INDUSTRIES 



villages near the Buckinghamshire border, and 

 the lace pillow was in use in very many of the 

 cottages ; but this industry is no longer car- 

 ried on except to a small extent at Windsor. 

 Hand-made lace has been practically super- 

 seded by the machine-made lace of Notting- 

 ham, the prices received for the work being 

 very unremunerative. It has been revived 

 in Buckinghamshire by the help of an active 

 society of ladies interested in the work, but 

 the movement has not extended into Berk- 

 shire. 



An interesting experiment was made in 

 recent years in the starting of tapestry works 

 in the royal borough of Windsor. Mr. 

 Henry, a well-known designer, was the origin- 

 ator of this scheme, whose idea was to pro- 

 duce in England tapestry of the same high 

 quality as could be purchased abroad. His 

 plan received royal support. The late Duke 

 of Albany, their Royal Highnesses the Prin- 

 cesses Christian and Louise, the Duke of 

 Westminster, the Marquis of Bute, the 

 Marchioness of Waterford, and other dis- 

 tinguished persons consented to act on the 

 Committee, and the scheme was inaugurated 

 with every prospect of success. Mr. Henry 

 was appointed director of the works, and 

 M. Brignolles the chief weaver. In 1876 

 the works were started in some temporary 

 premises at Windsor. Additional space was 

 soon required, new looms were wanted, and 

 the works were removed to Manor Lodge, 

 and then to Old Windsor, where a fine hall 

 and workmen's cottages were built. The 

 late Queen Victoria was a patron of the 

 works, and took much interest in the opera- 

 tions, authorizing the title to be bestowed 

 upon them, ' The Royal Windsor Tapestry 

 Works.' The product of the Windsor tapes- 

 try looms has achieved great success. Some 



f the earliest work was a set of panels, ' The 

 Merry Wives of Windsor,' woven from the 

 cartoons of Mr. E. W. Ward, R.A., which 

 were exhibited at the Paris Exhibition of 

 1878, and obtained the highest honours. 

 Many fine specimens of this Windsor art were 

 purchased by the late Queen- Victoria, and 

 are now preserved at Windsor Castle, and 

 Mr. Henry produced four historical panels 

 for the city of London which now adorn the 

 walls of the Mansion House, and a series of 

 panels illustrating English sports and pastimes 

 were worked for Mr. Vanderbilt and have 

 found a home in America. The peculiarity 

 of the Windsor tapestry is that it combines 

 the broad effects of the Arras tapestry with 

 the fine detail of the Gobelin. The work 

 prospered for about five years, when a com- 

 mittee of guarantors was appointed, composed 

 of men of wealth and influence. His Royal 

 Highness the Duke of Albany exerted himself 

 greatly in endeavouring to promote the 

 interest of the works, and after his death 

 the Prince of Wales, now H.M. King Edward 

 VII., accepted the Presidentship of the under- 

 taking. Sir Robert Collins undertook the 

 active direction of the works. But the per- 

 manent success of the tapestry works has not 

 been secured. The excessive costliness of the 

 art of production will always prevent its 

 general use, and it was found impossible to 

 carry on the work without great loss, and the 

 business was abandoned. It is unfortunate 

 that so praiseworthy an effort to revive the 

 production of English tapestry which was in 

 existence in the time of Chaucer, and found 

 a home at Barcheston, Warwickshire, in the 

 reign of Henry VIII., and flourished at Mort- 

 lake in the days of the Stuarts, should have 

 been abandoned through lack of public 

 support. 



IRONWORKS 



Owing to the absence of metals in the 

 geological structure of Berkshire this county 

 has no supply of iron for the needs of this 

 particular industry. It can boast of no 

 ancient works such as were carried on in the 

 neighbouring counties of Surrey, Kent and 

 Sussex, and formed such an important 

 feature in the history of the industrial devel- 

 opment of those counties ; but increased 

 railway facilities and means of transit have 

 rendered the working of iron possible and 

 remunerative, and several firms of high stand- 

 ing in the trade carry on their business within 

 the Berkshire borders. The needs of an 



agricultural district also are well supplied by 

 several large agricultural implement makers. 



Nail-making was carried on at Reading, 

 though the makers do not seem to have been 

 numerous ; we find mention of Richard 

 Lowbridge, nayle-maker, 1 in 1626, who was in 

 trouble for wounding a soldier, and of James 

 Durwold, nayler, who stood surety for him. 

 The craft is however not mentioned amongst 

 those enumerated in the list of the trades 

 included in the five companies, and must 

 therefore have been of a subordinate char- 



383 



1 Rec. of Reading, ii. 331. 



