Sweep: The Story of a Girl and Her Monster

During the 18th and 19th centuries, England went through a period of intense industrialization known as the Industrial Revolution. This transitional period fundamentally and irrevocably changed everyone’s way of life in England. Before this period, England was ruled by the feudal system and was largely a pastoral, agricultural country; most people were involved in farming and lived in small hamlets that were overseen by local aristocrats. Those who did not farm produced goods on a small scale for their local communities; clothing and equipment were made with locally produced materials. Before the Industrial Revolution, travel between places was also costly and time-consuming, so people mainly stayed in the same general area for the entirety of their lives.

Industrialization changed the fabric of English society. Mechanized farming procedures meant that food could be produced on a large scale; these techniques favored larger farms rather than many individually run farms. This shift meant that people needed to earn wages in order to buy food, rather than producing food themselves. Many people drifted into cities for work, where factories had replaced hand-looms for mass producing material and clothing. Furthermore, mechanized means of transport meant that people could more ably travel long distances between places.