A HISTORY OF BUCKINGHAMSHIRE 



the county. Sir William Borlase's school at 

 Great Marlow was not continued long, but in 

 1672 the Aylesbury overseers paid Mary Sutton 

 5*. to teach the workhouse children to make 

 lace. 29 At Hanslope children were sent to the 

 lace-schools when they were five years old, 30 and 

 both boys and girls could maintain themselves by 

 the time they were eleven or twelve. The hours 

 were very long, and schools were held in small 

 cottages without sufficient light or ventilation. 

 In some parts of the county the children were 

 sent to the lace-schools at four years old. The 

 old woman who kept the principal lace school at 

 Lane End died about a year ago at the age of 

 eighty-six. The schools must have disappeared 

 about thirty to thirty-five years ago, but the 

 children then seem to have had first about an 

 hour's reading lesson, followed by six to seven 

 hours' lace-making. 31 Besides the children, the 

 skilled workers were crowded in large numbers 

 into a small room, with the result that the in- 

 dustry was most unhealthy. As early as ijSz 31 

 Pennant noticed the pale faces of the girls at 

 Newport Pagnell, due to their sedentary trade, 

 and three years later a writer in the Gentleman's 

 Magazine 33 suggested remedies for. this state of 

 things. In the course of a journey in Bucking- 

 hamshire and Northamptonshire his attention 

 was drawn to ' the frequent sight of deformed and 

 diseased women in these counties.' He found 

 they were mostly lace-makers, growing deformed 

 and ill from the stooping position in which they 

 worked and from sitting in ' small, low and close ' 

 rooms. His recommendations probably had no 

 effect, and in 1797 lace-making in the towns of 

 the hundred of Desborough did not ' induce 

 those habits of neatness and industry which 

 appear highly necessary to render an occupation 

 beneficial to a county." 34 



The kind of lace made in Buckinghamshire 

 has passed through many variations, but it has 

 always been pillow-lace of one kind or another, 

 the most characteristic lace being pillow-point, or 

 ' half-stitch ' as it is called in the county. 38 The 

 earliest Buckinghamshire lace was old Flemish 

 with a wavy and graceful pattern and well- 

 executed ground. Some of the patterns seem to 

 have been worked in with a needle on the net 

 ground. In 1778 point-ground was introduced, 

 and from that time the staple pillow-lace of the 

 county developed. Much of the point-ground 

 was made by men. The principal branch of the 



89 Aylesbury Overseers' Accounts, quoted in Gibbs, 

 Hist, of Aylesbury, 6 1 7. 



30 Lysons, Magna Brit, i, 482. 



" Information kindly given by Miss E. Johnson, 

 Lane End, nr. High Wycombe. 



ij 'Journey from Chester to Land. 342. 



33 Vol. Iv, 938. 



" Thomas Langley, Hist, of Hund. of Desborough, 

 10. 



36 Palliser, Hist. of Lace (1902), 384. 



trade was ' baby lace ' and edgings, mostly used 

 in trimming babies' caps. 36 Point-ground was 

 used, while the patterns were copied from Lille 

 or Mechlin lace. 37 Large quantities were ex- 

 ported to the United States until the outbreak of 

 the Civil War, when the demand ceased rapidly. 38 

 Other sorts of grounds were made, such as 

 'wire,' 'double,' and ' trolly.' 38 Fresh kinds of 

 lace were introduced at the outbreak of the 

 French War at the close of the i8th century. 

 Manufacturers undertook to supply French laces, 

 and both true Valenciennes lace and ' French 

 ground' were then made in Buckinghamshire. 40 

 Early in the igth century Regency Point came 

 into fashion, a point lace with cloth or toile 

 on the edge. Insertions were also introduced, 

 and made in large quantities. A lace made of 

 worsted of various colours, called Norman lace, 

 suddenly became fashionable, 41 and the demand 

 was great, especially in the United States. The 

 trade dropped, however, as suddenly as it had 

 arisen. In the middle of the igth century 

 Maltese lace was introduced, resulting in a great 

 recovery in the industry. 42 It was made both 

 of thread and silk, 43 and completely ousted the 

 older Buckinghamshire lace, which could no 

 longer compete with the machine-made article. 

 At the Exhibition of 1862 hardly anything but 

 Maltese lace was exhibited, but a fresh impulse 

 was given to the trade. 44 New kinds of Maltese 

 lace were introduced called ' plaited laces,' but 

 this revival of lace-making came to an end 

 about 1870, the quality of the lace having be- 

 come worse and worse, both as to pattern and 

 material. 4 * The last variety of lace appeared 

 about 1875, and was called Yac lace. It was 

 made from a species of goat's hair dyed to all 

 colours, but the fashion died out very quickly. 46 

 Maltese lace-making lingered on in the 

 different villages, and is still made, but the 

 North Bucks Lace Association and kindred 

 societies encourage the older and more charac- 

 teristic ' Buckinghamshire lace.' Old stores of 

 lace have been sought out and the patterns 

 revived. A good deal of jealousy used to exist 

 with regard to the copying of patterns, and the 

 same feeling has again appeared of late years. 

 The pattern is pricked on a strip of parchment 

 and pinned down to the pillow. It is about ten 

 inches long, 47 and in Buckinghamshire the custom 



36 Defoe, Complete English Tradesman (1738), ii, 



347- 



" Palliser, Hist, of Lace, 385. 



88 Ibid. 386. " Ibid. 387. 



40 Ibid. 388. 



41 Bull, Hist, of Newport Pagnell, 1 96. 

 41 Ibid. 



43 Palliser, Hist, of Lace (1902), 392. 



44 Gibbs, Hist, of Aylesbury, 622. 



45 Palliser, Hist, of Lace (1902), 392. 



46 Bull, Hist, of Newport Pagnell, 196. 



47 Palliser, Hist, of Lace (1902), 391. 



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