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The Story of how Fourmies became the
centre of French woollen industry
The wooded hilly area around Avesnes was home to many
early craft-based industries. Like the Pennine valleys of
Lancashire and Yorkshire, it was busy in France's
"industrial revolution". Ponds were created on many streams
to drive waterwheels - first (from the 16th century) for
forging iron, then in the 18th and 19th centuries, water
powered the spinning machines to make yarn from cotton and
especially wool.
Napoleonic wars
The Napoleonic
Wars kept out English competition, and in 1805
cotton-spinning started in Fourmies.
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Nineteenth century woollen
boom
By 1820 the town had 2 cotton mills, 3 ironworks and
1 glassworks. During the 19th century, woollen mills boomed
- in 1910, Fourmies was producing nearly HALF of France's
wool!
The railway arrived in Fourmies in 1869, bringing
cheapcoal supplies. The mills switched to steam, but water
from the old mill-ponds was still needed to fill the boilers
of the steam-engines, and to wash the wool.
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The Famous Strike
  
1.
In May 1891, the workers in Fourmies' mills went on strike
demanding "an 8 hour day".
2.
Strikers marched bravely - but France still had strong
anti-trade union laws - strikes were illegal.
3.
Popular songsheet cover
commemorating the famous Massacre in Fourmies of1st May 1891
- when Troops fired on the workers as they marched into the
square outside Fourmies church.
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First World War and
after
During the German
occupation 1914-18, 80% of the woollen mills were
destroyed or stripped of their machinery. After the war, 25
of the mills joined in a giant combine, "SFRF" to re-equip
and rebuild modernised mills,
This strength helped the mills survive the
1930'sDepression - in 1949 the Fourmies mills made 85% of
French wool.
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Fourmies Textile Museum
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1950s industrial crisis
Cheap competition from the Far east wiped out the French
woollen industry between 1950-55, just as it did in
Yorkshire. Today the area has become a quiet rural
backwater.
Part of the region's
Ecomusée
The museum covers 9 sites - each preserving a relic
of these old craft industries, and where possible recreating
its skills and the past way of life associated with those
craft workers of a bygone age.
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Background
information
Industrial
revolution in France
Water-power
& watermills
Windmills
Textile
industry
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in a review..
Reviewer - ??
Location: Ecomusée de
la Region Fourmies-Trélon,
Place Maria Blondeau BP65, 59612 FOURMIES
Information/ reservations:
Tel: 00 33 3 27 60 66 11
Fax: 00 33 3 27 60 23 88
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