Sawston Village History Society

East Anglian Wool Trade, by Mary Dicken

The Speaker at the May meeting was Mary Dicken on the East Anglian Wool Trade.

The wool and cloth trade was the dominant manufacturing industry in East Anglia from the twelfth century to the sixteenth and many surnames are derived from the processes. The medieval sheep were long- woolled and the quality of the grass in Suffolk and Norfolk meant that superior wool was produced. The sheep were sheared using hand clippers which remained unchanged until electric shears were introduced.

The wool then had to be sorted, cleaned and beaten and could be dyed at this stage – known as dyed in the wool. The most popular dye was woad to produce blue cloth, followed by madder for red cloth. The wool was then either combed with a tool with iron teeth to separate the fibres or carded and could then be spun, usually by a spinster, an unmarried woman, using a distaff. Weaving was largely carried out by men working at home, as it demanded more physical strength.

The next process was fulling to thicken the cloth, either using foot power or a fulling-mill. It was then dried on special frames to prevent shrinkage and was attached to the frame by tenterhooks. It was then napped to make it softer, often used the seed heads of teasles.

The importance of the wool and cloth trade is shown in the taxation which it attracted as a main source of income for the crown. It was the taxation on wool which set the precedent that all taxes in England must be agreed by Parliament in order to be legal. The Lord Chancellor sat on the Woolsack to preside over the House of Lords, again showing how vital the industry was.

In East Anglia one of the main centres was Lavenham, known for Lavenham blue cloth, most of which was exported from Yarmouth or London and the merchants who grew rich there built houses and the Guildhall to show off their wealth. The most successful were the Spring family with three merchants called Thomas. Thomas Spring III contributed largely to Lavenham Church notably the tower and the Lady Chapel. Other centres were Kersey, after which a lighter kind of cloth was named and Worstead where a tighter cloth was woven and restricted to this area around Norwich.

In Suffolk, Hadleigh is a less well-known centre, notable for its vast Church, medieval houses and shops and its well- preserved Town Hall and Guildhall complex. The merchants in Norwich flourished after the ingress of weavers fleeing unrest in Flanders and displayed their prosperity by building Churches, 58 in all, to serve a population of 11 000. The weavers often kept canaries for company as theirs was a solitary occupation. The trade was also centred on wool fairs such as St Matthew’s fair at Bury St Edmunds and these developed into the kind of fair we have today.

The trade declined as a result of competition from merino wool from Spain and changing demands and eventually mechanisation which required water power which was not available in East Anglia. Lavenham became much less prosperous very quickly and the people could not afford to update their houses, which is why it remains so full of timbered and jettied buildings.

The talk concluded with a look at the many everyday sayings which derive from the wool and cloth industries.

David Bard