A HISTORY OF BEDFORDSHIRE 



of material of plaits and of styles in the make-up. 

 Much of the making-up is done in factories ; but 

 a very large amount of it is also done by the 

 makers in their homes. Hence, though it is no 

 longer a common sight, as it was a few decades 

 ago, to see in the Bedfordshire villages men, wo- 

 men, and children engaged in plaiting, there is 

 as much money earned by the villagers in hat 

 and bonnet work now as formerly, if not more. 

 Nor is the making of English plait absolutely 

 •extinct. In fact, the demand for what is called 

 ''English Brilliant,' largely for export to the 

 United States, is more than equal to the supply. 

 Britain, which in this connexion practically 

 means Luton, is the emporium of the world for 

 plaits, the dealers and manufacturers of the 



United States coming largely to Luton to buy 

 Italian and other plaits. 



There are no exact statistics available of the 

 amount of the hat and bonnet trade done in 

 Luton ; but some idea of it may be suggested by 

 the statement that only one of the railways, the 

 Great Northern, will sometimes carry away 

 from 2,000 to 3,000 cases a day ; and a single 

 manufacturer will send away 300 cases a day. ( 

 The value of the total annual output has to be 

 reckoned by millions sterling. As the trade 

 varies according to the season, the principal sea- 

 son being from November to May, with a short 

 autumn season, several manufacturers have intro- 

 duced a supplementary industry in soft felt, vel- 

 vet, and other hats for ladies. 



PILLOW-LACE MAKING 



It seems impossible to determine either the 

 date of the beginning of the lace industry in 

 England, or how far it was or was not a merely 

 imported art. ' Purling,' the plaiting of threads 

 into a narrow braid or edging, was carried on in 

 England certainly as early as the fourteenth cen- 

 tury, and is mentioned by Chaucer. The orna- 

 mentation of linen by drawn-thread work and 

 also by cut work appears to have preceded 

 the production of what is meant now by the 

 word ' lace.' It seems to be generally held that 

 ■'cut work' suggested 'needle-point,' and that 

 pillow-lace was a development of the purling in 

 which human fingers were used as pegs to hold 

 the threads that were being plaited. By the 

 substitution of pillow pins and bobbins the num- 

 ber of threads that could be used was indefinitely 

 increased. The early pins were made of 

 boxwood or bone, and were very expensive 

 articles.' According to the same authorities 

 they were ' in use about the latter part of the 

 •sixteenth century,' about which period ' pillow- 

 lace making commenced.' ' Needle-point and 

 pillow-lace were developed side by side . . . 

 Many pillow stitches are imitations of needle 

 «titches ; without the influence of needle-point it 

 seems likely that the purling and lace-making 

 would never have progressed beyond the making 

 •of narrow fancy edgings.' ^ 



Though needle-point lace has practically died 

 out as an industry in England, it probably pre- 

 ceded the pillow lace or ' bone ' lace as it was 

 called, and was most likely taught in the con- 

 vents. The common tradition in Bedfordshire 

 is that Queen Katherine of Aragon, while living 

 at Ampthill awaiting the result of her trial, 

 which was going on at Dunstable, taught the 

 country people the art of making pillow-lace. 



* See Channer and Roberts, Lace-making in the 

 Midlands, 3. 



' Channer and Roberts, op. cit. 5. 



A contemporary writer explains that ' the coun- 

 try people began to love her exceedingly.' Kath- 

 erine had been taught needle-work arts by her 

 mother Isabella ; and at Ampthill 



she passed her time, when not at her devotions, with her 

 gentlewomen, working with her own hands something 

 wrought in needle-work, costly and artificially, which 

 she intended for the honour of God to bestow on 

 some of the churches. 



The language of the above extract would lead to 

 the inference that what Queen Katherine taught 

 was needle-point. The authors of Lace-making 

 in the Midlands suggest that the queen may also 

 have tried to teach pillow-lace making ; and they 

 support their suggestion by mentioning a pattern 

 still made in Northamptonshire, unlike any other 

 Midland lace, and called Queen Katherine's pat- 

 tern. The same authors think that the industry 

 initiated by her died out after her death.' 



There are persons still living who remember 

 the keeping of Cattern (St. Katherine's Day, 

 25 November, or 6 December old style) by the 

 lace-makers. The day was kept by a tea-drink- 

 ing ceremony, called (as stated by Mrs. Orlebar, 

 of Hinwick House) the ' Washing of the Candle 

 Block,' the candle stool, in the centre of which 

 a candle was fixed surrounded by glass flasks 

 filled with water to act as condensers of the 

 light that was made to fall upon the lace on 

 the pillows. For these tea-drinkings a special 

 cake, the ' Cattern ' or St. Katherine's Cake, was 

 made. Mrs. Orlebar adds to this that ' the en- 

 tertainment ended with the cutting of a large 

 apple pie, which they divided for their supper,' 

 and gives four lines, all that she can recover, 

 about ' Cattern ' : — 



Rise, maids, arise ! 



Bake your Cattern pies ! 



Bake enough, and bake no waste. 



So that the old bell-man may have a taste ! 



' Op. cit. 19, 20. 



122 



