Apart from the dignitaries who lived in Royton Hall, the population of Royton during the Middle Ages comprised a small community of retainers and farmers, most of whom were involved with pasture, but supplemented their incomes by weaving woollens in the domestic system. The area was thinly populated and consisted of several hamlets, including Thorp, Heyside and Royton village itself as the nucleus. During the Early Modern period, the weavers of Royton had been using spinning wheels in makeshift weavers' cottages, but as both the demand for cotton goods increased and the technology of cotton-spinning machinery improved during the early-18th century, the need for larger structures to house bigger, better and more efficient equipment became apparent. The construction of a water powered cotton mill by Ralph Taylor at Thorp Clough in 1764, is said to be the first structure of its kind. The construction of more mills followed, which initiated a process of urbanisation and socioeconomic transformation in the region; the population moved away from farming, adopting employment in the factory system. The introduction of the factory system led to a tenfold increase of Royton's population in less than a century; from 260 in 1714 to 2,719 in 1810. Despite its growth as a centre for cotton-cloth production, and the construction of a chapel of ease in 1754, in 1780 Royton was said to have "contained only a few straggling and mean-built cottages". The people of Royton continued to produce cotton goods (mainly cloth) and sell them at the market in Manchester.