Académique Documents
Professionnel Documents
Culture Documents
Many of the bigger homesteads had their looms and weaving sheds, whilst the
poorest cottage had hand-cards and spinning wheel. Women learnt to knit ' as soon
as they could talk", and finished a whole stocking a day. According to one
authority: "Every pennyworth of wool was converted into a shilling". As much as
half-a-guinea was paid for a pair of hose made from the soft wool of
Merionethshire. Factories were set up in such towns as Dolgelley in the valley of
Mawddach, and Machynlleth and Llanbrynmair in the vale of Dovey. The industry
was located in areas where water-power could be harnessed and between 1800 and
1830, many spinning and weaving factories were established, particularly in the
Severn valley, an area which was linked with canal system of the kingdom in
1821.
The Welsh economy was profiting increasingly from maritime trade with the rest
of the world. Instead of transporting the wool to England, flannel and other
woollen goods were exported from the ports of Wales, largely to America. There,
they were used to clothe soldiers and slaves. Successive monarchs taxed the wool
trade, especially when they had special need for added revenue, such as in times of
ware. In 1340, 30,000 sacks of wool were granted to King Edward III to support
the French war.
Wool was made up into bales and half-bales, a full bale consisting of 110 yards.
The warp of the product was made of the fleece wool of the country, and the woof,
was mixture of the same material with from 30% to 50% of lamb's wool. It was
made entirely on handlooms. As a rule, the clip was sold in its rough unbleached
state, and sent elsewhere for bleaching and fulling. About 1780, fulling-mills were
established in the neighbourhood - which accounts for the presence of so many
'pandys' in the vicinity, and it became customary to hand the products for bleaching
on wooden trellises or 'tenters' as they were called, which were a common feature
of the countryside.
Sources:
The History of Wales, J. Graham Jones
Brief Glory - The Story of a Quest, D.W. Morgan
A History of Wales, John Davies
The Story of Two parishes, Dolgelley & Llanelltyd, T.P. Ellis
http://www.rothbury.com
http://www.somersetlarders.com
http://footguards.tripod.com/06ARTICLES/ART31_woolindustry.htm
Woollen Family Names
Family names which have come through participation in the wool trade.
Believe it or not
Miscellaneous 'facts' about Wool
English wool (which included Welsh wool) was sold to the most skilled weavers in
Europe (the Flemish) and the resulting yarn used for a number of purposes not
necessarily connected with textiles.
One of these uses was the manufacture of bow strings. Welsh wool twisted into
twine made the strongest box strings in Europe. The strength of the resulting twin
enabled the Welsh to cut a much narrower notch in their arrows than the French. In
medieval warfare archers soon ran out of arrows and relied on being able to use
arrows fired by their opponents. The narrow v-shaped notch in Welsh arrows was
too narrow for the French to be able to fire them back, using the thick -twined
bows they carried. The Welsh, however, were easily able to fire back French
arrows as they fitted the narrow bow string perfectly well.
Source: - http://oii.org/cyberu/
One pound of wool can be spun into 20 miles of yarn
A perfectly preserved woollen sock was found buried in silt on the banks of a river
in England. The sock is estimated to be 1,000 years old.