Key learning points

1. During Victorian times, Britain changed a lot as people left the countryside to work in new factories in towns.
2. Some people thought these changes were good; this can be seen in William Wyld's painting 'Manchester from Kersal Moor'.
3. He makes the factory chimneys look pretty by putting them next to church spires, and painting golden sunlight on them.
4. But these cities and towns were not nice places to live, with lots of crowding, pollution and poor health.
5. These poor conditions can be seen in Gustave Doré's engraving 'Over London - By Rail'.

Keywords

• Factories - large buildings full of machines where people work making things are called factories

• Chimney - chimneys extend out of the roof of a building, they carry smoke from a fire inside the building and allow it to be released into the sky

• Spire - a spire is a tall, narrow, pointed structure usually on top of a church tower

Common misconception