<P> Before 1780 , only water power was available to drive large mills , but they were dependent on a constant flow of water and built in rural locations , causing problems of labour supply , transportation of materials and access to urban merchants for large mill - owners . Steam engines had been used to pump water since the invention of the atmospheric engine by Thomas Newcomen in 1712 and , starting with the engine installed at Arkwright 's Haarlem Mill in Wirksworth , Derbyshire in 1780 , were used to supplement the supply of water to the water wheels of cotton mills . </P>
<P> Before 1780 , only water power was available to drive large mills , but they were dependent on a constant flow of water and built in rural locations , causing problems of labour supply , transportation of materials and access to urban merchants for large mill - owners . Steam engines had been used to pump water since the invention of the atmospheric engine by Thomas Newcomen in 1712 and , starting with the engine installed at Arkwright 's Haarlem Mill in Wirksworth , Derbyshire in 1780 , were used to supplement the supply of water to the water wheels of cotton mills . </P>
where did early textile mills have to be built
where did early textile mills have to be built
rural locations
rural locations