Another thing Greg needed to consider was the power supply. Gregg decided to build his mill in Styal as the river Bollin ran right through Styal. The Bollin would provide Greg with enough power to turn his water wheel and power his machines, at this time water was the best form of power as he built his mill before steam power was invented. Some of his machines that required water power were the spinning frame and the spinning mule. This had brought industry out of the home and into factories as these machines couldn’t be operated in the home. The reason the river Bollin was so powerful was because it ran down from the Pennine mountains, this also meant that Greg’s water supply would be a very reliable source of power. Power was therefore essential in the cotton industry and a driving factor in Greg’s choice of site
Greg also needed to make sure he had a supply of labour. There was two local workforces that were available to Greg, there were the workers of the silk industry which was based in Macclesfield and there was the woollen industry which was based up in the Pennines, the work involved in these industries was very similar to the work involved in the cotton industry, another good thing was that these industries weren’t too far away. So when these industries started to fade Greg would have skilled people to work for him. But Greg didn’t just need labour he needed cheap labour. Gregg would hire children from the local towns like Wilmslow and Macclesfield and Greg would then house, feed and clothe them in the apprentice house he built. He also built a school for the apprentices to get a good education called Oak school and he built a church for his workers to worship God.
Another important reason for Greg’s choice was he needed access to raw materials. Raw cotton was shipped in from America then to Liverpool and finally to Styal via the Bridgewater canal although this wasn’t built until 1776 Manchester was very important as it was one of the main places for Greg to sell his goods. Salt was very easy to be obtained as it was available locally from the Mersey estuary, and the river Bollin also cut through a sandstone valley. Transport was important to Greg as he needed reliable transport to move his goods. Locally there was the river Bollin, Packhorse Bridge and the Bridgewater canal.
Having markets to sell he’s finished goods would also be very important to Gregg. There was a number of market towns available to Gregg including; Manchester, Altrincham, Wilmslow, Stockport and more. These towns were very important as Greg relied on them to sell the finished goods. Gregg had a massive advantage as he had a turnpike road right next to him that would link him up to local towns.
Transport was something that was extremely important to Greg, without transport there would have been no way that Greg could have transported his goods. But where Greg decided to build his mill he had natural advantages around him such as reliable turnpike trust roads, canals, rivers and the Packhorse Bridge. Packhorse Bridge was very important as Gregg used it as a meeting point for his goods to be loaded into the carriages and then so they could be dispatched. The Bridgewater canal was built in 1761, when this was built it enabled Greg’s items to be sold in America as the canal provided transport links to the deep water port in Liverpool. The turnpike trust road came in very handy for Gregg as it was a safe way for Greg to transport his goods safely and the road also led into a market town called Altrincham where he sold a lot of his goods.
In conclusion I think that the most important reason for Greg building his mill at Styal was because of the power supply. Without a reliable power supply there would have been no point Gregg building a mill as he wouldn’t have been able to power it and with Styal having the river Bollin flowing right through it the Bollin had enough power to keep the factory going. Although the site at styal wasn’t really a typical place to build a mill, most other mill owners would have wanted their mills where more people lived and they would have also wanted their mill closer to the city and the ocean but Gregg new that just because he was building in a rural location he Knew that he could make it work. I Think Gregg decided to build at Styal because of all the advantages he had, good transport, cheap land, good resources and good transport links but I personally think the power supply was the most important or none of this would have been possible.
