Industry
The Churnet has been heavily influenced by industry along its length for nearly a thousand years and as a result became possibly the most polluted river in Europe. The river was heavily used in Leek by the textile industry to make dyes. The dyeing industry was established in 1734 and it was claimed that the water from the Churnet was the finest in Europe for this purpose. In nearby Cheddleton the Churnet was used to power a flint mill that ground down flint for use in the pottery industry. Further downriver at Froghall and at Oakamoor the Thomas Bolton Copper works used the power of the Churnet to help manufacture the world's first transatlantic telegraph cables. The processes involved in manufacturing copper wire at the sites caused high levels of pollution.
The Churnet Valley was heavily involved in the iron smelting industry and it is documented from as long ago as 1290 that iron was smelted using the river as its main source of energy. The early forges were at East Wall,near to Oakamoor but a later forge is still standing at Consall, next to the locks on the Caldon Canal.
The Caldon Canal runs with the river through the Churnet Valley and along parts the river is canalised. There was intensive freight traffic on the waterway transporting limestone and ironstone from the wharves on the canal.
Today the only industrial use of the river is by the sand quarry at Oakamoor.
Since the decline of industry in Leek and the Churnet Valley, the quality of the water has improved so much that a programme of re-introducing Salmon is underway.
Read more about this topic: River Churnet
Famous quotes containing the word industry:
“The reason American cars don’t sell anymore is that they have forgotten how to design the American Dream. What does it matter if you buy a car today or six months from now, because cars are not beautiful. That’s why the American auto industry is in trouble: no design, no desire.”
—Karl Lagerfeld (b. 1938)
“You must, to get through life well, practice industry with economy, never create a debt for anything that is not absolutely necessary, and if you make a promise to pay money at a day certain, be sure to comply with it. If you do not, you lay yourself liable to have your feelings injured and your reputation destroyed with the just imputation of violating your word.”
—Andrew Jackson (1767–1845)
“... we’re not out to benefit society, to remold existence, to make industry safe for anyone except ourselves, to give any small peoples except ourselves their rights. We’re not out for submerged tenths, we’re not going to suffer over how the other half lives. We’re out for Mary’s job and Luella’s art, and Barbara’s independence and the rest of our individual careers and desires.”
—Anne O’Hagan (1869–?)