Handloom at Bridgnorth

In 1785 Edmund Cartwright patented his powerloom, which signalled the beginning of a decline for the handloom cottage industry. Cottage-type handlooms like this one at the Northgate Museum in Bridgnorth, were used in increasingly small numbers, until the middle of the 19th century, to produce small sections of textiles that were then taken to a central factory and combined to make a larger piece of cloth.

Many of the handloom weavers lost their jobs in the beginning of the 19th Century, as factories and more efficient machinery, such as the powerloom came into existence. Unsurprisingly, a large number of handloom weavers took part in the national displays of discontent of the early 19th century, such as the Luddite Movement, the Blanketeer's March and the Peterloo Massacre.