Living Conditions during the Industrial Revolution varied from the luxury of the homes of the owners to the unpleasantness of the lives of the workers.  A good example of how the newly rich chose to live is Cliffe Castle, in Keighley (picture to the left). This is a large home modeled loosely on a castle. The home is very large and was surrounded by a massive garden, the estate itself stretching for a number of miles. Poor people lived in small houses in cramped streets. These homes would share bathrooms, and would have open sewers (picture to the right). Conditions did improve  during the 19th century as a number of public health acts were introduced covereing things such as sewage, sanitation and imposing some restricions upon the construction of homes. (schoolshistory.org)

           

          Many factory workers were children. They worked long hours and were often treated badly by the supervisors or overseers. The coal mines were dangerous places where roofs sometimes caved in, explosions happened and workers got all sorts of injuries. There were very few safety rules. Cutting and moving coal which machines do nowadays was done by men, women and children.The younger children often worked as "trappers" who worked trap doors. They sat in a hole hollowed out for them and held a string which was fastened to the door. When they heard the coal wagons coming they had to open the door by pulling a string. This job was one of the easiest down the mine but it was very lonely and the place were they sat was usually damp and draughty.Older children might be employed as "coal bearers" carrying loads of coal on their backs in big baskets.The Mines Act was passed by the Government in 1842 forbidding the employment of women and girls and all boys under the age of teen down mines. Later it became illegal for a boy under 12 to work down a mine. While thousands of children worked down the mine, thousands of others worked in the cotton mills. The mill owners often took in orphans to their workhouses; they lived at the mill and were worked as hard as possible. They spent most of their working hours at the machines with little time for fresh air or exercise. Even part of Sunday was spent cleaning machines. There were some serious accidents, some children were scalped when their hair was caught in the machine, hands were crushed and some children were killed when they fell asleep and rolled into a machine. (nettlesworth.durham)