Housing the workforce
Styal village is one of the best-preserved planned villages of the early Industrial Revolution.
When Samuel Greg first came to Quarry Bank, Styal was a small hamlet with a few thatched cottages, farmhouses and barns. Local families from Styal, Morley and Wilmslow were employed in the Mill, but Samuel needed to find a way to attract new workers to Styal and establish a steady supply of workers, so he set about expanding the village. His vision was rooted in the family’s non-conformist faith, and their beliefs around self-improvement through education and religion are reflected in the institutions they established, which are still in use today.
Firstly, he converted agricultural buildings into cottages and in the first three decades relied heavily on apprentices, child workers from local parish workhouses who were housed in the Apprentice House.
The period 1818-1823 was a prosperous time and this was a period of development for Styal village too. By 1823 Samuel had built Oak Cottages, a group of 42 purpose-built terraced cottages. Each cottage had its own privy, garden and allotment where workers could grow vegetables and some fruit.
Families of up to 14 people lived in the main cottage, and the cellars were rented by single people or younger couples. This way the village population expanded greatly, and subsequent generations continued to be employed at the mill or on the estate.
The developments in the village were also influenced and supported by Samuel’s family. Hannah, Samuel’s wife, funded the construction of a school for the children of the adult workers. Lessons were taught, at first, by members of the Greg family and then later, a schoolmaster and teachers. Men also could attend evening classes at the Styal Institute, which operated at the school as an informal Mechanic’s Institute.
Religion was an important part of society in the 18th and 19th centuries. In 1823 the Gregs built Norcliffe Chapel, a non-Conformist chapel. Until then, both the Gregs and their workers attended St. Bartholomew’s in Wilmslow. At first the Rev Henry Halford Jones, a Baptist minister, was appointed to preach at Norcliffe Chapel. He was succeeded in 1833 by Rev John Colston, a Unitarian minister, and the chapel has been Unitarian ever since.
Methodism was a popular religious movement among workers and had gained support from the workers in Styal from as early as 1790, where they met informally in the cellars of cottages. After the construction of the Unitarian Chapel they applied pressure for their own place to worship. In 1837, after Samuel’s death, Robert funded the conversion of an old grain store in the village into a Methodist Chapel.
Both chapels had a Sunday school, both of which worked to establish and develop the religious and social life of the community. In 1823 the Gregs also provided the workers with a shop where they could buy staple foodstuffs such as milk, flour, bacon, potatoes and butter. The shopkeeper would keep a record of their purchases, and the money was deducted from their wages. In 1831 the responsibility for running the shop was passed to a committee of workers and the shop began supplying household furnishings, cooking utensils, bedding, clothing and luxurious items such as ribbons, umbrellas and silk handkerchiefs. It also supplied tea, coffee, chicory and raisins. Later, it was run as a co-operative and the stock diversified further to include sugar, fruit, rice, candles, soap, tobacco, shoes and drapery.
