42 THE WILTSHIRE ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND NATURAL HISTORY MAGAZINE 
Table 3. Some prices paid for Wiltshire white cloths by Thomas Kytson. 
John Lawrens of Westbury 
Roger Wynssloe of Keevil 
Source: CUL Hengrave Hall MS.78/2. 
Price paid for a pack of 10 cloths 
| John Lawrens of Westbury _—|_ £28 13s. 4d., £30, £29, £30, £32, £31 10s, £30 
2 
£32 10s. and £4 10s the cloth 
Richard Batte of Westbury £33, £32, £32 10s, £32 10s., £32 10s., £32 10s. 
The prices that Kytson paid for cloths depended 
on the quality of the spinning and weaving. In 1529 
George Adlam of Westbury and Richard Erlle of 
Melksham were paid £33 6s 8d for each pack of 10 
cloths, whereas John Reynolds of Steeple Ashton 
received only £25 which was about the lowest price 
that Kytson ever paid for white broadcloths. Most 
of the clothmen were recorded as supplying cloth of 
only one quality. John Cooper of Edington, as 
shown in the example quoted above, supplied 
whites at £25 6s. 8d. the pack (£2 10s. 8d. each) and 
one ‘fyn whit’ at £3 6s. 8d.. Another example is: 
Bought of John Norinton the 29th day of May of the 
year 1536 
Item 41 whites at £30 £30 the pack £123 
Resaved 36 fyne & 5 cowrsse £14 
Resaved the 2nd day of June 5 whites fine 
Total sum £137 
Here John Norinton of Devizes made a bargain to 
supply 41 cloths at £30 the pack, but five of them 
were of a coarse quality for which he was to be paid 
at the rate of £14 the half pack. Four days later 
Norinton supplied 5 whites of a fine quality to 
honour the original bargain. The most that Kytson 
ever paid for a Wiltshire white broadcloth was £4 
13s. 4d., but there were exceptional circumstances 
on this occasion. Thomas Wasshington recorded: 
Bought of Thomas Bayley thelder by the handes of 
hys servand William Wyllkyns the 4th day in March 
of the year 1535[6] 
Item one fyne whitte at £4 13s 4d at £4 13s 4d 
£4 13s 4d 
Memorandum that the sayd William Wyllkyns hathe 
promyssed the sayd clothe to be 29 yards at the watter 
paid the same day, Sum £4 13s 4d 
The normal length of a broadcloth was about 25 
yards but on this occasion Thomas Bayley had sent 
a cloth which would have measured 29 yards ‘at the 
watter’ i.e. when wetted, as required by Statute. 
The prices that were paid by Kytson to some of 
his suppliers for packs of 10 cloths are shown in 
Table 3. Most clothmen supplied cloth of consistent 
quality as shown by the prices they received. 
Others, like Richard Erlle and Roger Wynssloe, 
provided Kytson at two separate prices indicating 
coarse and fine qualities. 
It is possible to determine the average prices 
which Kytson paid for the Wiltshire whites and 
these are given in Table 4 both for single cloths and 
the more usual pack of 10 cloths. 
It is also possible to determine what Kytson 
paid out for all the cloths that he purchased from 
the Wiltshire clothmen. His total expenditure for 
Table 4. Prices paid for Wiltshire white cloths by 
Thomas Kytson 
Price paid by Kytson 
1536 — 1537 £3 3s 7d 
1537 — 1538 £3 4s 7d £32 5s 1ld 
£31 18s 8d 
1538 — 1539 £3 3s 10d 
Source: Calculated from details in CUL Hengrave Hall 
MS.78/2. 
Exchequer year 
