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
es