INDUSTRIES 



families ' 22 of whom Deering writes ' to which 

 the cloth trade gave rise,' having been merchants 

 of the staple of Calais. 23 



Early in the iyth century, however, when 

 the decay in the cloth trade which was setting in 

 all over the kingdom was beginning to be felt in 

 this county also, a proposal to make Nottingham 

 a staple town once more was somewhat con- 

 temptuously dismissed by the municipal authori- 

 ties, the suggestion, we are told, being ' regarded 

 as not beneficial or commodious.' The con- 

 sideration of the question was therefore deferred 

 to a future date. 24 



The Nottingham Gild of Weavers was one 

 of the few gilds acknowledged by Henry II, says 

 Professor Cunningham. 26 They paid an annual 

 rent of 40*. to the exchequer for their privileges, 28 

 no weaver being allowed to work within 10 leagues 

 of Nottingham unless he were contributing 

 to the king's ferm and all other charges per- 

 taining to the gild. 37 In 1348 we find the 

 Nottingham weavers successfully petitioning 

 the king that they might be discharged from 

 payment of the 401. which they used to render 

 yearly at the Exchequer from their gild, on the 

 plea that some of them were not now staying in 

 the town, though the treasurer and barons still 

 exacted the ferm. 38 Weavers were presented by 

 the Mickletorn jury, 8 October 1395, for 

 taking too much for exercising their art, for a 

 dozen of cloth, 2s. and more, against the statute 

 of our lord the king. 29 A tax or assessment 

 was levied on the weavers' web-looms (' pro les 

 weblomis inter eos habitis et constitutis.' ) In 

 the Borough Court Rolls of Nottingham for 

 1391 an action is recorded wherein Margaret, 

 widow of Hugh de Stapulton, webster, sued 

 Thomas de Coventry for 32^. given her by 

 Richard Knight, baker. This sum was due for 

 the tax in question, but had been paid back 

 except in this instance, Coventry refusing to 

 refund the same. 30 



William Bakman was collector of the subsidy 

 annually pertaining to the king from the weavers 

 in 1407, when we find him complaining of John 

 Innocent for a plea of debt. 31 In 1499, we find 

 a certain Robert Parkinson, weaver, complained 

 of by Richard Wild and James Brasenby, war- 

 dens of the weavers, for using the occupation of 

 a weaver without paying the customary fine of 



" The Bugges, Binghams, Willoughbys, Tanne- 

 streys, Mapperleys, Sharlands, Am/as, Allestrees, 

 Samons, Plumptres, Hunts ; Deering, Nottinghamia, 

 92. " Ibid. 



" Rec. Bon. Nott. iv, 355. " Op. cit. 



16 Cat. Rot. Chart. (Rec. Com.), 39. 



" Wilda, Das Gildenwesen in Mittelalter, 313-14; 

 Rec. Bora. Nott. iii, 57. 



18 Cal. Close, 1346-9, p. 448. 



19 Rec. Bon. Nott. i, 272. 

 50 Ibid, iii, 58. 



11 Rec. Bora. Nott. ii, 37. 



6s. 8d. He had only paid 3*. ^d. and was now 

 sued for the remainder. 88 



Before passing on to consider later incidents 

 of the weavers' craft, it will be of interest to 

 notice briefly a few scattered allusions to their 

 apparatus, which figure frequently in mediaeval 

 lawsuits. In 1404, a woollen web-loom with a 

 cam and sley was appraised at Nottingham 

 at 1 31. 4</., whilst a linen loom, warping stick, 

 warping tree, and wheel, were valued at 2s. ^.d. n 

 In 1410, we find Thomas de Gedington ac- 

 cusing Margaret Webster, whose surname 

 determines her craft, of unjustly detaining a 

 pair of warping trees, valued at I2d., sleys, 

 valued at 20d. per pair, of rings, id., a wool- 

 shaft, 4^., a spindle, 2d. Damage, ^s. 34 Hugh 

 Buntyng was sued by Nicholas Bradley in 

 1517 for 6s. 8d. the rent of weavers' looms 

 (pro occupatione lomarum textoraliarium} (sic). 31 

 Edward Marshall complained in 1538 against 

 John Saunders of a plea that he render him a 

 woollen loom with rung-rathes, warp-bars and 

 spool-wheel, to the value of 4.5. 3e 



Weavers' earnings may be gathered from a 

 bill of debts recorded at Nottingham in 

 1496. For weaving a piece of linen cloth, 

 23yds., ijd. was due. The weaving of a 

 coverlet cost i6d., 15 yds. of woollen cloth being 

 woven for lid., and doublet cloth for lid., 

 whilst 1 7 yds. of broadcloth were charged at 



2J. 37 



Presentments before the Mickletorn jury 

 of weavers ' occupying the trade being no bur- 

 gesses' were frequent throughout the history of 

 the industry. Frances Obler was thus presented 

 in I588. 38 This restriction was, however, 

 strongly resented by those weavers who were 

 not burgesses. In 1604, a number of them 

 petitioned the mayor for liberty to use their 

 trades, in spite of their disability, weavers who 

 were burgesses seeking to ' put them down from 

 working, to the undoing of themselves and their 

 poor families.' 39 John Redforne was presented 

 in 1613 for infringing the regulation in question. 40 

 Robert Tomlinson, stranger and coverlet-weaver, 

 who had set up his trade in the town, being 

 neither burgess nor free of the company, came 

 into conflict with the Weavers' Company in 

 1624, his continuance in the industry being 

 declared to be hurtful and prejudicial to the 

 town. 41 



The art of the fuller, whose duty was set forth 

 by statute 42 to be that of ' fulling, rowing, and 

 teaseling of cloth,' was in early evidence in 

 the county as a cloth-making centre, being 



" Ibid, iii, 57. "Ibid, ii, 23. 



54 Ibid. 69. " Ibid, iii, 505. 



86 Ibid, iii, 201. 



" Rec. Boro. Nott. iii, 295. 



38 Ibid, iv, 218. '" Ibid. 274-5. 



40 Ibid. 308. 41 Ibid. 390. 



"Stat. 4 Edw. IV, cap. i. 



345 44 



