As the birthplace of the Industrial Revolution, England’s Northwest shaped the modern world. Built on the success of canals, cotton, coal, steam, railways, silk, hatting and more, this region’s pioneers created today’s industrialised society. This rich and fascinating history can be explored through hundreds of museums and attractions.

Cotton was the catalyst for the Industrial Revolution. Lancashire factory mills supplied the commercial exchanges of Manchester (nicknamed ‘Cottonopolis’ as it at one point it controlled 80% of the world’s finished cotton). The mighty docks of Liverpool exported vast quantities across the globe. Today the Merseyside Maritime Museum tells the story at Liverpool’s Albert Dock (part of a World Heritage Site), and the region has many superb museums and mills to visit along the Regional Route.

Richard Arkwright’s (“the father of the factory system”) spinning factories spread across Lancashire, despite weavers and spinners’ violent resistance to progress. Samuel Crompton developed the “spinning mule” even as rioters were burning down mills nearby. The introduction of steam engines into factories was the next step. The last remaining steam powered textile mill in Europe is the Queen Street Textile Mill Museum in Burnley with its 500 horsepower steam engine working the weaving shed of 300 rattling Lancashire looms.

Unique attractions continue around the region, showing industry as diverse as mining and hatting. Cheshire’s Anderton Boat Lift was the world’s first boat lift. The Museum of Science and Industry in Manchester is situated in one of the oldest passenger railway buildings in the world. The Lion Salt Works and The Salt Museum in Northwich tell the story of the former “salt capital of the world”.

The region has always been radical and revolutionary, and along the Regional Route you will discover the vital stories of the Co-operative movement, trade unions, Chartists, Suffragettes, Lancastrian Luddites, and the infamous the Peterloo massacre.