As the Crow Flies — Stop 6
Mr Pickles At Woodend Mill
It was early morning and Mr Pickles was sitting on top of a very, very tall chimney feeling quite overwhelmed by the sights, sounds and smells of the working mill town.
Hundreds of men, women and children were clattering down New Earth Street, their clogs making sparks on the cobbles. They were carrying brew cans and some people had bowls of food in a knotted cloth.
The men wore flat caps and the women had on fedoras or wool shawls over their heads to ward off the winter chill. Steam rose from their breath as they caught up on the latest gossip - in the last 60 years the population of Mossley had grown from 1,300 to 13,000 so there was plenty to chat about these days.
Mr Pickles began to cough as he took in a lungful of the dirty, polluted air. With 43 mills in the town and nearly all the trees chopped down, the valley was not so green and pleasant anymore. Two railway lines ran through Mossley and the steam trains belched out smoke as they brought the raw cotton from Liverpool docks and the coal from nearby mines that kept the mills running. With this and the hardworking mill workers the mill owners of Mossley had become extremely rich!
The conditions for Mossley mill workers were probably no worse than in other districts - they were pretty grim and dangerous!
They worked from 6am to 8pm, or 4pm on Saturdays, for an average wage of 23 shillings a week (£1.15). Children were often employed below the legal age of nine and beyond the legal hours.