INDUSTRIES 



FLAX AND LINEN 



As elsewhere in the kingdom, we find early 

 attention paid to the cultivation of flax, 1 which 

 found a constant demand from the home spinners 

 of the county. The raw material was also 

 much in requisition at a later period for the fre- 

 quent and widespread purpose of ' setting the 

 poor on work.' On i November 1675 a 

 ' trusse ' of flax was ordered to be bought at 

 Hull to supply those of Nottingham. 8 Accord- 

 ing to the parish accounts of Besthorpe, the 

 town's reel was in frequent use, large quantities 

 of flax being bought, and poor women paid 2d. 

 for winding linen yarn, which was bought by 

 the neighbouring farmers for household use at 

 is. per Ib. Both wool and linen were at this 

 date woven, warped, bleached, dyed, by hand. 

 In 1790 the parish paid for washing and winding 

 linen yarn I \d. per Ib. ; for warping \d. per 

 yd ; for weaving 3^. per yd. ; and for bleaching 

 "id. per yd. Dyeing the town yarn for gowns 

 cost is. per Ib. 3 The diary of a gentleman in 

 1699 records the payment to Mary Timbrill of 

 31. 6d. for spinning I Ib. of flax and knitting 

 one pair of stockings. Flaxen cloth was bought 

 at the same date at the rate of 2 i<)s. $d. for 

 31 yds. 4 In 1795 the poor of Worksop in receipt 

 of parish relief were supplied with flax, and paid 

 id. for every 300 yds. of thread spun, i Ib. 

 spinning 6 leys. 6 



The linen manufacture carried on at Newark 



was the chief textile industry of the county in 

 the middle of the last century, 100 weavers 

 being employed by Messrs. Scales & Son of that 

 town. The fabrics produced at this establish- 

 ment were huckaback, shirting, sheeting, and 

 table-cloths. The method of business was for 

 the manufacturer to build cottages fitted with 

 looms, which he let to the weavers at from 

 2s. 8d. to 3*. 3< per week. Every weaver not 

 having a family sub-let lodging and loom to two 

 or three others, who generally paid if. 6d. for 

 shop rent, lodging, and cooking, per week. A 

 third part of the shops were in the lower parts 

 of the houses, underground, in order to keep 

 the looms damp. This fact, together with the 

 fatiguing nature of the work, sufficiently ac- 

 counted for the small number of women and 

 children employed in the industry, though a few 

 of the latter were put to the production of 

 narrow, coarse goods. Women, when employed, 

 earned from 55. to 6s. per week. The looms 

 cost from ^4 to 5. Weavers found their own 

 shuttle, brushes, picker, a journeyman paying 2d. 

 out of every shilling earned for winding of the 

 quills, for brushes, and dressing to his web. 

 Weekly wages averaged 14*. 6d. e ' The greatest 

 enemies to the Notts linen trade of the igth 

 century were, it is said, the progress of ma- 

 chinery, and the cheaper rate of labour in 

 Scotland.' 7 



COTTON 



The cotton manufacture of Nottingham has 

 a peculiar claim upon the attention of the 

 student of textile economics, Richard Ark- 

 wright's first cotton mill having been erected 

 in 1771 on a piece of ground between Wool- 

 pack Lane and Hockley. 1 At a later date, find- 

 ing horse-power too costly, he removed to 

 Cromford, in order to take advantage of the 

 water-power which was available at that village, 

 associating himself at the same time with Messrs. 



1 The field name of ' Line Lands ' in the parish of 

 Upton marks the former sites of such cultures ; Shil- 

 ton, Hist. Southwell, 220. Cf. also article 'Cloth.' 



1 Stevenson, Rec. Bon. Nott. v, 319. 



3 Wake, Hist. Collmgham, 1 14. 



1 Granger, Old Notts. 246. 



6 Eden, State of the Poor, ii, 581. 



6 Rep. Handloom Weavers, 1840, pp. 350-2. 



7 Ibid. 254. 



1 Cunningham, Engl. Industry and Commerce, pt. ii, 

 621 ; Blackner, Hist. Nttt. 147. A small factory 



Strutt and Need, the well-known hosiery manu- 

 facturers of Nottingham, from whom he had 

 obtained financial assistance in carrying out his 

 undertaking. 2 The expansion of the industry 

 was coincident with the growth of the frame- 

 work knitting trade, the gradual triumph of 

 cotton over thread in the stocking manufacture 

 giving a great impetus to the spinning of the 

 former commodity. 3 In 1785 a steam cotton 

 mill was started at Papplewick, 4 but the majority 

 of the mills at work at this date were driven by 



had, however, been previously erected in Mill Street 

 by James Hargreaves, the inventor of the spinning 

 jenny, who had removed from Blackburn to Notting- 

 ham in consequence of the opposition of the hand 

 operatives. At his latter place of residence he patented 

 in 1767 a new jenny, capable of spinning eighty-four 

 threads; Granger, Old Notts. 23. 



1 r.C.H. Derb. i, 373. 



* Phillips, Personal Tour, 1 74. 



4 Cunningham, op. cit. 628. 



351 



