Differing Responses to an Industrialising Economy - eTheses ...

Alcester, it originated in an area of particularly low population density in the seventeenth
century. More detailed research could be undertaken to see how this compares with the
origins of other specialist industries, for example other metalware trades in different parts
of the west midlands.
Local occupational statistics seem to endorse Stobart’s statement that
‘industrialisation was a long-drawn-out process with deep historical roots.’ 30
Musson
comments that: ‘The older view of the Industrial Revolution - that it was a sudden
cataclysmic transformation, starting around 1760 - clearly is no longer tenable. The ‘preindustrial’
economy had been gradually becoming more industrialized…’? 31
Industry in
the countryside in the hinterland of Alcester was certainly established early, as noted by
Court and Rowlands for other parts of the west midlands, though in the case of the needle
industry around Redditch it shifted up a gear in the late eighteenth century. 32
In other
places the increasing comparative advantage of agriculture probably stemmed the industrial
tide.
Throughout the study period Alcester was more than a large village, offering
various services and acting as a centre for local agriculture and trades. Redditch and some
other settlements in the Needle District became more urbanised, while larger villages such
as Inkberrow and Bidford continued to serve their smaller neighbours. The influence of
nearby towns outside the study area has been shown, for example, Worcester as a provider
of work for gloveresses and Bromsgrove as a centre for the flax trade. Various sources
show that the study area was integrated into the west midlands network. For example, the
Needle District had links with the Foleys and later with Matthew Boulton. Like Boulton
30 J. Stobart, The First Industrial Region: North-West England 1700-1760, (Manchester, MUP, 2004), p. 1.
31 A. E. Musson, The Growth of Industry, (London, Batsford, 1981), p. 61.
32 As confirmed by Table 7.2 in Chapter 7 and by population growth in Chapter 3.
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