3/6 THE PRICE OF WOOL. 



before, omitted in the average. It is plain, however, that the value 

 had increased. 



1342. The evidence is scanty, and the price is rather lower than 

 in the past year; but the wool from Wolrichston is considerably 

 higher than that of the year 1339. Lambs' wool is lower than in the 

 previous year. 



1343. The price is much higher, and the evidence is larger. 

 There is no great variation in the value of produce from different 

 localities. Lambs' wool, however, is low. The Clare fleeces are 

 again high. 



1344. The evidence is very copious, and derived from very 

 distant sources. The price is slightly lower than in the previous 

 year. This is manifest at Gamlingay, Letherhead, and Bichyndon, 

 where the fall is traceable. Lambs' wool, on an average, is at the 

 same price as in the year before. 



1345. Prices on the whole are unchanged. In Whaddon (Bucks) 

 and Wolrichston the rate is rather high. The Lewes fleeces are 

 heavy, weighing nearly three pounds, but the quality of the wool, to 

 judge from the price, is low. Woodhall fleeces are very high. 



1346. The evidence is scanty, and the price is lower, as we may 

 see from the Letherhead and Bretham entries. The small amount 

 sold at Gamlingay by the pound is a little higher than the rate by the 

 clove. Lambs' wool is derived from one locality only. 



1347. Wool is rather higher, and in several places stands at 2s. 

 It is lower, however, at Bretham and Apuldrum. It is generally 

 cheap on the latter estate. Lambs' wool is not much changed in 

 value. 



1348. The sales are almost nominal. The price however falls, 

 probably in consequence of a diminished continental demand, the 

 Plague having by the spring of 1349 affected great part of France 

 and the whole of Italy. 



1349. The sales, though neither considerable nor numerous, are 

 very suggestive. The price is lower than at any time in the whole 

 period, the trade being, as is clear, wholly paralysed. The price of 

 Apuldrum wool has fallen by 50 per cent., the bailiff of this estate 

 it was one of the manors of Battle Abbey having kept his old wool, 

 probably in hopes of a better market than that of 1348. Gamlingay 

 wool, which is generally high-priced, is very low, being sold at 

 only half the rate which it fetched in 1347. Lambs' wool is even 

 more depressed, and the market for this article is apparently wellnigh 

 lost. Nothing, I think, in the whole history of these prices is more 



