| Working the hand-looms |
| In the early
part of Queen Victoria's reign most flannel cloth
produced locally was made on hand-looms by local weavers. |
| Originally
weavers worked in their own cottages and sold their cloth to dealers, but
increasingly flannel manufacturers were setting up weaving shops and employing
weavers to work together in one workshop. The opening of the canal to Newtown gave the local industry a means of transporting the cloth more cheaply to markets further away. |
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By employing
the weavers themselves, the flannel manufacturers took control of production. In Newtown the system developed even more to their advantage when manufacturers built weaving shops above weavers' cottages (like these on the left.) In this way the manufacturer even owned the weavers houses and could charge them a high rent. This was bad news for local weavers. Their pay was low, their  rent
was high and some manufacturers paid workers in tokens
which they could only spend in his shop, where he set the prices ! (See
one of these right).These shops were called 'Tommy Shops' and it was easy to get into debt. |
| Once a worker's
family were in debt they were trapped.
They couldn't leave because they owed the manufacturer money and had to
work longer and longer hours to try to make up the debt. The worker's whole family including the children would work to try to earn enough to get rid of the debt. |
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