Hill Farming & The Growth of the Cottage Industry.

Three hundred years ago, most of the population would be found in the farms and cottages on the upland “shelf”, in areas such as Shore, Mankinholes and Bottomley. Families were self-sufficient, growing and producing most of their own food and clothing. Gradually, the merchant clothiers, the entrepreneurs of the 17th – 18th century emerged. The domestic system with its “putting-out” system became the norm. Hand loom weavers working at home would take their woven pieces to the clothier at the “takkin’ in shop”. In return he would furnish them with more wool to be taken home and spun and woven. The clothier would visit the cloth or piece hall to sell the woven pieces and to buy wool. Hartley Royd, above the Burnley valley, c. 1900. Apart from the people the view had changed little in the past 200 years. The picture was taken at Hartley Royd Farm c1919, and shows John William Greenwood and his grandchildren Jim and Annie Stansfield. The father of the children was Frank Stansfield who had married John William Greenwood’s daughter Sarah in 1905. The couple were from Cornholme. Sarah died in confinement at her sister’s in Cornholme in 1909 and Frank later married Mary Ann Collinge in 1910.