Ramsbottom Grant Arms Hotel in Market Place was the home of William and Daniel Grant, 19th century industrialists closely associated with the rise of the town and reputed to be the inspiration for the Cheeryble brothers in "Nicholas Nickleby" by Charles Dickens. The Grants' employees were paid in tokens that had to be redeemed at a public house owned by the company. The landlord converted the tokens into cash, but only after deducting threepence per person, which had to be spent on beer, a variation on the truck system. A network of roads and railways routed through Ramsbottom allowed for a
Dickens in America were outraged that Dickens was advocating reciprocal copyright laws, but in the same issue where they chastised Dickens, they were pirating "American Notes", publishing it right on the front page. Dickens commented that the social reform he hoped to see in America was not working. “This is not the republic I came to see,” he said. Dickens wrote about pigs wandering up and down the city streets. Miriam says she is thankful we don’t see anything like that today, as a woman walks by with a pet pot-bellied pig on a leash. Dickens talked about the colors of women’s clothing,