III.The Rise of the New Cities
From about 1650 onwards,a few of the new cities had been gradually rising.Most were located in the northern and western parts of England,or the northward to the line from the Wash to the Bristol Channel.The major new cities were Birmingham,Manchester,Liverpool,Leeds and Sheffield.They were essentially post-medieval towns,with little of the urban medieval traditions and institutions.[24]Table-6 shows the population growth of some new cities in the 17th and 18th centuries.
Table 6 Estimates for population of some new cities in England from 16th to 18th century[25]
Liverpool could be seen as an example of the growth these new cities experienced,and was important in the Irish trade in the sixteenth century.By the seventeenth century,Liverpool had imported salt and wine from France,together with iron and salt from Spain.Relying on this trade,Liverpool survived but not very prospered,and remained very small.From the mid-seventeenth century,the trade and the town shot up in size.In 1650,Liverpool had only 6 streets;in 1667,11;in 1677,18;in 1697,28;in 1708,34;and a further 16 streets were built between 1708 and 1725.The newfound prosperity was based on its entry into trade with the North American and West Indies from the late 1660s,on distributing Atlantic trade goods,including luxuries to supply the increasing wealthy population of rural industrial Lancashire,its hinterland.[26]
In general,the rise of these new cities was the result of the development of rural industry,the so-called‘proto-industrialization’.The tendency to concentrate on a place in rural industry induced their emergence,or their growth.Thus,Birmingham had grown in the Black Country,which became known as the iron-making region.Manchester and Liverpool in Lancashire became synonymous with the cotton industry.Leeds was the West Riding wool industry area,and Sheffield in southwest part of Yorkshire became famous for iron-making,as was seen in Hallamshire.
The development of rural industry and the rise of these new cities caused the economy of north western England to prosper and it then competed with the south eastern part of the country.In the mid-eighteenth century,the English economic map began to change.A balance between north-western and south-eastern parts had been achieved,with the London economic system broken.This geographical structure of the English economy has maintained to the present.
Table 7 shows the changing geographical distribution of wealth in England from the fourteenth century to the nineteenth century.In the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries,there were two advanced ends in English economy,one was the Southeast,London and its neighbouring areas,Surrey and Kent;the other was the north and west,i.e.,Lancashire,Worcestershire,Warwickshire,Staffordshire.The latter three counties were related to Birmingham and the Black Country.The standing of Yorkshire was aided mainly by the West Riding wool industry around Leeds.
There were a lot of new virtues of these new cities,including:1)establishing specialized economy;2)opening up to outside merchants,and distant domestic and international markets;3)providing the freedom to pursue industrial and commercial occupations;4)forming new industrial organizations,etc.
Table-7 Rankings of counties according to assessment(acres per£1)at various dates[27]
Defoe in his Tours told us that Birmingham specialized in guns,buttons and buckles,Walsall in bits and bridles,Dudley in nails,and Wolverhampton in locks.In 1760,the total value of ironware produced in Birmingham was more than 600,000 pounds.[28]Manchester was the largest manufacturing centre and the most important market of the Lancashire cotton industry.It was also the great commercial centre of north western England,from which merchants rushed from all over the country to sell goods.The Manchester Man was a popular call for the travelling merchants.As a seaport,Liverpool was not only the outlet of Lancashire industrial products but also a gradual major port for Atlantic trade.Leeds was the largest centre of the wool industry in England at the eve of the industrial revolution.Sheffield was well known in the international market for its cutlery.
There were hardly any guild regulations in these cities at this time.Individuals had great freedom in their economic activities,and were not subject to interference by the city government.For example,from 1624 to 1799,although the cutlery trades in Hallamshire were regulated by the Cutlers'Company,the admission to the Freedom of the Company was not confined to men who had served a formal apprenticeship.From a total of about 24,000 entries to the Company,4,700 entries were of grants of the Freedom of the Company to men not known to have been formally apprenticed.[29]
In short,these new cities possessing modern virtues were the forerunners of British modern urban society,and it was them that bred the first industrial nation of the world.
【注释】
[1]Peter Clark(ed.),The Cambridge Urban History of Britain,Vol.Ⅱ:1540-1840(Cambridge,2008),30.
[2]Joan Thirsk(ed.),Chapters from the Agrarian History of England and Wales, 1500-1750,Vol.Ⅳ:Agricultural Markets and Trade,1500-1750,ed.by Joan Chartres(Cambridge,1990),17-24.
[3]Richard Holt and Gervase Rosser(eds.),The English Medieval Town,A Reader in English Urban History 1200-1540(London and New York,1990),1.
[4]D.C Coleman,The Economy of England 1450-1750(Oxford,1982),48.
[5]Joan Thirsk(ed.),Chapters From the Agrarian History of England and Wales, 1500-1750,VolumeⅣ:Agricultural Markets and Trade,1500-1750,17-24.
[6]John Patten,English Towns 1500-1700(Folkestone and Hamden,Connecticut,1978),148.
[7]R.Holt and G.Rosser(eds.),The English Medieval Town,A Reader in English Urban History 1200-1540,1.
[8]R.Holt and G.Rosser(eds.),The English Medieval Town,A Reader in English Urban History 1200-1540,2.
[9]John Patten,English Towns 1500-1700,204.
[10]J.Thirsk(ed.),The Agrarian History of England and Wales,Vol.Ⅳ:1540- 1640(Cambridge,1967),502-503.
[11]John Patten,English Towns 1500-1700,169.
[12]D.M.Palliser(ed.),The Cambridge Urban History of Britain,Vol.Ⅰ:600-1540(Cambridge,2008),765-767.
[13]David Nicolas,Urban Europe,1100-1700(Basingstoke,2003),61.
[14]P.Kriedte(eds.),Peasants,Landlords and Merchant Capitalists,Europe and the World Economy,1500-1800(Cambridge,1984),35.
[15]E.A.Wrigley,‘A Simple Model of London's Importance in Changing English Society and Economy 1650-1750’,Past and Present,37(1967),44-70.
[16]C.M.Cipolla,Before the Industrial Revolution:European Society and Economy 1000-1700(London,2007),204.
[17]G.D.Ramsay,The English Woolen Industry 1500-1750(London,1982),39.
[18]David Nicolas,Urban Europe,1100-1700,16.
[19]L.W.Moffit,England on the Eve of the Industrial Revolution(London, 1963),86.
[20]L.W.Moffit,England on the Eve of the Industrial Revolution,72.
[21]G.D.Ramsay,Tudor Economic Problems(London,1963),10.
[22]Carlo M.Cipolla,Before the Industrial Revolution:European Society and Economy 1000-1700,212-213.
[23]John Patten,English Towns 1500-1700,240.
[24]John Patten,English Towns 1500-1700,82.
[25]John Patten,English Towns 1500-1700.
[26]John Patten,English Towns 1500-1700,232-233;Paul G.E.Clemens,‘The Rise of Liverpool,1665-1750’,Economic History Review,New Series,29,2(1976),211-225.
[27]E.J.Buckatzsch,‘The Geographical Distribution of Wealth in England, 1086-1843:An Experimental Study of Certain Tax Assessments’,Economic History Review,New series,3,2(1950),180-202.
[28]P.Mathias,The First Industrial Nation,An Economic History of Britain 1700-1914(London,1983),94.
[29]E.J.Buckatzsch,‘Places of origin of a group of immigrants into Sheffield,1624-1799’,Economic History Review,New series,2,3(1950),303-306.