THE WOOLLEN TRADE.

Hawera Star, Volume XLVIII, 12 July 1924, Page 7

THE WOOLLEN TRADE.

ITS EARLY HISTORY IN YORKSHIRE. Writing in the Halifax Courier, J.W.H. says:— ‘"Hie Carly Yorkshire Woollen Traetc." extracts irom the Hull Customs' Roils and complete transcripts of tne villagers’ Rolls, edited by Jonn I.ister, i11. a., of iira.senose College, Uxtoid, and the inner Temple. Jiarn.ster-at-Law. .

Hie above work, published under the auspices of the IcrKshire Archaeological Society, must by its very nature have a restricted appeal to readers, but serious students of this subject ol economic history will find in it a record meticulously compiled and edited of documents in the majority of cases hitherto unprinted. Tne-se in the case of Customs records date from 1304, and of Ulnagers’ from 1378. Mr Lister’s introduction provides much food for thought, and with regard to the woollen industry it may help to the formation of more definite views on points which are still debatable. The magnitude of the task which the author set himself is sufficient proof of his love of the subject. Even in the printed English the number of accounts and lists of Ulnagers are formidable enough, but when one has bad the privilege, as the writer has, of seeing the photographic leproduetions from the Record Office of documents whose contents are often largely obliterated by the ravages of time, and when one realises, too, that they are all in Latin, and abbreviated Latin at that, one can appreciate the amount of untiring energy that has been expended in the production of this work. What is the purpose and value of the book? By his 'researches the author helps decidedly in the refutation of some beliefs which in the past have been too widely published on certain aspects of the history of the woollen trade. His findings disprove the great value that has been attached by some writers to .the work done in England by the Flemings in weaving, fulling, ancl dyeing. Of course no one now follows the views of Kanin ancl subsequent historians following sheep-like in his train, that the industry was introduced by these aliens in Edward fll.’s time; and the views of others regarding the influence of the Flemings in the 11th. 12th’ and 14th centuries are at any rate partially disproved -by the publication of these records. That only 60 common cloths were exported in 1354, twenty-one years after one immigration, shows little result of Flemish influence. “Coarse jerseys,” these records show, were the main production of Yorkshire both before and after the coming of the Flemings, and as regards finer cloths more were exported before than after their arrival. Also as the duty was in some cases an ad valorem one (Customs Roll xi.), the author rightly asks whether the production of an alien manufacturer, if of better quality, would not have been charged for at a higfher rate. There is no evidence that this is the case. 7 That from tlie days of Henrv 11. to those of Edward 111. there had been a falling off in manufacture is conceded. That the error of Bishop Fuller’s mid-seventeenth century opinion of the ignorance of the English in the woollen trade has been, fully exposed by Mr Heaton in bis book , ‘‘The Yorkshire Woollen Industries.” That the value of “Pers” or blue cloths of Beverley was put at 6s a yard (i.e., £4 10s in modern money), in 1319, a time when the art of clothmaking is alleged by some to have; fallen into fallen into decay, is a telling agreement against the view that great technical, improvements followed upon the coming of the Flemings in Edward 111.’s time. It will be interesting to see the 'reviews of the book from the hands of the more competent judges- than the writer. Various sidelights and gleams of interest for the casual reader appear from time to time. Scarborough is not usually thought of as a, port for export for woollens, yet it had some such slight trade in 1310; nor is the River Ouse usually associated with salmon-fishing, yet the staking off of “roomes”, in its waters led to more than one 'shipwreck, ..resulting in one case in the loss of “two Austin Friars . . and other merchandise.” Yorkshire shrewdness with regard to dutiable cloths also strikes one’s attention. In line, for the cause of historical accuracy regarding a staple industry of Yorkshire, and for the purposes, of reference, Mr Lister has produced a work which commands our respect and admiration.