THOMAS KYTSON AND WILTSHIRE CLOTHMEN, 1529 -1539 S1 
The bargain made in March 1529/30 was for 20 
whites at £33 6s. 8d. the pack, but only 10 whites 
were received and paid for on the same day. George 
Adlam put his signature to his promise to deliver 
the remaining 10 whites between Whitsuntide and 
harvest. The cloths were received by Kytson on 18 
May. 
A similar entry in the ‘Boke’ is 
Bought of Richard Batte the 8th day of September of 
the year 1535 
Item 100 whites at £32 the pack Sum £320 
of the which 100 whites ys resaved at this day 40 
whites. So that there resteth 60 whites which he haith 
promised to delyver be twyxt this and Alhalloutide 
next comyng. And that thay shall be of as good 
spynnynge, lenth and maykyng as thes a fore resaved, 
and yff he make more the said 60 whites to delyver 
them at the said prisse which ys £32 for every packe. 
To in hand as the clothes ys resavid £220 
To pay the fyrst day in May next. Sum £100 
Resaved the 7th day of October of the year 1535 
40 whites 
Resaved no moo whites of Richard Batte to the Cold 
Mart 1535 but 80 whites for the which he was paid 
after £32 
Here Richard Batte bargained with Kytson to 
supply 100 whites of which only 40 were delivered. 
Batte then promised to deliver the remaining 60 
before All Hallows (1 November), but only 
managed to deliver a further 40. This entry 
illustrates a further point. All Hallows was the last 
day allowed by the Merchant Adventurers for 
shipping to the Cold mart.” By not receiving the 
last 20 cloths by this date Kytson missed the 
opportunity to sell them at the Cold mart. Although 
Richard Batte missed the All Hallows deadline he 
delivered a further 190 whites to Kytson by the 
following June. 
Before 1535 clothiers had usually marked their 
cloths with a distinctive mark, but by a Statute 
enacted in that year it had been made imperative: 
‘every Clothier within this Realm shall weave, or 
cause to be woven, his or their several Token or 
Mark in all and every Cloth, Kersey and other 
Cloths, whatsoever they be, made and wrought to 
be uttered and sold.’ The ‘Boke’ contains 
drawings of the marks of 24 Wiltshire makers, all 
entered between 1535 and 1538. The marks are 
illustrated in Appendix 2, together with a note of 
the colour of each mark. 
In the autumn of 1538 Nicholas Lunne penned 
the following entry 
Bought of the wyffe of Richard Bayth by the handes 
of Aldam Lame the 6th day in September 1538. 
Item 80 whites at £32 at £32 the pack. Sum £256.0.0d 
[a clothier’s mark appears in the margin] 
Resaved the same day 40 whites, and he hayth 
promysed that the other 40 to be delyvered on this 
syd Alhalowtid and that they shall be of as good woll, 
lenthes, spynnyng & maykyng as thes ayr afor 
resaved, and to pay as thay ayr resaved the 2 partes in 
hand and the rest at Candelmas next; and yff Aldam 
Lam have ned off £20 or £30 14 days after 
Alhalowtide he to have ytt in party payment off his 
bill payable at Candelmas; & he hayth further 
promysed that lyk as thay be marked in the ledes thay 
shall hold the sayme lenthes when thay come owt of 
the watter. 
and later he added 
Resaved the 31st day in October 1538 25 whittes 
Resaved more the same day 5 whites 
Resaved the 19th day in November 1538 7 whites 
Resaved the same day in November off this mark 
5 whites 
{enother clothier’s mark appears in the margin] 
£224 
Resaved the 22nd day in November 1538 3 whites 
These entries show that on 6 September 1538 
Aldam Lame [Aldhelm Lambe] made a bargain on 
behalf of Richard Bathe’s widow for the sale of 80 
whites of which half were delivered that day with 
the promise that the remaining 40 would be 
delivered before 1 November. Richard Bathe alias 
Wheatacre [Whitaker] of Edington had last sold 
cloths to Thomas Kytson in June 1536 and had died 
afew months before.*! Aldhelm Lambe, probably of 
the adjacent parish of East Coulston, was thus 
acting for the recently bereaved widow Bathe.*’ The 
40 whites delivered on 6 September were paid for 
on that day, with the promise, by Nicholas Lunne, 
that the remaining 40 would be paid for on 
Candlemas Day (2 February). If however, Lambe 
wanted £20 or £30 before the middle of November it 
would be given to him but deducted from the 
amount due to him at Candlemas. Aldhelm Lambe 
returned to London on 31 October with 30 whites 
from widow Bathe, thus failing to deliver all of the 
40 promised whites by the All Hallows deadline. 
Another entry shows that Lambe delivered 10 
of his own whites on that same day, and another two 
on 2 November. He was in London again on 19 
November when 12 more of the widow’s cloths were 
delivered and also a further two of his own. Three 
