textile
factories. The town's population was greatly increased by the mass
migration of workers from outlying villages, resulting in an explosion
from just over 12,000 in 1801 to 137,000 in 1901.At its peak, in 1928,
there were more than 360 mills operating night and day, but Oldham's
textile industry fell into decline in the mid-twentieth century and the
town's last mill closed in 1998. Today, Oldham is a predominantly
residential town and a centre for further education and the performing
arts. Oldham Through Timecharts these remarkable changes through a
fascinating series of images of the town over the last century and a
half.