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Along with the other cities of the north, Leeds benefitted from the surge of trade and growth created by the Industrial revolution. In was in this period that Leeds, truly came into its own as a city and began to diversify from its wool foundation. As with other centres of urban growth in the period, improved travel connections allowed the products of the newly mechanised workforce to be traded with greater ease across the globe. True to its history however, Leeds can be said to have rather evolved into an industrial city rather than have had in driving the revolution.
The industrial revolution can be loosely categorised by the period between 1760 and 1840, within this period Richard Arkwright invented the Spinning Frame (1768) which truly revolutionised the production of textiles. The steam engine was also heavily refined into a usable tool by James Watt and latterly Matthew Boulton. As a broad statement none of these advances took place in Leeds, but were whole heartedly embraced by leaders within the city. To begin with, the advent of canal systems from the town to the port of Goole. While the River Aire had been navigable up to Knottingley, it was tied to the tides and therefore inefficient. As early as 1621, a number of bills were presented to Parliament, with the view of widening the rivers however, (despite other towns being granted permission) Leeds was refused. In 1698 a new bill was drawn up with the support of the wool traders of Leeds, but it took a further year to be passed by parliament, as the City of York voiced concerns that it would have a detrimental effect on the River Ouse. By 1704, the commissioned water ways were built including locks and tow paths, thus providing a vastly superior travel network from Leeds to the Humber and then the global market. In 1816, the Leeds and Liverpool canal was created, thus linking Leeds to the Atlantic Ocean and the heart of the revolution, Lancashire. In 1826, an additional route was added to the Aire and Calder navigation, which created a direct link to the River Ouse. To give a modern perspective of the importance of this canal system in commercial terms, a large part of the network is still in use today, with 300,000 tons of petrol and gravel being conveyed in 2007 along the canal.
While wool and textiles such as linen (flax), were a key export of Leeds, coal was another vital component in the development of the city. While inventions such as the spinning frame had speeded up the production of higher quality textiles, it was the addition of steam power that really brought Leeds in to the new era. Cottage weavers were no longer competitive, as large mills were created to produce textiles on mass. This created new wealth but also drew people to live within the township and thus increased the population at rates higher than Leeds had previously seen. Perhaps the most famous example of this new growth is the site of the Marshalls Mill in Holbeck. Founded by John Marshall in 1791, this mill took flax spinning to a new level as it used a Boulton and Watt steam engine to aid with powering the four story mill. The industry grew so rapidly, that a second mill (Tower mill) was commissioned in 1794 in order to aid production. By 1838, the Temple mill was built on the site and was considered one of the largest factories in Europe and housed over 7000 steam powered spindles. A mark of the sheer magnitude of the venture can be seen in the evolving designs of the mills, in the picture above you can see the towers of the tower works site, below is the front of the Temple Mill (the façade is designed to mirror the Egyptian temple of Horus).
To further add to the grandeur of the Temple mill, it boasts a rather strange but highly covetable notable fact, in that it can be said to be home to the first in-situ hydraulic lifting system (invented in nearby Barnsley by Joseph Bramah). This was required in order to facilitate the grazing of sheep on the roof of the mill. The roof was turfed as a method of retaining moisture within the building, to benefit the Flax processes and as sheep can’t climb stairs the lift was used to get them up to the roof for maintenance of the turf. When discussing the Marshall works, it is worth mentioning Matthew Murray, who was hired in the initial phase of the development and was quickly promoted to Chief Mechanic, due to his expertise in refining the flax spinning machine to run more efficiently. He latterly joined with Samuel Fenton (Marshall’s original partner) and David Wood, who continued to work on the development of the steam engine and are recognised for their continued developments in integrated engineering works with machinery. Boulton and Watt considered Murray a threat and the rivalry led to many years of feuding over patents. Murray died in 1826, while he strove to refine his inventions, his competitors in steam such as Stephenson and Watt took the kudos for the new inventions but the Leeds based works of Matthew Murray should not be dismissed.
Other notable inventions from Leeds, in the period include the invention of soda water by a clergyman called Priestley who published the recipe in 1772 (and was then used by Schweppes) and in 1824 Joseph Aspdin invented and patented the method for making the type of cement that is still the most widely used.
Leeds is proud to be home to the world’s oldest continuously working public railway. It was founded in 1758, as a waggon way in order to transport coal from the Middleton Pits. A rival company had grown to prominence, as it could use the river to transport is coal directly in Leeds. Technology was embraced by the company and it eventually became the first commercial railway to use steam locomotives with success. It was this cheap and plentiful source of coal that helped to fuel the booming manufacturing centres of Leeds. The Leeds to Selby Railway was opened in 1834, with further stations and lines, linking the town to the other centres of trade including Manchester, London, Birmingham and Liverpool. With the placement of these lines and stations, different parts of Leeds began to develop differently, with the centre being predominantly commerce and transport based, with the surrounding areas providing the production. It was a combination of vastly increased production, a new larger and centralised workforce and a cheap and efficient method of transporting the products that Leeds evolved into a fully-fledged city in 1893.
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