Synopsis
This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1881 Excerpt: ... Chapter VII. EIBCHESTEB. There is little in the aspect of the village of Ribchester to arrest the attention of the visitor. The Ribble flows by it; but though there are some exquisite patches of river scenery both above and below Ribchester, at the place itself the stream is somewhat tame. The village is irregularly built; its streets are very quiet; and when the venerable parish church has been inspected, one's note book might almost be closed, and an adieu bid to the spot, for anything there is in its outward aspect. It has, however, the appearance of having seen better days. In the early period of the cotton manilfacture, Ribchester was a great place for hand-loom weaving; but when that mode of manufacturing cloth became obsolete, and the factory system was established in more favoured localities, the village suffered the lot of places similarly circumstanced, and the last half century has been fruitful with tales of the distress suffered by the inhabitants of Ribchester. To furnish employment for the people, and to revive the drooping fortunes of the place, a company of gentlemen interested in the district erected a cotton mill, whose tall chimney is seen for many a mile; but before it got to work, the cotton trade, for a long time, had a temporary collapse, and, like too many other mills, this one was idle, from the affects of the American war and the consequent cotton famine. Like mills in other places, it has, in its time had "tips and downs," but has been the means of furnishing employment to many operatives in the district. v But though Ribchester is poor, and it has not yet had its first cotton mill at work above a dozen years or so, it was a flourishing city before Preston was in existence;--nay, it had rnn a distinguished career before the slop...
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