A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE 



Boonfield, Pipe Lane, and by W. Brown, in 

 Fengate. The industry ceased on the death of 

 Mr. VV. Brown in 1890. As far as can be 

 ascertained there was no suitable clay to be 

 obtained locally, and it was all imported. The 

 iron moulds used for pipe-making by Mr. Brown 

 were presented to Peterborough Museum in 1 895. 



There does not appear to have been much 

 development in the mode of manufacture of 

 clay pipes, so far as one can judge in comparing 

 specimens of the seventeenth century with those 

 of our own day, except that a greater variety of 

 shape and more ornamentation are now employed. 

 A short space may be well devoted to describing 

 the mode of manufacture. 



First, the clay is washed and 'sifted ' to rid it 

 of extraneous substance. It is then well soaked 

 and tempered by hammering with a heavy iron 

 bar ; this renders it soft and malleable. After a 

 further soaking the operator, taking a small lump, 

 rolls it out on a table, first by hand, then by 

 means of a shaped board, until it obtains the 

 rough form of a pipe with long stem and knob 

 at the end to represent the bowl. The rough 



shapes are left to dry partially. When ready one 

 is taken and pierced right up the stem with a 

 long steel instrument (a delicate operation 

 requiring a nice sense of touch) and placed in an 

 iron mould, which is made in halves closely 

 fitting together, and the exact shape of the 

 finished pipe. The mould is inserted into a 

 small machine, consisting of a screw, gin-head, 

 and lever handle, and pressure induced by the 

 lever compresses the clay until it entirely fills the 

 mould, and at the same time hollows the bowl of 

 the pipe. The shaped clay is now released from 

 the mould, the piercer is withdrawn, and the 

 pipe placed in a rack to dry further. It is then 

 taken by the finisher, who scrapes off any rough- 

 ness and once more introduces the piercer, to 

 make sure the draught is clear. After further 

 drying the pipes are packed in fire-brick boxes, 

 termed ' saggers,' and baked in a coke-heated 

 kiln for eight hours. After the withdrawal and 

 cooling of the pipes sealing wax is applied to 

 each stem-end to prevent adhesion to the lips of 

 the smoker, and the process of manufacture is 

 complete. 



LEATHER 



In the earliest notices of the leather trade in 

 Northampton we hear of the ' Tanners,' who by 

 means of liquors produced from the bark of oak- 

 trees turned the thick ox hides into leather fit for 

 boot soles and harness, and who also tanned calf 

 skins, which, being passed on to the currier, were 

 by him stuffed with oil and fat, and thus rendered 

 soft and pliable for boot uppers. We also hear of 

 the ' Tawyers,' probably divided into two classes, 

 (i) the oil dresser who would deal with the heavier 

 classes of skins, such as horse and deer, dressing 

 them into ' buff leather ' ; and (2) the whitawer,' 

 using alum and salt for his medium, and dealing 

 with the pelts of dog, sheep, and goat. It 

 should be said that all these means are in use at 

 the present day in preparing different kinds of 

 leather. 



All towns of any size in mediaeval England 

 would have their various forms of leather 

 industry ; in fact Professor Thorold Rogers goes 

 so far as to say 'that tanning or tawing of leather 

 was a by-product in most villages,' ^ though this 

 statement must not be taken too literally. 

 Northampton, at any rate, appears in early 

 times' to have possessed a tanning industry of 

 more than local importance. Heavy leather 

 was not a commodity that could be produced 

 everywhere, and for its manufacture oak bark as 



' Leather produced by alum and salt is white, 

 hence whitawer, i.e. white tawjer. 



' Six Centuries of IVork and IVages, 46. 



' In a rental of the abbey of St. James, which may 

 be assigned to the reign of Edward I, mention is made 

 of 'Vicus tannatorum.' Add. R. 61 17 (B.M.). 



a tanning agent was indispensable. In some 

 parts of the country oak trees do not grow so 

 readily as in others, and in days when roads 

 were bad and transit difficult one would not 

 expect to find tan yards at great distances from 

 their principal furniture. It is therefore no 

 surprise to find merchants from Northampton 

 travelling to the great fair of Stourbridge, near 

 Cambridge, with pack-horses and wains laden, 

 not only with wool, but also with leather. The 

 town of Northampton was of sufficient impor- 

 tance to give its name to one of the streets 

 of booths so hastily constructed for this three 

 weeks' fair.^ 



Such muniments of the town as were merci- 

 fully spared by the fire of 1675 bear witness to 

 some regulations as to tanners. 



The Liber Custumarum sets forth the customs 

 or usages as well as the ' assize ' of the various 

 trades which were in force in the middle of the 

 fifteenth century. The earliest regulation which 

 concerns us is in protection of town tradesmen 

 against strangers, it being ordered that no 

 stranger shall be permitted to purchase hides or 

 skins (unwrought) except in fair time. Such 

 jealous care and watchfulness over the raw 

 materials of trade is frequently exhibited not 

 only for the manufacturer's sake but with an eye 

 to market dues. Thus we read a little later that 

 no 'forestalling' can be allowed : but hides and 

 skins brought from the country must not be 

 bought outside the walls of the town, but must 



* Northampton Borough Records, ii, 536. 



310 



