Differing Responses to an Industrialising Economy - eTheses ...

General conclusions
In this chapter I have reviewed the occupational trends in the study area as a whole
and also brought together findings concerning various themes, which run as a thread
through the thesis. The summaries in Chapters 4 to 7 highlighted change, continuity,
contrasts and similarities between zones and periods, and earlier in this chapter I
highlighted the different economic roles of individual parishes. Here I make some further
points regarding specific questions posed in Chapter 1.
I have demonstrated that industry, for example weaving, was a widespread activity
in the countryside from the start of the study period. In the case of the needle industry the
early industrialisation led to a more mature industrialisation. Certain sectors such as
leather, textiles, bar-iron production and nailmaking retreated while needlemaking showed
exceptional growth. Certain settlements such as Sambourne show signs of deindustrialisation,
while others such as Redditch and Studley undergo continued
industrialisation and urbanisation. The location of certain industries can be explained by
various factors, such as the presence of rivers for water-power and transport or suitable
quarries for stone for the building trade. In other cases human decisions or serendipity may
have influenced the local economic scene, as in the case of William Lea setting up as a
needlemaker in Studley.
By means of occupational structure I have demonstrated the spreading tide of
industrialisation though the timing of this spread remains obscure in some places. Where
early sources are more comprehensive, such as the parish registers of Coughton and
Studley, we have seen that a variety of industries were present in the late seventeenth
century, but in the early eighteenth century these communities began to specialise in the
needle trade. Although the local needle industry later spread to the market town of
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