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NORWICH AND DISTRICT INDUSTRIES gI 
firms, giving employment to 11,000 persons, with an annual production 
of approximately 6,000,000 pairs of shoes. The manufacture of high 
and medium class ladies’ fashion footwear is its chief concern, although 
a considerable quantity of girls’, boys’ and children’s shoes are made. 
When speaking of the activities of Norwich in connection with its staple 
industry reference must be made to the ancient industry of spinning and 
weaving (more fully dealt with in a later section), because ‘ shoes apparently 
sprang from wool,’ and in a way the enterprise of the one became the 
enterprise of the other. 
The city is rich in historic associations and has the distinction of being 
the most ancient manufacturing town in the United Kingdom, having been 
noted for its woollen fabrics from the far-away days of Henry I, when a 
colony of Flemings settled in the city and spun their wool at the village 
of Worstead, or more anciently Wolstede (the place of wool) situated nine 
miles to the north. 
Before the year 1388 the worsted trade in Norwich was of some magni- 
tude for that period, and in this year it was deemed to be of sufficient 
importance to justify the setting apart of a building (being the dwelling- 
place of one John de Welbournes), where the worsted weavers were bound 
to expose their goods for sale. 
The manufacture of dress stuffs, camelots, shawls and crépes gave 
employment to a large number of spinners and weavers, which continued 
almost to the close of the first half of the eighteenth century, when the 
introduction of steam mill machinery in the Midland and Yorkshire towns, 
particularly Bradford, brought about a rapid decadence in the worsted 
industry of Norwich. 
The year of Queen Victoria’s Coronation (1838) witnessed an outbreak 
of Norwich camelot weavers, whose wages had been reduced owing to 
the extensive migration of the weaving industry to the north, with the 
consequent dwindling of the industry in Norwich. From this time the 
trade rapidly decreased, until now practically nothing remains of this 
ancient industry. Norwich, however, is still famous for its silken 
productions. 
Following the loss of the woollen industry unemployment was rife in 
the city; it was undoubtedly a serious time for both employers and em- 
ployed, and our City Fathers are to be congratulated on the enterprise 
they displayed in developing another industry, closely allied to weaving, 
inasmuch as boots and shoes find an essential place in the clothing 
category. 
Between 1830 and 1840 several boot and shoe manufactories were 
started, and during the same period other allied businesses made an 
appearance, such as currying, leather dressing and merchanting, tanning 
and dressing raw animal hides for the use of the shoe manufacturers. 
It is interesting to recall some of the early types of boots and shoes, 
produced at this period. 
The writer of this article has before him a catalogue of one of the oldest 
Norwich firms, issued in 1887. It is interesting to note that many of the 
illustrations are actual photographs and show that the type of footwear 
made consisted of uppers of calf kid, levant goat, satin sheep and 
