INDUSTRIES 



liistory lies in the antiquity of the manufacture, 

 in its sometime national importance, and in the 

 obscurity which involves the withdrawal of the 

 manufacture of heavy cordage, as the reasons 

 which are at present suggested are considered 

 inadequate by experts. 



There have been three great periods in the 

 history of the Dorset industry. During the first 

 of these the town was chiefly concerned in the 

 making of rope and tackle for the royal navy, 

 and this culminated in the statute of Henry VIII,' 

 which destroyed the rivalry of its near neighbours. 

 During the second, the connexion between Brid- 

 port and the Newfoundland fishery reached its 

 highest point in the prosperity induced by the 

 French war (1792-18 15). During the third 

 period, nets of every description, from a billiard- 

 table net to a trawl, have been sent all over the 

 world. 



In the Pipe Rolls for Somerset and Dorset, 

 13 John, the sheriff accounts for moneys which 

 he has paid for 3,000 weighs of hempen thread, 

 according to Bridport weight, for making ships' 

 cables, and for the expenses of Robert Piscatoris 

 whilst he stayed at Bridport to procure his nets.* 

 Two years later, in 121 3, King John sent a 

 letter to the sheriffs of Dorset and Somerset,' 

 commanding them as they love themselves and 

 their own bodies to buy for his use all the oats 

 they could lay hands on. They were to seize 

 the money from abbeys or wherever they could 

 get it upon loan or in any other manner, and 

 they were ' to cause to be made at Bridport, 

 night and day, as many ropes for ships both 

 large and small as they could, and twisted yarns 

 for cordage.' ^ 



In this year a French fleet, prepared by King 

 Philip at the instigation of Pope Innocent, was 

 lying in the port of Damme ready to invade 

 England. An English fleet under William 

 Longsword, earl of Salisbury, fell upon it and 

 took or sunk well-nigh every vessel. Perhaps 

 this was some satisfaction to the inhabitants ot 

 Bridport, as it is most unlikely that they ever 

 received full payment for the rigging which they 

 made. 



In 5 Edward I Michael de Langestone and 

 John de Hokestone, bailiffs of Plympton, ad- 

 dressed a complaint to Richard de Ramesham 

 and Nicholas Prikeny, bailiffs of Bridport, en- 

 joining them to admonish Robert Lautrepays to 

 pay to John de Stodbury, their burgess, 3/. Sd., 

 or else the hemp and cords which he agreed to 

 deliver to him a fortnight before Michaelmas 

 last ; also to admonish a similar offender, David 



' ' An Acte for the true Makynge of great cables, 

 halsers, ropes, and all other takelinge for shippes in 

 the Boroughe of Burporte in the Countye of Dorset.' 

 Stat. 21 Hen. VIII, cap. 12. 



* Rot. Pip. Dors, and Somers. 1 3 John (Rec. Com.). 



' Wainwright, Bridport Doc. 



' Ibid. Nos. 12, 13. 



de Wynterburne, ' who is vulgarly called Davye,' 

 to satisfy the same John for 1 1 st. of hemp and 

 cords which he had covenanted to deliver at the 

 preceding Christmas ; the said Davye having had 

 yarn to the value of 4;. 215'., and he to receive the 

 rest when he had given satisfaction as to the 

 said hemp and cords. Robert Stok was to be 

 'admonished' with regard to 12 St. of cord 

 which he should have delivered by St. John the 

 Baptist's Day, having received 55. bd. on account 

 for yarn. John le Cherwode again had failed to 

 deliver 4 st. of hemp by Mid-Lent, though he 

 had been paid I2d. The bailiffs of Plympton in 

 conclusion informed those of Bridport that, 

 pending satisfaction, they had confiscated the 

 boat of Richard Blanchard.' 



Interesting references abound in ancient re- 

 cords at an early date to the frequency and 

 importance of the hemp trade of Bridport. 

 ' Cultures,' or lands cultivated with hemp and 

 flax, are mentioned in deeds, &c. of the reign of 

 Edward III, whilst 'searchers of flax and hemp' 

 held office in the reign of Richard 11." 



The following entry appears in an account- 

 book of St. Michael's Chantry of Munden or 

 Mondene in Bridport in 1453 under the head of 

 ' Necessary Expenses ' : half a bushel of hemp- 

 seed, 3j(^.' 



In 45 Edward III Nicholas Tracy granted to 

 John Feldaye and Matillidis his wife one rood of 

 hempland lying in the 'culture ' called Ponches- 

 ford in Bridport.^" 



Those municipal gifts to great personages 

 which were such a feature of the mediaeval 

 social system, and which were invariably repre- 

 sentative of local industry, took traditional 

 shape at Bridport, where the corporation made 

 frequent offerings of webs, reins, horse-nets, and 

 girths to those whose friendship they were 

 desirous to secure. ^^ Cords and yarn figure re- 

 peatedly in assessments ; whilst hemp is con- 

 tinually recorded as part of a man's possessions, 

 and with it lucelli, hempen wicks for lamps 

 and torches.'^ Forfeitures of yarn and hemp 

 appear in the Bailiffs' Accounts, 18 & 19 

 Richard II, in one instance to the amount of 

 gj. 6d., and of hemp-seed to the extent of /^hd.^'^ 



Hemp was grown in Bridport and then sent to 

 Plympton to be made into rope-yarn. It was 

 next sent back to Bridport to be made into rope, 

 and when finished was sent again to Plympton, 

 presumably to be used by the navy.'* 



Not only was yarn sent to Bridport to be spun 

 into rope, but rope-makers were sent all over the 

 kingdom to exercise their handicraft. In 16 

 Edward II the late sheriff petitioned '* for 79s. 



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