<P> In 1734 in Bury, Lancashire, John Kay invented the flying shuttle--one of the first of a series of inventions associated with the cotton industry . The flying shuttle increased the width of cotton cloth and speed of production of a single weaver at a loom . Resistance by workers to the perceived threat to jobs delayed the widespread introduction of this technology, even though the higher rate of production generated an increased demand for spun cotton . </P> <P> In 1738, Lewis Paul (one of the community of Huguenot weavers that had been driven out of France in a wave of religious persecution) settled in Birmingham and with John Wyatt, of that town, they patented the Roller Spinning machine and the flyer - and - bobbin system, for drawing wool to a more even thickness . Using two sets of rollers that travelled at different speeds yarn could be twisted and spun quickly and efficiently . This was later used in the first cotton spinning mill during the Industrial Revolution . </P> <P> 1742: Paul and Wyatt opened a mill in Birmingham which used their new rolling machine powered by donkey; this was not profitable and was soon closed . </P> <P> 1743: A factory opened in Northampton, fifty spindles turned on five of Paul and Wyatt's machines proving more successful than their first mill . This operated until 1764 . </P>

Where were most british textile mills located in 1850