and tlien the other to appear on the surface. The 

 result was a smooth-faced or flat material of double 

 construction with a pattern, commonly of two colors, 

 on both sides. In other words, it was reversible, an 

 advantage of ingrain over other types of carpeting. 

 These double-woven floor coverings were manu- 

 factured in various places after which they were 

 often named either specifically as to town or generally 

 as to country. There were "English" carpets as well 

 as those from Kidderminster, a town in England that 

 had been associated with carpets in the 1 7th century 

 and where the manufacture of double-cloth carpets is 

 generally believed to date from about 1 735. In 

 Scotland, Kilmarnock was similarly associated with 

 carpets although double-cloth weaving in that town 

 is not believed to have started until the 1 780s. Never- 

 theless, the manufacture of woven carpeting in 

 Scotland would appear to have begun much earlier 

 because in the middle of the 18th century it was well 

 enough known to serve as an example to explain the 

 type of carpet made at Kidderminster. The com- 

 parison was made in 1751 by an Englishman, Bishop 

 Pococke, who wrote of his earlier visit to Kidder- 

 minster : 



That place is famous for carpets made without nap. like 

 the .Scotch, but now they make the same as at Wilton, 

 and it is said they are attempting to weave 'em in 

 one piece."" 



Clearly, loom-woven carpets without pile were 

 closely identified with Scotland at this date. And 

 before long, "Scotch" seems to have become a syno- 

 nym for this type of carpet, whatever its origin. 

 "Ingrain" also was synonymous with pileless carpets. 

 Of all the names used, this one is, perhaps, the most 

 accurate since the threads were actually ingrained into 

 each other. Ingrain also may mean dyed in the fiijcr 

 or yarn and therefore might be applied to any carpet 

 made of colored threads dyed before being woven. 

 One or the other of the definitions or both of coiuse 

 could have been intended when the word ingrain was 

 used. The word "Scotch" is subject to the same 

 double meaning. It might denote either type or 

 place of origin. Nevertheless, the terms "ingrain" 

 and "Scotch" seem to have been associated more 

 often than not with pileless, double-cloth weavings 

 for floors in both the 18th and the 19th centuries. 



On this side of the Atlantic, double-woven carpets 

 were available in most of the large port cities during 

 the second half of the 18th century. "English 

 Carpets," for example, were listed among a complete 

 set of household furniture "just imported . . . from 

 London" that was advertised for sale in the Annapolis 

 Maryland Gazelle of June 25, 1 752. Earlier in the same 

 year, a notice in the Boston Evening Post of February 24 

 mentioned "2 small English Carpets for Bed sides" 

 among the stolen goods "Taken oflf a Shop Window at 

 Noon." In 1766, Charles Carroll ordered among 

 other items from London, "1 Good English Carpet 

 wth. Lively Colours 12/4 by 14.""' 



English was still being used as one name for pileless, 

 two-ply carpets a quarter of a century later when a 

 merchant announced in the New-York Daily Adverliser 

 of June 16, 1791, that he had "just received by the 

 last Spring vessels" and had for sale "Carpets & Car- 

 peting, English ingrained, of superior quality, both 

 black & green groimds." And in 1798, New Yorkers 

 could buy "Cheap for Cash English ingrain and 

 Brussels Carpeting," according to an advertisement 

 in the August 27 issue of the New-York Gazelle and 

 General Adverliser. An advertisement in the same 

 newspaper on May 22 of the following year for the 

 sale of floor coverings included "English ingrained" 

 carpeting, 36 inches wide. 



These carpets were sometimes ordered by a specific 

 name such as the "2 Kilmarnock Carpets, 1 large and 

 1 small" listed in the Jacquelin invoice of 1769, pre- 

 viously cited. But the general designation "Scotch" 

 was usually employed. For instance, among the 

 goods which a New York merchant, James Beekman, 

 requested from Peach and Pierce of Bristol, England, 

 in a "memorandum for sundries," dated December 

 12, 1770, were "1 piece Scotch Carpetting yard wide 

 quantity about 30 yard" as well as the same 

 amount of this type of carpeting in each of the follow- 

 ing widths: yard and a half, three-fourths, and lialf 

 yard. A marginal note accompanying this portion of 

 Beekman's order read: "bright colours cheapest Sort 

 for tryal." '- Earlier in the same year a Virginian, 



'" The Travels Throuoh England of Dr. Richard Pococke, succes- 

 sively Bishop of Mealfi and of Ossory, During 7750, 7757, and later 

 years, edit. James Joel Cartwright, Camden Society (188R), 

 new ser., vol. 42, part 1, p. 230. 



'' Invoice of goods enclosed in .t letter from Charles Carroll, 

 barrister, Maryland, to Mr. William Anderson, London, 

 Oct. 29, 1766. In "Letters of Charles Carroll, Barrister," 

 op. cit. (footnote 14) (.September 1941), vol. :56, p. 339. 



'- Letter from James Beekman, New York, to Peach and 

 Pierce, Bristol, England, Dec. 12, 1770. In The Beekman 

 Mercantile Papers. 7746-7799, transcribed and edit. Philip L. 

 White (New York: The New-York Historical Society, 1956), 

 vol. 2, p. 883. 



30 



BULLETIN 2 50: CONTRIBUTIONS FROM THE MUSEUM OF HISTORY AND TECHNOLOGY 



