By the 16th century Manchester was a flourishing market borough important in the wool trade, exporting cloth to Europe via London. By 1620 a new industrial era had begun with the weaving of fustian, a cloth with a linen warp but a cotton weft. This was the origin of the cotton industry that was to transform southern Lancashire after 1770. As the trade grew, Manchester expanded and “improvements” were added, including the fine square and church of St. Ann (1712). From the 1760s onward, growth quickened with the onset of the Industrial Revolution. The first canal, bringing cheap coal from ...(100 of 4432 words)