INDUSTRIES 



WATERPROOFS, ROPES, AND OTHER TEXTILES 



Besides her woollen fabrics Gloucestershire has 

 a number of miscellaneous textile industries, due 

 largely to the requirements of her shipping trade, 

 or to her West Indian imports of hemp, rubber, 

 oil-seed, &c. At Kingswood, Wotton under 

 Edge, Messrs. Tubbs, Lewis & Co., whose silk- 

 line manufacture has already been mentioned, 

 carry on a considerable elastic industry, which 

 employs some 700 hands. One of their three 

 mills is entirely devoted to the spinning and 

 weaving of elastic fabrics, for which purpose 

 they have devised special looms. Here is made 

 the 'Sandow Developer,' the production of which 

 occupies 100 workpeople. 



In Bristol are a considerable number of india- 

 rubber factories connected with the motor and 

 cycle trade, and also a large oilcloth manufacture. 

 John Hare & Co., established in 1782, are the 

 oldest firm of floorcloth makers. A guide-book 

 of 1828* describes a visit to their factory at 

 Temple Gate and recites triumphantly that 



the whole process is conducted on the premises, from 

 spinning the flax, weaving, &c., with the manufacture 

 of colours, to the completion in pieces 1 80 ft. long 

 and 17 ft. wide, of the most rich and varied patterns, 

 which are exported to all parts of the world. 



The business is now carried on in conjunction 

 with the grinding of oil and colours. 



Sail-cloth was made at Bristol at the close 

 of the 1 8th century, 1 but the only sail-makers 

 now existing in the county arc Messrs. Johns & 

 Sons, one of the oldest firms in Gloucester. 

 Canvas, sacking, and tarpaulin are made at 

 Dursley by another long-established firm, Messrs. 

 Champion & Sons, who manufacture mattings of 

 flax, hemp, jute, and cocoanut fibre. Messrs. 

 Yeo Brothers, of Bristol, are also engaged in 

 the jute trade, and make up sacks and tarpaulins 

 for sale. Waterproofs for hydraulic purposes are 

 made at Arno's Vale, Bristol, by Messrs. Terrell 

 & Sons, who have also acquired sole rights to 

 manufacture several brands of ' Engine Packing.' 

 For this fabric they employ linden bark, tape, 

 hemp, cotton, asbestos yarns (both plain and me- 

 tallic), and esparto grass, which last material 

 passes through many intricate processes of boiling, 



drying, crushing, twisting, and spinning. The 

 engine-packing trade suffers, however, from the 

 continual changes in the style of locomotives, 

 which render it hard to be up to date. 



Both Champion and Terrell are also rope- 

 manufacturers. This old-established Gloucester- 

 shire industry, which flourished at Gloucester 

 in 1720,' and at Tewkesbury as late as 1832, is 

 now extinct in both these towns, while all over 

 the county the number of rope-walks has dimin- 

 ished. Like other trades this manufacture has 

 of late become increasingly centralized. Large 

 rope-manufacturers now supply smaller firms, 

 who retail from shops, whereas formerly the 

 small rope-maker made and sold for himself in 

 markets. Thus, while a few smaller firms, such 

 as Champion's, do manufacture agricultural rope 

 and twine, their principal business is in factoring, 

 and Terrell's is by far the largest rope-making 

 firm in the county. It was first established in 

 Canon's Marsh about 1770, but moved a few 

 years ago into larger premises, with a rope-walk 

 300 yards long. Here ropes of every size are 

 turned out, from the largest hawser to the finest 

 rat-line. The best large ropes, it is interesting 

 to notice, are still made by hand, though 

 machinery is perfectly satisfactory for smaller 

 sizes. Binder-twine, for use on reaping machines, 

 is made in enormous quantities, 100 tons being 

 exported last July (1906) to Canada alone. 

 The binder-twine and box-cord branch of the 

 business is growing fast. Besides agricultural 

 ropes, flexible steel wire ropes and rigging haw- 

 sers are supplied to the Admiralty, Lloyds, and 

 other large shipping companies. But the railway 

 connexion is perhaps the biggest, as, besides the 

 ' engine-packing ' manufacture, the company 

 produce great quantities of carriage ' communi- 

 cation cord ' for many of the principal railways. 



The best material for ropes is Manilla hemp, 

 of which an enormous amount is annually 

 imported direct from the Philippine Islands. 

 Owing to the superior length and toughness of 

 its fibre it is mainly employed at Terrell's rope- 

 walk, although Russian, Indian and New Zealand 

 hemp, and coir yarn (a cocoanut fibre production) 

 also enter largely into the manufacture. 



TIMBER, ETC. 



The woods of the Cotswolds and the Forest of beyond the merely local hewing of wood and 



Dean provided Gloucestershire in the past with 

 an abundant supply of timber, and encouraged 

 all the industries dependent on it to an extent 



1 Mathew's Brittol Guide, 1828. 

 1 New Hiitary of Bristol, published by W. Matthews, 

 Bristol, 1794; p. 41. 



4 J O 



carpentering which every county must have prac- 

 tised. Now, although comparatively little local 

 wood is used, and the native supplies are no 

 longer a ration d'etre of the trade, timber dealing, 

 with its accessories, is one of the most important 



1 J. J. Powell, Glouceitriano. 



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