ENGLAND. 



Statistics. 



Woollen 

 manufac- 

 tures of 

 North 

 Wale*. 



Strong 

 cloth. 



.- -..!] i-i.ith. 



I Unncl*. 



also, B considerable quantity of yam is spun for the 

 Norwich manufactures. Woollen yarn is likewise made 

 at Broughton, and Horslingdean in Lancashire, and 

 in many parts of Lincolnshire, Nottinghamshire, &c. 



The woollen manufactures of North Wales, as has 

 been already mentioned, are carried on principally in 

 Montgomeryshire, Merionethshire, and Denbighshire. 

 They consist of webs, flannels, stockings, socks, wigs, 

 and gloves. As the stockings made in Wales are all 

 worsted, we shall consider them here apart from the 

 stocking manufacture of England. The webs manu- 

 factured in North Wales are distinguished into two 

 sorts; strong cloth, or high country cloth; and small 

 cloth, or low country cloth. The first kind is made in 

 Merionethshire, principally on the domestic system, 

 but in rr.lne parts there are factories. Almost every 

 little farmer makes webs, and few cottages are without 

 a loom. In some cases, the manufacturing farmers 

 employ wool of their own growth ; but it is principal- 

 ly bought from the wool staplers and skinners : all 

 kinds are used indiscriminately. The quality of the 

 manufactured article is of various degrees. There is a 

 market for strong cloth at Shrewsbury ; but it is cus- 

 tomary tor the drapers of that town to go up into the 

 country, (as they term it, ) and buy goods, wherever 

 they can get them. It is likewise a custom with the 

 principal dr.ipers to keep servants the greater part of 

 the year in the vicinity of the manufactures, who get 

 acquainted with the persons who make cloth, assist the 

 poor ones probably with money to purchase wool, 

 and superintend the making and dressing of the goods. 

 Most of the strong cloth is exported from London or 

 Liverpool, to Holland, Germany, and America ; a 

 very considerable quantity being used at home for 

 workmen's jackets, ironing cloths, blankets, &c. 



The small cloth is manufactured in Denbighshire, 

 entirely in a large tract of country, which includes 

 Llangollen and Corwen. The factory system has not yet 

 been applied to this article. The raw material is pro- 

 cured from the neighbourhood of Oswestry, and is sort- 

 ed into two kinds. The finer part is manufactured in- 

 to a sort of flannel, called Oswestry flannel ; while the 

 coarser part is made into small cloth. Most of this is 

 -nt abroad ; and the purposes to which it is there ap- 

 plied are various. The clothing of the slaves in the 

 West Indies and South America, creates a large de- 

 mand. Stockings are said to be made of it in Germa- 

 ny, and other parts of the Continent. 



Flannels form the most important and valuable of 

 the manufacture* of Wales : they are principally made 

 in Montgomeryshire; but not entirely so, being made 

 in various places within n circle of about 20 miles 

 round Welshpool. The manufacture of flannels is 

 chiefly of the domestic kind, there being very few fac- 

 torir. in which it i* carried on. In Shropshire, how- 

 ever, into which this native manufacture of Wales has 

 spread itself, machinery in general is substituted for 

 manual labour. The market for flannels is Welshpool : 

 formerly, each manufacturer used to bring hither his 

 own goods ; but now a set of middle-men go about the 

 country, and buy all the flannel they can lay their 

 Kind* ujjon. At the Pool-market, nothing is bought 

 on credit, every piece being paid for as soon as mea- 

 sured : it is the same with the rest of the woollen ma- 

 nufactures of the principality. There is no accurate 

 calculation of the number of yards manufactured, nor 

 indeed can they be conjectured with any probability. 

 Mr 1'eniiant, in the year 1781, says, that there were 



VOL. VIII. PART II. 



753 



annually brought into Salop, 700,000 yards of webs ; Statistic* 

 and to Welshpool, between 700,000 and 800,000 yards " V ' 

 of flannel ; but it is not known on what data he grounds 

 his calculation. Stockings, socks, wigs, and gloves, are 

 made principally in the town and neighbourhood of 

 Bala, where they are sold. It is said, that on a mar- 

 ket-day, from L.200 to L.500 worth of stockings alone 

 are sold. 



Having thus given a pretty detailed account of the 

 state of the various branches of the woollen manufac- 

 ture of England and Wales, introduced by some his- 

 torical sketches of its state formerly, we shall conclude 

 this branch of our subject with an attempt to ascertain, 

 as nearly as we can, the following points ; viz. the va- 

 lue of the manufactured article ; the value of the raw 

 produce from which it is manufactured ; the amount 

 of the profits of the master-manufacturers, including 

 interest for the capital, and an allowance for machi- 

 nery, &c. ; the amount of the sum paid in wages; and 

 the number of people employed in this branch of ma- 

 nufacture. For these calculations, the data we take 

 are the amount of the value of the woollen goods ex- 

 ported, and the proportion which their value bears to 

 the value of the woollen goods kept for home consump- 

 tion. We have already seen, that the manufacturers 

 examined before the House of Commons in the year 

 1 800, estimated the total value of the woollen manu- 

 factured goods, at the sum of L.I 9,800,000; but, as 

 we observed, they erred in supposing that the stock of 

 wool in the kingdom was 600,000 packs, whereas, in 

 fact, it does not reach 400,000. They probably were 

 mistaken, also, in the price they put upon the wool at 

 that time. Making deductions on these accounts, and, 

 on the other hand, allowing for the. Spanish wool em- 

 ployed, it is probable that the total value of the wool- 

 len goods, at that time, will be, as we have already 

 stated, about L.17,250,000. The official value of wool- 

 len goods exported in 1799,, was L.6,435,423 ; and, in 

 the year 1800, L.6,918,175 : the real value, therefore, 

 must have been above L.9,000,000 ; but let us take it 

 at L.9,000,000 ; and the value of the whole manufac- Value of 

 ture at L.I 8,000,000 : on this supposition, which is suf- the whole 

 ficiently near the fact for our purpose, the real value of w ? llcn """ 

 the woollen goods exported, will be about one half the m 

 value of the whole goods manufactured in this king, 

 dom. Circumstances, however, did occur, which ne- 

 cessarily varied this proportion ; since, in consequence 

 of our disputes with America, and the state of the Eu- 

 ropean continent, the official value of woollen goods 

 exported in 1808, was only L.4,8.53,580 ; in 1809, 

 L.5,41(i,151;inl810,L.5,773,214;inl811,L.4,376,545; 

 and, in 1812, L.5,084,991. But we must not con- 

 clude, because the value of the exports was diminish- 

 ed, that therefore the total value of the goods manu- 

 factured was lessened in the same proportion ; for, how- 

 ever it might be with respect to other manufactures, or 

 with respect to some branches of the woollen trade, the 

 demand for woollen goods for the army was increased, 

 at the time when the foreign demand was diminished. 

 We may therefore safely suppose the total value of the 

 woollen goods manufactured in England and Wales, to 

 be now what we have supposed it to be in the year 

 1800, viz. about L.18,000,000 ; of this we must de- 

 duct a third, or L.6,000,000, for the value of the raw The raw 

 produce, which will leave the sum of L.I 2,000, 000 for produce, 

 the master manufacturer and his workmen. We esti- 

 mated the wages of the latter, in the year 1800 (taking 

 men, women, and children, at 6s. 8d. per day) ; but as 

 5c 



