Weavers' Triangle
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 Shown within Burnley town centre
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| Established | 26 August 1980 |
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| Location | 85 Manchester Rd, Burnley, Lancashire, England |
| Coordinates | 53°47′11″N 2°14′46″W / 53.7864°N 2.2461°W |
| Type | Historic textie-producing area with a cotton museum |
| Website | Official website |
The Weavers' Triangle is an area of Burnley in Lancashire, England consisting mostly of 19th-century industrial buildings at the western side of town centre clustered around the Leeds and Liverpool Canal. The area has significant historic interest as the cotton mills and associated buildings encapsulate the social and economic development of the town and its weaving industry. From the 1980s, the area has been the focus of major redevelopment efforts.
In the 1700s, Burnley, like Marsden and Colne, was a centre of the wool industry. It switched to cotton in the first half of the 1800s. Hargreaves' hand-operated spinning jenny was introduced in Blackburn in 1767; the model patented had 16 sixteen spindles and was treated with suspicion. The spinning jenny produced thread suitable for weft. Arkwright's power-driven water frame, which produced the greater twist suitable for warp, was even more unpopular. In 1777, Arkwright built a mill at Birkacre in Chorley. By 1779, the momentum against power-driven spinning machinery was such that rioters destroyed it. Spinners and investors were driven from Blackburn and Burnley towards Manchester, and it was many years before a spinning mill was built in Burnley.
In the early 1790s, construction of the Leeds and Liverpool Canal resumed after a decade-long suspension caused by the American War of Independence. During this time, the increasing economic importance of coal led to a change in the agreed. but disputed, route of the canal. It was moved south, away from Clitheroe’s agricultural lime, to a more expensive route via the Burnley Coalfield. At Burnley, the route almost encircled the town, passing through fields outside of it. Although weaving existed in the area, it was a woollen industry for local markets. The canal's opening coincided with the rise of cotton weaving and the use of steam power in textile mills, allowing greater freedom in their placement.
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Wikipedia