Westhoughton Mill

Westhoughton Mill or Rowe and Dunscough's Mill, in Mill Street in Westhoughton, Bolton in the historic county of Lancashire, was the site of a Luddite arson attack in 1812. The mill was built in 1804 by Richard Johnson Lockett, a Macclesfield man who lived at Westhoughton Hall. He leased the mill to Thomas Rowe of Manchester in 1808.
During 1811 and 1812 Luddites had been attacking powered mills throughout the English North and Midlands to such an effect that the government in February 1812 passed the Frame Breaking Act making the damaging of powered looms punishable by death. Skilled weavers lost their livelihoods when production moved from a domestic system to new manufactories causing severe hardship and unrest among the workers. Unemployed weavers joined the Luddites believing their only hope was to destroy the machines. The government repressed rebellion by punishing offenders severely. In 1812 Luddite disorder around Manchester reached its peak.
On Friday 28 April, a large crowd of weavers and mechanics gathered in Westhoughton with the intention of destroying the power looms in Rowe and Dunscough's Mill.

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