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The Factory System

Image: Remains of Kidderminster’s first carpet factory at Mount Skipet.

Image from: Bewdley Museum (photograph taken in 1981)

As carpets became larger and more ornate, it eventually became necessary for larger or more looms to be used, and it was no longer possible for them to be housed in individual weavers’ homes. Some carpet factories were sometimes converted from other textile factories. In 1832, the carpet firm of John Broom, a descendant of the first John Broom, went bankrupt. The auction catalogue of the sale of his effects demonstrates very clearly both the wide variety in sizes of loom-shops and the numerous types of loom used at this time. Looms were generally manually operated with the occasional aid of water power.


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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