The effect of the Industrial Revolution

During the 19th Century, Britain’s towns and cities grew at a rapid rate as people moved from the countryside to the new urban areas in a process known as urbanisation.

The main catalyst was the industrial revolution when industry developed from small-scale cottage industries to large-scale factories employing thousands of workers. Towns and cities, which saw the most growth and received the highest levels of immigration, were located in areas of good natural resources based on communication links, access to water and raw materials.

The industrial revolution created large steam- powered factories, which required easy access to coal, water and raw materials.

Transport was limited and therefore heavy and bulky goods were difficult and costly to move. Consequently, these factories were also raw material orientated. People had very little access to public or private transport and would mainly walk from where they lived to work. Factories were very highly labour intensive, requiring thousands of workers to work the machinery. Therefore, people had to live in close proximity to the factories.

The decline of the agricultural labour force

At the same time, improvements within agriculture caused rising rural unemployment as mechanisation increased farm output. This had the effect of forcing more people to migrate to the towns in search of work.