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Kidderminster: the Factory Town

Image: The Carpet Manufactory of Messrs Brinton and Lewis, Kidderminster (c.1860). R W Boodle, Worcestershire Scrap Book, vol. II (1903).

Image from: Local Studies and History, Birmingham Central Library

In the 1860s the Kidderminster carpet industry was inextricably linked with steam power. It developed a skyline of industrial chimneys as it developed into a factory town. Local carpet making reached its high point of prosperity after World War II in the 1950s and 1960s. In the 1970s foreign competition ended the boom and companies faced falling profits. Some survived by restructuring or merging with their competitors whilst others went bankrupt and closed.


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4429-0Made in Kidderminster: the History of the Carpet Industry 618-0The Origins of Carpet Making in Kidderminster 4427-0The Origins of Carpet Making in Kidderminster 4431-0The Origins of Carpet Making in Kidderminster 1230-0Handloom Weaving 4428-0The Factory System 4426-0Washing and Winding 4423-0Washing and Winding 2531-0Technological Changes: the Scotch Loom 2535-0Technological Changes: the Brussels Loom 4430-0Technological Changes: the Jacquard Loom 1830-0The Kidderminster Carpet Industry and the Wider World 1803-0The Kidderminster Carpet Industry and the Wider World 4422-0Working Conditions in Kidderminster Carpet Factories 4425-0The Great Strike of 1828 4424-0The Aftermath of the Great Strike of 1828 1837-0Kidderminster in the mid 19th Century 1832-0Kidderminster: the Factory Town