How did Leek in Staffordshire become a centre for the silk industry in England ?

I have been researching a cousin's family history and find that whole families were involved in producing silk thread in Leek in the 19th century. It seems odd since silk would most likely be imported and therefore subsequent working would have been close to the port of entry.|||Interesting question, if you want to do further research try Macclesfield which was a bigger centre of the silk industry, presumably not all that far away from Leek, they have the major silk museum in the UK and lots of information you might be able to apply to Leek, look as well to see if Leek was on one of the canals which would answer your question about source.


Btw, you'd do better with this question in History or Genealogy under Arts and Humanities rather than Local Business which tends to be contemporary!!!!