Part 8

The counties in which the greatest proportion of the land is devoted to permanent pasture may be judged roughly from the list of "grass counties" already given. Derbyshire, Leicestershire, the midland counties generally, and Somersetshire, have the highest proportion, and the counties of the East Anglian seaboard the lowest. But with lands thus classified heath, moor and hill pastures are not included; and the greatest areas of these are naturally found in the counties of the Pennines and the Lake District, especially in Northumberland, Cumberland, Westmorland and the North and West Ridings of Yorkshire. There is also plenty of hill-pasture in the south-western counties (from Hampshire and Berkshire westward), especially in Devonshire, Cornwall and Somersetshire, and also in Monmouthshire and along the Welsh marches, on the Cotteswold Hills, &c. In all these localities sheep are extensively reared, especially in Northumberland, but on the other hand in Lincolnshire the numbers of sheep are roughly equal to those in the northern county. Other counties in which the numbers are especially large are Devonshire, Kent, Cumberland and the North and West Ridings of Yorkshire. Cattle are reared in great numbers in Lincolnshire, Lancashire and the West Riding of Yorkshire, Devonshire, Somersetshire and Cornwall; but the numbers of both cattle and sheep are in no English county (save Middlesex) to be regarded as insignificant. Pigs are bred most extensively in Suffolk, Norfolk and Lincolnshire and in Somersetshire.

Woodlands.

It is often asserted that the scenery of rural England is of its kind unrivalled. Except in open lands like the Fens, the peculiarly rich appearance of the country is due to the closely-divided fields with their high, luxuriant hedges, and especially to the profuse growth of trees. There is not, however, any large continuous forested tract. Certain areas still bear the name of forest where there is now none; the term here possesses an historical significance, in many cases indicating former royal game-preserves. Great areas of England were once under forest. The clearing of land for agricultural purposes, the use of wood for the prosecution of the industries of an increasing population, and other causes, have led to the gradual disforesting of large tracts. There are still, however, some small well-defined woodland areas. The New Forest in Hampshire, the Forest of Dean in Gloucestershire, and Epping Forest, which is preserved as a public recreation-ground by the City of London, are the most notable instances. The counties comprising the greatest proportional amount of woodland fall into two distinct groups--Hampshire, Surrey, Sussex and Kent, with Berkshire and Buckinghamshire; Monmouth, Herefordshire and Gloucestershire. Cambridgeshire, lying almost wholly within the area of the Fens, has the smallest proportional area of woodland of any English county.

The number of persons engaged in agriculture in England and Wales was found by the census of 1901 to be 1,192,167; the total showing a steady decrease (e.g. from 1,352,389 in 1881), which is especially marked in the case of females. But the decrease lies mainly in the number of agricultural labourers; the number of farmers is not notably affected, and the increasing substitution of machinery for manual labour must be taken into consideration. The average size of holdings in England may be taken approximately as 66 acres, the average in 1903 being 66.1, whereas in 1895 it was 65.3.

(See also the article AGRICULTURE.)

[Illustration: Map of ENGLAND & WALES--Section IV.]

Sea fisheries.

_Fisheries._--All the seas round Britain are rich in fish, and there are important fishing stations at intervals on all the English coasts, but those on the east coast are by far the most numerous. On an estimate of weight and value of the fish landed, Grimsby at the mouth of the Humber in Lincolnshire, stands pre-eminent as a fishing port. For example, the fish landed there in 1903 were of nearly four times the value of those landed at Hull, which was the second in order of all the English stations. Next in importance stand Lowestoft, Yarmouth and North Shields, Boston and Scarborough, and, among a large number of minor fishing stations, Hartlepool and Ramsgate. Great quantities of fish are also landed at the riverside market of Billingsgate in London, but the conditions here are exceptional, the landings being effected by carrier steamers, plying from certain of the fishing fleets, and not taking part in the actual process of fishing. On the south coast Newlyn ranks in the same category with Boston; at Plymouth considerable catches are landed; and Brixham ranks alongside the last ports named on the east coast. The chief fishing centres of the English Channel are thus seen to belong to the coast of Devonshire and Cornwall. On the west coast the Welsh port of Milford takes the first place, while Swansea and Cardiff have a considerable fishing industry, surpassed, however, by that of Fleetwood in Lancashire. Liverpool also ranks among the more important centres. As a comparison of the production of the east, south and west coast fisheries, an average may be taken of the annual catches recorded over a term of years. In the ten years 1894-1903 this average was 6,985,588 cwt. for the east coast stations, 669,759 cwt. for those of the south coast, and 884,932 for those of the west (including the Welsh stations).

Distinctions may be drawn, as will be seen, between the nature and methods of the fisheries on the various coasts, and the relative prosperity of the industry from year to year cannot be considered as a whole. Thus in the period considered the recorded maximum weight of fish landed at the east coast ports was 9,539,114 cwt. in 1903 (the value being returned as £5,721,105); whereas on the south coast it was 736,599 cwt. in 1899, and on the west 1,117,164 cwt. in 1898. Considered as a whole, the individual fish, by far the most important in the English fisheries, is the herring, for which Yarmouth and Lowestoft are the chief ports. The next in order are haddock, cod and plaice, and the east coast fisheries return the greatest bulk of these also. But whereas the south coast has the advantage over the west in the herring and plaice fisheries, the reverse is the case in the haddock and cod fisheries, haddock, in particular, being landed in very small quantities at the south coast ports. Mackerel, however, are landed principally at the southern ports, and the pilchard is taken almost solely off the south-western coast. A fish of special importance to the west coast fisheries is the hake. Among shell-fish, crabs and oysters are taken principally off the east coast; the oyster beds in the shallow water off the north Kent and Essex coasts, as at Whitstable and Colchester, being famous. Lobsters are landed in greatest number on the south coast.

The number of vessels of every sort employed in fishing was returned in 1903 as 9721, and the number of persons employed as 41,539, of whom 34,071 were regular fishermen. The development of the steam trawling-vessel is illustrated by the increase in numbers of these vessels from 480 in 1893 to 1135 in 1903. They belong chiefly to North Shields, Hull, Grimsby, Yarmouth and Lowestoft. There are a considerable number on the west coast, but very few on the south. These vessels have a wide range of operations, pursuing their work as far as the Faeroe Islands and Iceland on the one hand, and the Bay of Biscay and the Portuguese coast on the other.

Freshwater fisheries.

The English freshwater fisheries are not of great commercial importance, nor, from the point of view of sport, are the salmon and trout fisheries as a whole of equal importance with those of Scotland, Ireland or Wales. The English salmon and trout fisheries may be geographically classified thus: (1) _North-western division_, Rivers Eden, Derwent, Lune, Ribble: (2)_North-eastern_, Coquet, Tyne, Wear, Tees, &c.; (3) _Western_, Dee, Usk, Wye, Severn; (4) _South-western_, Taw, Torridge, Camel, Tamar, Dart, Exe, Teign, &c.; (5) _Southern_, Avon and Stour (Christchurch) and the Itchin and other famous trout streams of Hampshire. The rivers of the midlands and east are of little importance to salmon-fishers, though the Trent carries a few, and in modern times attempts have been made to rehabilitate the Thames as a salmon river. The trout-fishing in the upper Thames and many of its tributaries (such as the Kennet, Colne and Lea) is famous. But many of the midland, eastern and south-eastern rivers, the Norfolk Broads, &c., are noted for their coarse fish.

_Mining._--Although the conditions of mining have, naturally, undergone a revolutionary development in comparatively modern times, yet some indications of England's mineral wealth are found at various periods of early history. The exploitation of tin in the south-west is commonly referred back to the time of the Phoenician sea-traders, and in the first half of the 13th century England supplied Europe with this metal. At a later period tin and lead were regarded as the English minerals of highest commercial value; whereas to-day both, but especially lead, have fallen far from this position. The Roman working of lead and iron has been clearly traced in many districts, as has that of salt in Cheshire. The subsequent development of the iron industry is full of interest, as, while extending vastly, it has entirely lapsed in certain districts. However long before it may have been known to a few, the use of coal for smelting iron did not become general till the later part of the 18th century, and down to that time, iron-working was confined to districts where timber was available for the supply of the smelting medium, charcoal. Thus the industry centred chiefly upon the Weald (Sussex and Kent), the Forest of Dean in Gloucestershire, and the Birmingham district; but from the first district named it afterwards wholly departed, following the development of the coal-fields. These have, in some cases, a record from a fairly early date; thus, an indication of the Northumberland coal-supply occurs in a charter of 1234, and the Yorkshire coal-field is first mentioned early in the following century. But how little this source of wealth was developed appears from an estimate of the total production of coal, which gives in 1700 only 2,612,000 tons, and, in 1800, 10,080,000 tons, against the returned total (for the United Kingdom) of 225,181,300 tons in 1900.

The chief minerals raised in England, as stated in the annual home office report on mines and quarries, appear in order of value, thus: coal, iron ore, clay and shale, sandstone, limestone, igneous rocks, salt, tin ore. Coal surpasses all the other minerals to such an extent that, taking the year 1903 as a type, when the total value of the mineral output was very nearly £70,000,000, that of coal is found to approach £61,000,000.

Coal-fields.

The position of the various principal coal-fields has been indicated in dealing with the physical geography of England, but the grouping of the fields adopted in the official report may be given here, together with an indication of the counties covered by each, and the percentage of coal to the total bulk raised in each county. These figures are furnished as a general demonstration of the geographical distribution of the industry, but are based on the returns for 1903.

+----------------+-----------------------------+-------------+ | Coal-fields. | Counties. | Percentage. | +----------------+-----------------------------+-------------+ | Northern | Durham | 22.37 | | | Northumberland | 7.48 | +----------------+-----------------------------+-------------+ | | Yorkshire (West Riding)[20] | 17.76 | | Yorkshire, &c. | Derbyshire | 9.40 | | | Nottinghamshire | 5.41 | +----------------+-----------------------------+-------------+ | Lancashire | Lancashire | 15.26 | | and Cheshire | Cheshire | 0.25 | |................| Leicestershire | 1.31 | | | Shropshire | 0.50 | | Midland[21] | Staffordshire | 8.10 | | | Warwickshire | 2.12 | | | Worcestershire | 0.44 | +----------------+-----------------------------+-------------+ | | Cumberland | 1.37 | | | Gloucestershire[22] | 0.87 | | Small detached | Somersetshire | 0.62 | | | Westmorland | 0.07 | | | Yorkshire (North Riding)[20]| ·· | +----------------+-----------------------------+-------------+ | | Monmouthshire[23] | 6.67 | +----------------+-----------------------------+-------------+

The coal-fields on the eastern flank of the Pennines, therefore, namely, the Northern and the Yorkshire, are seen to be by far the most important in England. The carrying trade in coal is naturally very extensive, and may be considered here. The principal ports for the shipping of coal for export, set down in order of the amount shipped, also fall very nearly into topographical groups, thus:--Newcastle, South Shields and Blyth in the Northern District; Newport in Monmouthshire; Sunderland in the Northern District, Hull, Grimsby and Goole on the Humber, which forms the eastern outlet of the Yorkshire coal-fields; Hartlepool, in the Northern District, and Liverpool. The tonnage annually shipped ranges from about 4½ millions of tons in the case of Newcastle to some half a million in the case of Liverpool; but the export trade of Cardiff in South Wales far surpasses that of any English port, being more than three times that of Newcastle in 1903. The coastwise carrying trade is also important, the bulk being shared about equally by Sunderland, Newcastle, South Shields and Cardiff, while Liverpool has also a large share. Of the whole amount of coal received coastwise at English and Welsh ports (about 13½ million tons), London received considerably over one-half (nearly 8 million tons in 1903). The railways having the heaviest coal traffic are the North-Eastern, which monopolizes the traffic of Northumberland and Durham; the Midland, commanding the Derbyshire, Yorkshire and East Midland traffic, and some of the Welsh; the London & North Western, whose principal sources are the Lancashire, Staffordshire and South Welsh districts; the Great Western and the Taff Vale (South Welsh), with the Great Central, Lancashire & Yorkshire and Great Northern systems.

In the face of railway competition, several of the canals maintain a fair traffic in coal, for which they are eminently suitable--the system of the Birmingham navigation, the Aire and Calder navigation of Yorkshire, and the Leeds and Liverpool navigation have the largest shares in this trade.

Iron.

The richest iron-mining district in England and in the United Kingdom is the Cleveland district of the North Riding of Yorkshire. It produces over two-fifths of the total amount of ore raised in the Kingdom, and not much less than one-half of that raised in England. The richness of the ore (about 30% of metal) is by no means so great as the red haematite ore found in Cumberland and north Lancashire (Furness district, &c.). Here the percentage is over 50, but the ore, though the richest found in the kingdom, is less plentiful, about 1½ million tons being raised in 1903 as against more than 5½ millions in Cleveland. There is also a considerable working of brown iron ore at various points in Lincolnshire, Northamptonshire and Leicestershire; with further workings of less importance in Staffordshire and several other districts. The total amount of ore raised in England is about 12½ million tons, but it is not so high, in some iron-fields, as formerly. Some of the lesser deposits have been worked out, and even in the rich Furness fields it has been found difficult to pursue the ore. The import of ore (the bulk coming from Spain) has consequently increased, and the ports where the principal import trade is carried on are those which form the principal outlets of the iron-working districts of Cleveland and Furness, namely Middlesbrough and Barrow-in-Furness.

The geographical distribution of the remaining more important English minerals may be passed in quicker review. Of the metals, the production of copper is a lapsing industry, confined to Cornwall. For the production of lead the principal counties are Derbyshire, Durham and Stanhope, but the industry is not extensive, and is confined to a few places in each county. Quarrying for limestone, clay and sandstone is general in most parts. For limestone the principal localities are in Durham, Derbyshire and Yorkshire, while for chalk-quarrying Kent is pre-eminent among a group of south-eastern counties, including Hampshire, Sussex and Surrey, with Essex. Fireclay is largely raised from coal-mines, while, among special clays, there is a considerable production of china and potter's clays in Cornwall, Devonshire and Dorsetshire. As regards igneous rocks, the Charnwood Forest quarries of Leicestershire, and those of Cornwall, are particularly noted for their granite. Slate is worked in Cornwall and Devon, and also in Lancashire and Cumberland, where, in the Lake District, there are several large quarries. Salt, obtained principally from brine but also as rock-salt, is an important object of industry in Cheshire, the output from that county and Staffordshire exceeding a million tons annually. In Worcestershire, Durham and Yorkshire salt is also produced from brine.

The total number of persons in any way occupied in connexion with mines and quarries in England and Wales in 1901 was 805,185; the number being found to increase rapidly, as from 528,474 in 1881. Coal-mines alone occupied 643,654, and to development in this direction the total increase is chiefly due. The number of ironstone and other mines decreased in the period noticed from 55,907 to 31,606.

_Manufacturing Industries._--There are of course a great number of important industries which have a general distribution throughout the country, being more or less fully developed here or there in accordance with the requirements of each locality. But in specifying the principal industries of any county, it is natural to consider those which have an influence more than local on its prosperity. In England, then, two broad classes of industry may be taken up for primary consideration--the textile and the metal. Long after textile and other industries had been flourishing in the leading states of the continent, in the Netherlands, Flanders and France, England remained, as a whole, an agricultural and pastoral country, content to export her riches in wool, and to import them again, greatly enhanced in value, as clothing. It is not to be understood that there were no manufacturing industries whatever. Rough cloth, for example, was manufactured for home consumption. But from Norman times the introduction of foreign artisans, capable of establishing industries which should produce goods fit for distant sale, occupied the attention of successive rulers. Thus the plantation of Flemish weavers in East Anglia, especially at the towns of Worstead (to which is attributed the derivation of the term worsted) and Norwich, dates from the 12th century. The industry, changing locality, like many others, in sympathy with the changes in modern conditions, has long been practically extinct in this district. Then, when religious persecution drove many of the industrial population of the west of Europe away from the homes of their birth, they liberally repaid English hospitality by establishing their own arts in the country, and teaching them to the inhabitants. Thus religious liberty formed part of the foundation of England's industrial greatness. Then came the material agent, machinery propelled by steam. The invention of the steam engine, following quickly upon that of the carding machine, the spinning jenny, and other ingenious machinery employed in textile manufactures, gave an extraordinary impulse to their development, and, with them, that of kindred branches of industry. At the basis of all of them was England's wealth in coal. The vast development of industries in England during the 19th century may be further correlated with certain events in the general history of the time. Insular England was not affected by the disturbing influences of the Napoleonic period in any such degree as was continental Europe. Such conditions carried on the work of British inventors in helping to develop industries so strongly that manufacturers were able to take full advantage of the opportunities offered by the American Civil War (in spite of the temporary disability it entailed upon the cotton industry) and by the Franco-German War. These wars tended to paralyse industries in the countries affected, which were thus forced to English markets to buy manufactured commodities. That England, not possessing the raw material, became the seat of the cotton manufacture, was owing to the ingenuity of her inventors. It was not till the later part of the 18th century, when a series of inventions, unparalleled in the annals of industry, followed each other in quick succession, that the cotton manufacture took real root in the country, gradually eclipsing that of other European nations, although a linen manufacture in Lancashire had acquired some prominence as early as the 16th century. But though the superior excellence of their machinery enabled Englishmen to start in the race of competition, it was the discovery of the new motive power, drawn from coal, which made them win the race. In 1815 the total quantity of raw cotton imported into the United Kingdom was not more than 99 millions of pounds, which amount had increased to 152 millions of pounds in 1820, and rose further to 229 millions in 1825, so that there was considerably more than a doubling of the imports in ten years.

Textiles.

The geographical analysis of the cotton industry in England is simple. It belongs almost entirely to south Lancashire--to Manchester and the great industrial towns in its neighbourhood. The industry has extended into the adjacent parts of Cheshire, the West Riding of Yorkshire and Derbyshire. The immediate neighbourhood of a coal-supply influenced the geographical settlement of this industry, like others; and the importance to the manufacture of a moist climate, such as is found on the western slope of the Pennines (in contradistinction to the eastern), must also be considered. The excess of the demand of the factories over the supply of raw material has become a remarkable feature of the industry in modern times.

The distribution of the woollen industries peculiarly illustrates the changes which have taken place since the early establishment of manufacturing industries in England. It has been seen how completely the industry has forsaken East Anglia. Similarly, this industry was of early importance along the line of the Cotteswold Hills, from Chipping Camden to Stroud and beyond, as also in some towns of Devonshire and Cornwall, but though it survives in the neighbourhood of Stroud, the importance of this district is far surpassed by that of the West Riding of Yorkshire, where the woollen industry stands pre-eminent among the many which, as already indicated, have concentrated there. As the cotton industry has in some degree extended from Lancashire into the West Riding, so has the woollen from the West Riding into a few Lancastrian towns, such as Rochdale. Among other textile industries attaching to definite localities may be mentioned the silk manufacture of eastern Staffordshire and Cheshire, as at Congleton and Macclesfield; and the hosiery and lace manufactures of Nottinghamshire, Derbyshire and Leicestershire.

Metal-working.

The metal-working industries also follow a geographical distribution, mainly governed by the incidence of the coal-fields, as well as by that of the chief districts for the production of iron-ore already indicated, such as the Cleveland and Durham and the Furness districts. But the district most intimately connected with every branch of this industry, from engineering and the manufacture of tools, &c., to working in the precious metals, is the "Black Country" and Birmingham district of Staffordshire, Warwickshire and Worcestershire. Apart from this district, large quantities of iron and steel are produced in the manufacturing areas of Lancashire and the West Riding of Yorkshire, and here, as in the Black Country, are found certain centres especially noted for the production of an individual class of goods, such as Sheffield for its cutlery. There is, further, a large engineering industry in the London district; and important manufactures of agricultural implements are found at many towns of East Anglia and in other agricultural localities. Birmingham and Coventry may be specially mentioned as centres of the motor and cycle building industry. The establishment of their engineering and other workshops at certain centres by the great railway companies has important bearing on the concentration of urban population. For example, by this means the London & North Western and the Great Western companies have created large towns in Crewe and Swindon respectively.