Llangollen's Wool Story
From Wire Fence to the Weaving Loom
An informal story of the Llangollen Woollen Industry.
This search is very much a work in progress. So far, our reading has posed more questions than it has answers. These have been included in this first draft. We would like the work to be as interactive as possible, and would warmly welcome any answers, suggestions or references that will help to fill gaps in the narrative. Likewise we will welcome photographs that would enhance the narrative.
The history of wool is inextricably linked with the history of Llangollen.
The spinning and weaving of wool dates to prehistoric times in Wales. There is evidence to suggest that primitive tribes in northern Europe were effectively domesticating sheep, hundreds of years before Christ. Soay and Manx Loughton are examples of ancient breeds still reared in the Llangollen area. Fragments of woven wool have been excavated from Bronze Age burial sites dating back to 1900 BC.
We immediately find ourselves asking if there are there any Bronze Age sites near present day Llangollen, where textile related artefacts may have been discovered?
We can but speculate. The process of spinning could have begun with someone drawing some fibres from fleece snagged on a bush, with one hand, then twisting them between the fingers of the other, to form a marginally stronger thread. The result is always a crude fairly thick, uneven thread, reasonably effective for lashing things together.
It would be interesting to know if the drop spindles used in Llangollen evolved any regional variation in design?
Drop spindles of different designs are still used by many spinners world-wide, especially if spinning has to take place on the move.
Spinning
The forerunner of the spinning wheel as we know it was invented in India, sometime between 500 and 1000 AD.
Where and when was the first spinning wheel used in Llangollen?
What did it look like?
Was it the big wheel version commonly depicted in Victorian postcards?
Weaving
There are many examples of both woven cloth and the tools involved in its production during the Iron Age, in museums throughout Wales. Iron Age looms were head height, rectangular frame structures. They stood on the ground and were tied to the shelter wall, or lashed to a tree.
The vertical warp threads were free hanging. Stone weights tied to the end of each, maintained the tension. Unusually, the horizontal weft threads were worked from the top down. The wooden or bone beater was pushed up to fix the threads into place.
Once loom designs adopted today’s “table top” position supported by a frame on legs, work begins at the bottom, then beaten down.
Regardless of age, all weaving involves the weft threads being worked across the warp, in a variation of an alternate under then over pattern.
Where are the Iron Age textile tools displayed locally? & Were any found in the Llangollen area?
From 55 BC the Romans did much to develop an already established woollen industry. They brought with them their appreciation of, and the expertise to produce, a much softer finer fabric.
The Dark Ages
It has been difficult to find any evidence of development during the time referred to as the Dark Ages i.e. 450 -1066. Those were turbulent times, the breakdown of social structures and Saxon invasions seem to have interrupted any further progress and the industry appeared to stagnate.
What were people in Llangollen wearing during the Dark Ages?
How was clothing produced?
By the 8th century however Britain was exporting cloth to the continent. British fleece was highly sought after, especially by the Flemish weavers, who at the time were considered amongst the best in the world. Huge swathes of forest in the south and south east of England had been cleared for grazing. The region’s proximity to the coastal ports and efficient Roman roads, made trade with western Europe, relatively simple.
There is evidence of a letter written by the Emperor Charlemange to King Offa of Mercia regarding lengths of British cloth. This must have been written sometime between 768 AD, the first year of his reign and 796 AD the year of King Offa’s death.
Where are the Iron Age textile tools displayed locally? &
Were any found in the Llangollen area?
From 55 BC the Romans did much to develop an already established woollen industry. They brought with them their appreciation of, and the expertise to produce, a much softer finer fabric.
The Dark Ages
It has been difficult to find any evidence of development during the time referred to as the Dark Ages i.e. 450 -1066. Those were turbulent times, the breakdown of social structures and Saxon invasions seem to have interrupted any further progress and the industry appeared to stagnate.
Where is this recorded?
What did it say?
Following the Norman Conquest, exports of British wool to the continent exceeded all other assets as a source of wealth. Thousands of peasants throughout the British Isles were keeping sheep. Most spun and or wove at home for personal use, or to supplement the household income.
Processing Wool from Raw Fleece to Ready to Use Yarn
The process of producing woollen fabric has not changed. The methods used have evolved over time.
The yarn is then either ready for knitting or weaving. Gwlangollen, replicates these steps using the same skills, with modern versions of the old tools.
Fulling, the next step of the process came later. Woven fabric was beaten to thicken and soften it, using water, fermented human urine, soda and fuller’s earth. Originally people would beat the cloth on rocks in the river.
The wet fabric was then rinsed and stretched over a wooden frame called a tenter, held under tension by large hooks. The tenters were put in the sun. The sun would bleach the fabric as it dried.
Shearing
Removing the fleece from the sheep by shearing
Picking
Removing any vegetation, faecal matter, mud and dead insects
Carding
Untangling using a hand or drum carder
Spinning
Spinning it into yarn
Washing
Washing to remove the lanolin
Dyeing
then sometimes dyeing it
Fulling Mills
With the advent of water-powered fulling mills during the 12th century, feet and hands had been replaced by wooden hammers fixed to heavy, wooden revolving drums. Though the process was quicker and more effective, the smell, noise and the working conditions in fulling mills remain unimaginable.
A fulling mill in Llangollen was known as a pandy and in England as a walk mill.
Cistercian monasteries were established in Wales during the 12th century. At that time Llangollen’s Valle Crucis Abbey was one of the wealthiest monasteries in Europe. Given the lack of evidence of any other major industry, it appears reasonable to suggest that that wealth was based on tithes and the revenue from wool. The surrounding mountains provided abundant water and grazing for sheep.
Although spinning and weaving continued to be a cottage industry, water-powered fulling mills, helped to expand the industry throughout the 13th century. Those belonging to Valle Crucis Abbey were at Pentrefelin, Vivod, and Llangollen. The Llangollen fulling mills were principally sited on the Rivers Dee and Eglwyseg, and the Cyflymen stream. The Bache and Pengwern mill complexes on the Cyflymen stream are just to the south of the town. Later the water-driven loom at the weaver’s cottage at Plas Newydd in Llangollen, was also to depend on redirected water from the Cyflymen. Early town maps show Pandy, as lying just to the north of Valle Crucis Abbey, Hen-bandy on the river Eglwyseg and Ty Brethyn on the Cyflymen just beyond Plas Newydd.
At the height of its wealth and influence how much land was owned by Valle Crucis?
How many sheep was the Abbey running?
What was the income generated by wool?
How many people were employed by the Abbey in wool production?
Was Allt-yr-Baddi, reportedly a Llangollen pilgrim trail, also used by weavers to carry fleece yarn and fabric between sites owned by the Abbey?
Cloth making was widespread across Britain, especially in the south and south east of England with easy access to the continent. The greatest wealth however, came from exports of raw wool.
During the 12th century the “Staple” was established. This was a designated depot or market. By law fleece for export had to be sent there. This enabled the authorities to levy an export tax on behalf of the crown. The first British Staple was established in Flanders, the primary manufacturing base at the time. Not surprisingly, this was quickly withdrawn to England, where a number of Staple Towns were established on the east and south east coasts. The Shrewsbury Drapers Company in England eventually took a dominant role in distributing Welsh cloth. Access to the affluent London market and the continent were far easier from there, than from the ports of South Wales.
How was Llangollen wool taken to Shrewsbury?
Does a medieval route map exist?
Edward 111 granted the Merchants of the Staple exclusive rights to export wool, in return for collecting the tax on behalf of the crown. It quickly became a hugely powerful organization, exerting its influence over crown and government decision making.
All kinds of protection laws were passed. It became an offence for anyone but royalty and the nobility to buy or wear foreign cloth. Only men could become Guildsmen. Bodies prepared for burial had to be bound in wool. In Llangollen, St Collen’s church wardens’ records describe having to pay for repairs to the archway and roof above the gate. This was to provide shelter from the weather, whilst the coffin lid was raised to verify the corpse was appropriately “dressed”. Fortunes from wool were lost or made. Wars were fought and lost on the back of wool.
As always, sanctions encouraged smuggling. Smuggling raw fleece from the east and south east of England to the continent, thrived. Wealthy businessmen by day, became active smugglers or owlers by night. The potential for people at every level of society, to acquire substantial additional income was significant. This, coupled with a universal hatred of the excise and its collectors, meant those involved in smuggling could usually rely on local sympathy.
Is there any evidence to suggest that Welsh producers were either directly or indirectly involved in smuggling operations?
If so who, when and where?
Ostensibly, the establishment of the weavers’ trade guilds was to ensure that within the woollen and worsted industry there was an accepted standard of workmanship to protect the customer and fair working practice to protect the producers. In practice, it effectively secured selected merchants’ and Guildsmen’s hold on power at the highest level.
Library searches suggest they imposed many limits and embargos on fellow producers to limit their powers and success. The Lord Mayor of London for instance had to be a Master Guildsman in order to be considered for election.
What is the significance of the woolsack in parliament?
Famine followed by bubonic plague in 1349 wiped out over a third of the population of Britain, including farmers and textile workers at every level. Edward 111 offered royal protection to western European craftsmen and their families to settle over here. Wars, disease, constant changes in rulers, allegiances, and laws, saw the revenue from woollen exports reduced to two thirds.
During the 1700s, cloth weaving in Llangollen was still a domestic activity. Most cottagers owned a home-made spinning wheel. A weaving loom however would have been beyond the reach of most, even if they had the space to put it. Built at this time, is the last remaining, free-standing, weavers cottage in Llangollen.
It was powered by water brought from the Cyflymen, via a leat running under the present day road and alongside the community garden wall.
There are grim accounts of life in the town at that time, from various sources. It appeared to be common practice for weavers to pile their raw fleece in their living space.
The cottages were generally badly ventilated, and the atmosphere would be foetid. There is always a distinctive foul smell that emanates from soiled, raw fleece, improperly stored. Imagine that, with the combined stench of discarded night soil and putrefying pig swill from the street outside. The weaver’s family sorted the raw fleece on the cottage floor where their youngest children would be crawling over, or lying in what was rejected. Dirt, disease, death and despair were rife throughout Llangollen, reportedly one of the filthiest towns of the time. The life expectancy of a town centre weaver at this time was 35 years, 40 at best.
How old were the weavers from the cottage at Plas Newydd when they died?
Diary evidence from the Ladies of Llangollen, Eleanor Butler and Sarah Ponsonby, dating from the mid 1700s, recall them watching local women and children foraging for fleece to spin, on the surrounding hills.
Raw fleece, farmed, foraged, or ready spun yarn would be taken to the local weaver. Often a proportion would be retained by the weaver as part payment for his work. He would then sell his fabric either door to door, at markets or fairs.
Many farmers started completing the whole process from sheep to the sale of textiles, “in-house”. Often, they were themselves, weavers. If they had room, they would accommodate several local weavers and spinners under one roof. In many cases a farmer would also be the local wool buyer, and cloth seller. Some started out-sourcing knitting to local women. The finished articles would be paid for and the supply of spun yarn replenished. Clothiers from Bala would regularly buy hand knit garments produced in Llangollen and Glyn Ceriog. These farmer/clothiers served the local community. They remained largely unaffected by the rapid changes within the industry, taking place in England. Textile in any form was expensive. Uniforms for domestic servants were considered part of their salaries. Outside labourers and craftsmen never had new work clothes. Their work clothes were adapted according to need. This is beautifully illustrated by George Henry’s painting “The Hedge Cutter.” An estate hedge-cutter from Broughton Castle is depicted wearing a recycled sea-captain’s jacket with sleeves and shoulders reinforced with chamois leather to project his arms from thorns. Recycling and up-cycling boomed. Every piece of textile was used and reused, often ending up as filling for quilting, a rag rug on the floor, or a blanket to throw over a horse in winter or used as cleaning rags.
Are there records of textile related crime and if so, who was responsible and what were the penalties?
Over time the dual role of cloth dealer/weaver separated, with a focus on the more profitable for those concerned. Clothiers became more organised. Out-sourcing ready spun yarn to weavers to process at home became common place. Spinning is the most labour intensive part of the process, and spinners were struggling to keep up with the weavers’ demands. The weaver still owned his loom, but the clothier owned the materials being processed. Weavers became wage earners employed on zero hours contracts and were paid by the piece. The days of the independent cottage weaver however, were numbered. Gradually the benefits of having weavers together under one roof were realised and the factory was born.
Although referred to as weaving factories, the much of the process was still done by hand. Often weavers and their families lived on the ground floor and first floor in terraced accommodation, whilst the 3rd and sometimes the 4th floors were open plan, working spaces, with large windows to maximize the light. The floors would be full of looms and weavers, wheels and spinners. The textile museum at Newtown replicates this beautifully.
By now the woollen industry had become both specialised and localised. The woven cloth was now being finished by fulling, napping and pressing. Workers at each stage of production were recognised and paid accordingly. Again Newtown Textile Museum holds some fascinating examples of job titles and descriptions, along with the relative pay scales by the day.
In north Wales in particular, historians and commentators suggest that geographic isolation, transport difficulties, absence of the equivalent massive financial investment in the woollen industry that was taking place in England, the language and a very ambivalent approach to modernisation have all been attributed to the country being “left behind” in textile production. Once, the products of the Welsh hand-loom weavers were known and valued throughout Britain. The delay in embracing the advantages of mechanical innovation, and improved transport systems flooding the market with cheaper products from the north of England however, led to the decline in Welsh hand-loom weaving.
The Fate of Samuel Holland
People may not realise that between 1739 -1878 men women and children from North Wales were literally sentenced to a life of hell, simply because they were desperately poor, homeless and hungry. The misery of day to day life for the unfortunates caught for attempting to survive, was compounded by transportation to Australia. By today’s standards, the severity of the punishment will be judged as being totally disproportionate to the crime. These are the people who, often through no fault of their own, suddenly find themselves victims of the social and political change taking place around them. Having said that however, records show that serious crimes and cruelty were also being committed on a regular basis and maybe deserved punishment of this severity.
History comes alive when it reflects the lives of ordinary people and their communities. The survivors of months on board ship in unimaginable conditions, disembarked in Sydney, to face the hostile world of early Victorian Australia. Samuel Holland, was one such survivor. He lived, worked and committed his crimes in early 19th century Llangollen. Sara Hughes, a friend, skilled researcher and archivist was able to put together his story. We have retained the format and references in Sara’s part of the narrative in case anyone else, involved in similar research would find the references useful.
In 1817, Samuel Holland, a cotton spinner from Llangollen received 7 years transportation to Australia. Information from the National Library of Wales Crime & Punishment database, indicates that he was charged on two counts, one for stealing a silver watch worth £3. 1s. 6d, and the 2nd for stealing a cotton works note and some coins.
Count 1
Parish: Llangollen
County: Denbighshire
Status: Labourer
Offence: Burglary out of the house of Joseph Bradbury after stealing a silver watch belonging to prosecutor.
Value: £3 1s. 6d.
Location and date: Parish: Llangollen; County: Denbigh; Date: 27 February 1818
Prosecutor: Thomas Martin
Plea: Not guilty.
Verdict: Guilty of stealing to the value of 39/- only
Punishment: Sentenced on another indictment
Count 2
Parish: Llangollen
County: Denbighshire
Status: Labourer
Offence: Burglary out of the house of Joseph Bradbury after stealing a silver watch belonging to prosecutor.
Value: £3 1s. 6d.
Location and date: Parish: Llangollen; County: Denbigh; Date: 27 February 1818
Prosecutor: Thomas Martin
Plea: Not guilty.
Verdict: Guilty of stealing to the value of 39/- only
Punishment: Sentenced on another indictment
Also for the offence of: Theft of money - coins and notes including a Llangollen cotton works note.
Parish: Llangollen; County: Denbigh; Date: 28 February 1818
Prosecutor: William Turner & Andrew Comber (mill owners)
Plea: Not guilty
Punishment: 7 years transportation to Australia
We know from the NSW Australia Colonial Secretary's paper 1788-1856 that Samuel was one of the 136 male convicts who disembarked from the Transport Ship "Baring (2nd) at Sydney.
On arrival he was taken from the harbour to Hyde Park Barracks in Sydney (now the NSW Convict Museum).
From there he was transferred to the convict goal at Paramata for general distribution. The NSW Australia Convict Indents 1788-1842 describes Samuel as being 25 years old, 5’5” tall, of fair complexion, brown hair and hazel eyes. So far, the last reference to him appears in the NSW & Tasmania Australia Convict Muster where he is described as a “good grass cutter, employed in Sydney.” Despite the Sydney archivist who helped in the search, no further record of him can be found. The general consensus of opinion is that he, like so many, “went bush” and developed a completely new identity. Interestingly his absence coincided with sudden and rapid development in the growth of the cotton industries south of Sydney along the Murray River and to the north towards Brisbane.
Samuel was born in the Manchester area around 1793 (based on his age being given as 25 in 1818). Although he was referred to as a labourer in the court indictment, the documentation presented on his arrival in Sydney, described him as a cotton spinner.
In view of the fact the prosecution against Samuel Holland was brought by the owners of the cotton spinning factory – Messrs Turner and Comber- who originally also came from Manchester, it was possible that Samuel had relocated to Llangollen in order to work for them.
Our attention then turned to those who brought the prosecution?
Sometime before 1805 William Turner and Andrew Comber acquired a plot of land on the north bank of the River Dee downstream of the bridge. They set up a business described as ‘Stately Fabricks’ which later became the Lower Dee Cotton Mill. Unusually the Lower Dee Mill was the first purpose built cotton mill in Wales. Until then most cotton mills were old woollen or corn mills that had been adapted for new use. The factory was the first of its kind to complete finished items on one site. The mill relied on the fast flowing Dee for its steam power looms. Whilst weaving was still dominated by men, the factory also employed many local women as stretchers and cotton batters. However the success of the venture was hampered by misfortune.
In December 1814 the interior of the factory and all the machinery was destroyed by fire ‘which shook its red shadow over the startled Dee’ - an incident that was reported as far afield in newspapers such as the Oxford University and City Herald and the Norfolk Chronicle. The damage was estimated to be some 5,000 shillings. Whilst the owners were covered by insurance which paid out in full, a subscription fund headed by the Ladies from Plas Newydd provided assistance for the workforce. This seems to suggest that times could have been very difficult for Samuel, especially if he had a family to support. This may have provided the motivation for his subsequent misdemeanour.
Black History
During the 16th and early 17th centuries, there was strong demand for the Welsh fabric being shipped from Bristol, Liverpool or the Welsh ports to the British colonies. One of the conditions of a land grant from the then British government, was an undertaking by a new plantation owner in North America or the West Indies, to clothe his slaves. The fabric of choice is sometimes referred to as Welsh Plain. By all accounts it was a cheap, loosely woven, utility fabric used for a variety purposes – clothing, bedding, furnishing, bales for raw cotton etc. It not only conformed to the current sensitivities around modesty, the fabric actually protected the workers in part, from the cuts caused by the sugar cane which invariably became infected. Sick slaves meant reduced output.