Infrastructure
Daniel Defoe wrote "Settle is the capital of an isolated little kingdom of its own surrounded by barren hills." Because of its remoteness Settle saw mostly only local commerce. The old roads were pack horses trails and Drovers' roads along hilltops because the valley used to be soft and swampy before field drainage and dredging of stream estuaries.
In the 1700s textile industrialists supported by traders and landowners campaigned for a turnpike to make connections with growing industrial towns. The minute book for the Keighley and Kendal Turnpike Trust shows that most of the investors were from hereabouts.. Yet in 1827 the Trust, having miscalculated the cost of road maintenance, was in debt by £34,000 . When in 1877 it was terminated the investors received back on average 54% of their deposit. However they had benefitted in that Settle was now well connected. For example the Langcliffe Cotton Mill was built 1784-1794 by Clayton and Walshman who had already established a successful mill at Keighley. They imported cotton pickers from Keighley: children for whom they providing respectable lodgings, clothing and basic education.. The heavy industries that exported Agricultural lime and sandstone masonry, or imported coal, welcomed the turnpike for easy access via carrier waggons to the new Leeds and Liverpool Canal port at Gargrave. The first passenger stagecoach arrived in 1763. In 1786 the Mail Coach ran regularly. In the early 1800s the Union coach for passengers ran each way on alternate days and by 1840 it ran daily.
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