How Towns Have Arisen Most villages and towns on the British Isles came into being because of their favourable situation for trade. Rather more than a hundred years ago, a great change came over the land. Many machines were invented about that time. Spinning and weaving, for example, which had previously been done by hand, were done by machinery that were driven by water or steam-power. The work which usually was done in the houses of the people began to be carried on in large mills or factories, and workers found it convenient to live near them. More and more factories were built and men and women left the country districts in great numbers and crowded into towns. Since then the movement of people into towns has been going on until now. England is dotted with great cities. All over Britain, and especially in those parts were the coal needed for power is to be found, there are mining and manufacturing areas, such as the Lancashire cotton district,