existence as early if not earlier than the spirit stirring times of Queen Elizabeth, 1558—1603. Crompton was specially benefitted in its wealth and population by the prosperity of the woollen manufacture, so much so as to lead to the erection of Shaw chapel, in the memorable reign just alluded to.

Complaints of the over stretching of cloth upon the tenters and other fraudulent practices were frequent, and an act passed in the reign of Edward the Fourth, 1461-1483 to prevent these misdeeds, states "that the workmanship of cloths and other woollen goods had become of such fraud and deceit as to be held in small reputation in other countries, to the great shame of this land; and that by reason thereof, great quantities of foreign cloths were imported, and sold at high prices." Another act was also passed at the same period requiring that the clothiers should pay ready money to their workpeople, the "truck system" being practised at that early period. The numerous acts passed in the reign of Elizabeth for the prevention of frauds in manufactures, evince that trade was then considerably upon the increase.

Taking the earliest returns of baptisms at Oldham church as the only approximate means of judging of the amount of population at this period, it appears the entire number of inhabitants in the township of Oldham, and parts of Royton and Chadderton, in 1558, did not amount to 600 persons, but by 1600 they had increased to the enormous number of 680! - about the same number of individuals as are at present contained in the village of Cowhill, or the number which are employed in a single cotton mill of second rate size. The population of the town of Manchester at the same period was about 4000, which is somewhere near the present population of the village of Shaw and its vicinity.

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