Michael Zell Libros

Focusing on the concept of 'proto-industrialisation', this study delves into the Kentish Weald's textile industry before the Industrial Revolution. It highlights the dual employment of textile workers and the region's cottage industry roots during the Tudor era. The analysis includes local landholding patterns, farming practices, and demographic factors that shaped rural industrialisation. By examining the socio-economic landscape, the author questions the validity of the 'proto-industrialisation' model and its implications for understanding rural manufacturing's evolution.

Industry in the Countryside is a wide-ranging and readable study of the nature of manufacturing before the Industrial Revolution. It examines the widely-debated theory of 'proto-industrialisation', drawing on data from the Kentish Weald - an area which was already a centre of cottage industry in the Tudor era and was also the earliest rural manufacturing region to 'de-industrialise'. The book analyses the Wealden textile industry from its workforce to its industrialists and emphasises the ubiquity of dual employment among textile workers. It explores the local context of cottage industry, investigating the pattern of landholding and inheritance, the local farming regime, and the demographic background to rural industrialisation. Zell outlines what type of local economy became the site of this so-called 'proto-industry' and shows the impact of cottage industry on the people of such regions. He concludes by asking, is there anything in the 'proto-industrialisation' model?