56 Bradford-upon- Avon. 
there,’ and which is endorsed,—“ July the 6th, 1677. Mr. Anthony 
Methwin promised the payment of 3s. 4d. for caution money.” 
The energy of the ‘Methwins’ and the ‘Cams’ bore good fruit in 
the great increase of the trade of the town ;—indeed Aubrey! bears 
witness that “Mr. Paul Methwin of Bradford was the greatest 
cloathier of his time.” Nor should we forget to mention Anthony 
and William Druce, whose name is still preserved in ‘Druce’s Hill’ 
(before called ‘The Green’), a spot of ground no great distance 
from the church-yard, and who belonged to the Society of Quakers, 
then numerous here as in other towns in Wiltshire; and John 
Curll, whose memory must ever be held in affectionate esteem in 
a parish whose poor inhabitants benefit yearly throtigh his muni- 
ficence.2 By the efforts of these and others Bradford enlarged to 
a very great degree the extent of its manufactures. Cottages 
sprung up in every quarter, each one furnished with its loom, and 
plenty of work to secure its constant employment. Our town, in 
fact, became a steady-going,—business-like,—money-making place. 
Cloth-making was lucrative, and so a large amount of capital was 
year by year invested in it. In the year 1723, we find no less than 
twenty-five clothiers in the parish of Bradford, the greater part of 
them in the town itself, and the value of their stock-in-trade was 
computed at £40,000, a sum relatively much larger than it would 
be deemed at present, but one which, even thus reckoned, would 
bear a small proportion to the capital employed at the commence- 
ment of the present century. Amongst the clothiers of that day, 
we find the well known names of Heyleyn,—Thresher,—Methuen, 
—Druce,—Baskerville,— Halliday,—Shewell,—Shrapnell,—Bush, 
—Self,—and Yerbury. 
The rest of the history of our town may be shortly told. From 
the middle of the last century till within some sixteen years ago, it 
is hardly more than a continued record of successful industry. In 
1 «Natural History of Wilts,’ p. 113. 
2 John Curll bequeathed to the poor of Bradford, not usually receiving alms 
of the parish, £30, to be paid annually out of the proceeds of land at Chirton, 
near Devizes, and to be distributed in Crowns amongst 120 such poor persons 
on St. Thomas’ Day in each year. 
