Differing Responses to an Industrialising Economy - eTheses ...

the local needle trade in the eighteenth century caused this zone to follow a very different
economic path from Zone B and even Zone C which shared many of the characteristics
which could have led to industrialisation. The Needle District’s rapid demographic
growth was more the consequence than the cause of early industrialisation. 433
The zone’s speciality of needlemaking increased its percentage of the local
workforce substantially during the eighteenth century. The demand for needles led to
some mechanisation, harnessing horse- and water-power. Water-mills were also utilised
in the papermaking trade, but this was only a small employer. Other metal working
occupations declined, losing out to competition from elsewhere in the west midlands. In
particular, the forges, which had made bar-iron, ceased production in the 1720s. As a
consequence of the huge influx of workers into the needle industry, by 1750 the zone had
more than 20% of its adult male workforce in secondary sector occupations, while the
figure for individual settlements may have been as high as 78.5%. 434
Although many
craftsmen continued to produce their own food, industrial workers became increasingly
dependent on a growing band of shopkeepers for food, clothing and luxuries.
In Period C Feckenham held its own as a minor service centre, while Redditch
was rapidly transforming from a hamlet to a small manufacturing town. Like Zell’s
Wealden communities earlier, Sambourne, once at the forefront of proto-industrialisation
hereabouts, began to de-industrialise, while places such as Studley and Beoley capitalised
on their water-power. Despite ups and downs, the needle industry was still expanding,
attracting incomers and providing work for inhabitants of all ages. Taking the economic
lead in the late eighteenth century, the Needle District dragged Alcester (Zone A) along
with it into the new, more specialised world of manufactures. This burgeoning
433 As Zell also noted for the Weald. Zell, Industry in the Countryside, p. 234.
434 Tables 7.1 and 7.14.
335