The initial growth of newspaper publishing in Wales was slow in comparison to that of urban England, mainly due to distribution problems caused by poor transport networks and in particular rail links. It was further hindered by taxes on paper, advertising and the newspapers themselves. This changed in the early 19th century when Wales experienced sweeping social changes due to the Industrial Revolution. A rapid surge in population growth, along with the adoption of radacalist political views and the growth of Nonconformity saw the development of newspapers publishing in Wales. However the market for newspapers in Wales was much smaller than in England and was also to some extent split between two languages.