The area around Manchester has always been served by cotton mills. The climate and the easy access to plentiful supplies of clean fresh water for both power and processing were all an important factor in the setting up of mills in the area.

Around Glossopdale and Longendale were many mills, both large and small, providing the main employment for men, women and children from the nineteenth century onwards. The mills are now gone, some closed as the trade moved to cheaper countries such as India, or by flooding as the valleys were used for new reservoirs to supply Manchester with water.

Illustrated with over 60 old photographs, diagrams and maps, this book looks at the history of the cotton industry in Glossopdale and Longdendale between 1500 and 1920, highlighting the importance of water power, the history of the slave trade, the cruelties and miseries of labour and the consequent revolts and movements and the advent of less labour intensive cotton mills.