The+Textile+Industry

3. Define and describe the textile industry and why it expanded in Great Britain.

The textile industry was a crucial part of the Industrial Revolution because it contributed to Great Britain's rise to power and wealth.

How did the textile industry start? Wool was always a very important industry in Britain because of the perfect climate and geography to raise sheep. For the first time, the idea of enclosure was introduced to keep large herds of sheep in one area. Therefore, British wool was harvested cheaply and turned into cloth for communities very quickly. The demand for British woolen cloth was high in Europe and elsewhere in the world, so the textiles industry in Britain rose in profit and power.

The expansion of the textile industry started with the invention of new machines that contributed to the manufacture of cloth. For example, the "flying shuttle", invented by John Kay which made weaving faster and allowed a minimum of one person to operate the large looms. Another invention was the "Spinning Jenny", built by James Hargreaves. The Spinning Jenny was an ingenious idea, used as a new and improved spinning wheel. The inventions kept coming until machines were built that no longer required humans to power it. The looms were simply just too big. These enormous machines were housed by equally large buildings, and many new factories were built. The textile industry, once simple and entirely human labour-based, evolved to a powerful factory industry.