44 Bradford-upon-Avon. 
Wright of Englefield, in the county of Berks, to whom, in right of 
his wife, as has been already mentioned, the Lordship of the Manor 
of Bradford had descended,—“ for the encouragement of learning 
and good manners within the parish of Bradford, demised unto Wil- 
liam Methuen and eight others, the building adjoining the Church- 
yard of Bradford, commonly called the Skud/-house, and then conver- 
ted into a Charity School-house, to hold the same for the term of 1000 
years, without impeachment of waste, paying a pepper-corn rent, 
upon trust that the said Trustees should use the aforesaid edifice or 
building as a Charity School-house,’ &c. The building referred to, 
is the very ancient one to which we have already alluded. (Plate ii.) 
It was probably used at one time as a Charnel-house, and hence the 
name it bore—Skuil-house—at the time of its conveyance to Trus- 
tees for the purpose of being used as a School-house. 
A notice of Bradford would be incomplete without a few words 
on the subject of the wool-trade, in which, from an early period, some 
of its principal inhabitants were engaged. For many centuries, 
the words of Leland have been true, ‘‘Al the toun of Bradeford 
stondith by clooth-making.”! Any one who has at all studied the 
early history of our country, must be well aware that, at one time, the 
trade in wool was of the greatest importance; in fact our commerce 
was almost confined to the exportation of wool, the great staple 
commodity of England, upon which, more than any other, in its 
raw or manufactured state, our national wealth has been founded. 
So that Fuller was quite right when he said, “ Well might the 
French ambassador return ‘France, France, France,’ reiterated to 
every petty title of the King of Spain; and our English ‘wool, 
wool, wool’ may counterpoise the numerous but inconsiderable com- 
modities of other countries.’”” 
Originally our wool was exported to Flanders for the most part, 
and there made into cloth. In the time of Edward IIJ, however, 
a different plan began to be adopted. In 1331, he took advantage 
of the discontent among the merchants of Flanders to invite them 
as settlers in his dominions, and they brought hither some manu- 
1 Itinerary i. 54. 
2 Fuller’s ‘ Worthies.’ Wiltshire ( Introduction). 
