WORSTED MANUFACTURE. 



the material ; and the total annual value of the goods was 

 eftimated at above 1,200,000/. Of thefe goods the eftimate 

 then was, 



480,000 



The export to Rotterdam 



to London 



to various places 



Total value 



550,000 

 200,000 



1,230,000 



The number of perfons employed being from feventy to 

 eighty thoufand. 



Since the time to which Arthur Young refers, the manu- 

 fafturers of Norwich have engaged extenfively in the trade 

 of filk (hawls and other articles, in which no worfted what- 

 ever is ufcd. Still, however, the worfted manufaftures of 

 Norwnch may be conlidered as in a flourifhing ftate. The 

 number of looms employed in worlled at the prefent time 

 (1818) may be eftimated at 10,000 ; half of which weave 

 camlets, calimancoes, and other ftuffs ; and the other half 

 bombazines, narrow and broad. The former are chiefly for 

 home confumption, the latter for the Spanifh market. The 

 Eaft India company take a confiderable quantity of the fine 

 camlets manufaftured at Norwich. 



By far the greateft. part of the worfted yarn employed at 

 Norwich is fupplied by machine-fpinning, from the worfted- 

 mills in Yorkfliire, Lancafhire, and Durham. But fome 

 yarn ftill continues to be fpun in the old manner, by the 

 running-wheel, in Suffolk, Eflex, Hertfordfhire, and Cam- 

 bridgeftiire. In Norfolk alone, the ufe of the diftaff ftill 

 remains. This inftrument is the moft ancient of which we 

 have any notice, either in facred hiftory, or the fabulous 

 traditions of Grecian mythology handed down to us by 

 Homer and Hefiod. It is at prefent vulgarly called the 

 rock. In ufing it, the thread is drawn out from the end 

 of the (liver of combed wool. The motion is communicated 

 to a rough kind of fpindle, by twirling it between the 

 right-hand and the thigh, which is fuffered to continue re- 

 volving when fufpended by the thread, which the fpinftrefs 

 gradually lengthens with her fingers. 



In wheel-fpiniiing, a fmall portion of the combed wool or 

 fliver is laid acrofs the finger, from the centre of which, 

 called the twitch, the thread is drawn out. About thirty 

 years fince, the counties of Norfolk, Suffolk, Hertford- 

 fhire, and Effex, not only fupplied all the yarn that was 

 wanting for the manufaftures of thofe diftrifts, but fent 

 large quantities of worfted yarn to Halifax and Manchefter. 

 At prefent the trade is completely turned, and, as we have 

 before ftated, the greater part of the yarn ufed at Norwich 

 is fent there from the northern counties of England. This 

 change has occafioned great diftrefs in the villages where 

 the yarn was formerly fpun, by depriving the wives and 

 children of the cottagers of their common employment. 



Until the middle of the laft century, worfted goods were 

 manufaftured in confiderable quantities in Warwickftiire, 

 Oxfordftiire, and Northampton{hire ; but about that time the 

 extenfion of the worfted trade in the Weft Riding of York- 

 fliire, particularly at Halifax, Bradford, and Wakefield, 

 gradually drew this trade in a great meafure away 

 from thofe counties. The manufafturers in Yorkftiire, or 

 rather the merchants who bought the worited pieces from 

 the manufafturers, were, however, long unacquainted with 

 the beft modes of dyeing and drefling them ; they were 

 tlierefore fent to London or Coventry to be finiftied, but 

 afterwards they were finiftied in Yorkfnire. The demand 

 to Spain, Portugal, Italy, and the Levant, took off^ the 

 greater part of the worfted goods manufaftured "at Halifax ; 



thofe manufaftured round Wakefield and Bradford, con- 

 fifting chiefly of tammies and ftialloons, were confumed 

 principally by England and her colonies. The Piece-hall 

 at Halifax was firft opened about the year 1780; and the 

 intervening time, from thence to the year 1792, or the 

 breaking out of the French war, may be regarded as the 

 moft flourifliing era of the worfted trade in Yorkftiire. 

 Though the cheapnefs of cahcoes, as an article of female 

 drefs, fince the improvements in the cotton manufafture, 

 materially abridged the fale for fome kinds of worfted 

 goods in England, this was more than compenfated by 

 the increafed demand for carpets v/ith worfted warps, 

 and other articles of luxury, in which worfted yarn was 

 employed. 



The demand in foreign markets, from the year 1782 to 

 ! 792, for Englilh woriled goods, greatly exceeded that of 

 any former period ; but after the breaking out of the 

 French war, the worfted trade at Halifax began to decline. 

 The greater part of the foreign markets being clofedagainft 

 us, moft of the mercantile houfes engaged in the export 

 of worfted pieces were in confequence ruined or declined ; 

 the trade altogether, and many of the fmall manufafturers, 

 engaging in the cotton trade. The introduftion of Englifti 

 calicoes into Turkey and other parts tended alfo to leffen 

 the regular demand for ftialloons and other worfted goods, 

 as articles of female drefs, in thofe countries. Soon after 

 the breaking out of the French war in 1792, the fpinning 

 of worfted by machinery was eftabliftied at Bradford and 

 the vicinity ; and continuing to increafe, drew round that 

 place the manufafturers of worfted goods on the decline of 

 the Hahfax trade. Bradford is now become the principal 

 feat of the worfted manufafture in Yorkftiire ; and fome of 

 the proprietors of the worfted mills, befides fupplying the 

 fmaller manufafturers with yarn, employ a very great num- 

 ber of looms themfelves, and carry on this branch of trade 

 on a fcale of extent never before known in the worifed 

 manufafture. Within the laft two years, the worfted trade 

 has alfo greatly revived at Halifax. 



The following are the kinds of worfted pieces at prefent 

 principally made in Yorkftiire. 



Bombazets are woven both plain and twilled, with the 

 warp of fingle thread ; they were prefted, and finiftied without 

 glazing : the width 22 inches, length 29 yards. 



Tammies, or durants, with fingle warps twilled, and gene- 

 rally coarfer than twilled bombazets ; width from 32 to 36 

 inches, length 29 yards. 



Shalloons are woven with a twfill, and have a warp of fingle 

 thread. We believe the name was derived from Chalons in 

 France. The pieces are from 32 to 36 inches wide, and 

 29 yards long. 



Cubicas are very fine ftialloons fo called. 



Sayes, or anafcottes, are twilled and made with fingle warps ; 

 they are of two kinds, one running 27 inches wide and 30 

 yards in length, the other 42 inches in width and 44 yards in 

 length. 



Moreens are woven plain and watered or emboffed, and are 

 made very ftout, being principally ufed for furniture : their 

 width is 28 inciies, length 24 yards. 



Calimancoes are woven plain and ftriped : width 1 7 inches, 

 length 29 yards. 



Camlets are both plain and twilled: width 18 inches, 

 length 29 yards. They are ftiorter than bombazets, but 

 not many are made in Yorkftiire with doubled warps. 



Lajl'mgs have doubled warps, fometimes of two and fome- 

 times of three threads, and are made vi'ith great variety of 

 patterns, either plain, twilled, or flowered, and are diftin- 

 guiflied by diff^erent names, according to their figures and 



quality ; 



