THIS picture shows the weaving shed at Hole House Mill in Blackburn in 1911.
At this time, out of the town's population of 133,000 almost 42,000 were working in textiles.
Blackburn employed more weavers than any other town in the world.
Burnley was close behind, with nearly 26,000 weavers.
Between 1910 and 1911, the number of looms in Blackburn soared by over 19,500 to 87,377.
From the start of the century to the outbreak of the war, 21 new mills were built in the town, bringing its total to 150.
Many of the workers were children, as this picture shows.
Out of Blackburn's massive weaving force in 1911, 814 were boys and girls as young as 12 working on the half-time system which required them to spend half a day at school.
The half-time system ended in 1920.
Weaving here ended in 1959.
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