the steam engine, as the moving power for machinery, was fully appreciated. It was not till about 1798 that the steam engine was introduced in Crompton, when Mr. John Milne had one erected at Greenfield mill, nor till 1806 that it was first made use of in Royton, when an engine was erected by Mr. Edmund Wild, at Sandy lane mill. It was at this period, 1794, that what may truly be called the present system of the cotton manufacture commenced. Previously the manufactories were comparatively small, and in many instances the processes were conducted in large two storied and three storied dwelling-houses, or portions of dwelling-houses, chiefly in commodious chambers. A few edifices had certainly been erected for the sole purposes of the manufacture, of which I have already noticed several instances in Oldham and the neighbourhood; but the introduction of the steam engine led to the building of spacious mills, devoted to all the processes of the spinning department of the trade.

In 1792 the number of families in the township of Oldham was 2370, and the total number of inhabitants within the same limits was about 9480.

The importance of excellent roads in promoting the improvement of any district can scarcely be overrated. A few years prior to the period under notice, the ancient bridle roads of the past age had been superseded by the formation of more direct and better constructed means of communication. Before 1794 new turnpike roads had been opened from Manchester to Huddersfield, through Oldham, and from Greenaeres moor, by way of Lees, and Upper mill, joining the Huddersfield road again on Standedge, and other new roads from Oldham to Rochdale and Oldham to Ashton-under-Lyne had been projected.

Notwithstanding the greatly increased productive power of the people by means of machinery, a severe

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