The Cotton Famine Road on Saddleworth Moor During the American Civil War the Union blockaded the Confederate ports and prevented them from exporting their main crop, cotton. This led to a massive depression in the cotton trade in Lancashire, Derbyshire and Cheshire and put tens of thousands of people out of work. The Public Works Manufacturing Districts Act (1864 ) gave local authorities the power to borrow money to finance public works which would employ these workers. Road building was a common activity those this road on Saddleworth Moor seems ill conceived and was never finished. The twin ditches have survived far better than the road itself. A much more useful famine road can be seen at Rooley near Rochdale
Posted on: Sun, 28 Jul 2013 19:01:04 +0000
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