The
Swing Riots were a widespread uprising in 1830 by agricultural workers in southern and eastern England, in protest at agricultural mechanisation and harsh working conditions. It began with the destruction of
threshing machines in the
Elham Valleyarea of
East Kent in the summer of 1830, and by early December had spread through the whole of southern England and
East Anglia.
[1]
The first threshing machine was destroyed on Saturday night, 28 August 1830 and, by the third week of October, more than 100 threshing machines had been destroyed in East Kent. As well as attacking the popularly hated threshing machines, which displaced workers, the protesters rioted over low wages and required
tithes, destroying
workhouses and
tithe barns associated with their oppression. They also burned
ricks and maimed cows.
[1][2]
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