The Woollen Trade

A letter from a London cloth dealer named John Howell to Francis Yerbury, a Bradford on Avon woollen cloth manufacturer, including an order for Bradford-made cloth from the Empress of Russia in 1747. Two samples of dyed cloth are still attached to it. (Image courtesy of Bradford on Avon Museum)

What happened to Bradford on Avon’s once prosperous woollen trade, and how did rubber manufacturing become the town’s top industry?

During the 1300s – 1650s, Bradford on Avon produced a white (undyed) broadcloth – a medium-quality cloth that was spun, woven and fulled in the town. It was exported to London to be dyed and then finished abroad, often in Flanders. After the 1650s, weavers started to produce a much finer cloth, which was dyed and finished locally instead of being exported to London (the wall in the Dutch Garden was once part of an early dye house). The superfine broadcloth was often used to make fine gentlemen’s jackets.

The process of making broadcloth until the 1790s: Raw wool was spun into yarn, which was then supplied to the clothiers who managed the weavers. The weavers would weave the yarn tightly together, and then it would go to the fulling mills to be dipped in water and stretched out on frames called tenters (this is where the saying “on tenterhooks” came from). The water caused the wool to shrink when pulled out to dry. The cloth was then fulled (cleansed to eliminate oils, dirt and impurities) and beaten with a wooden hammer to thicken it, resulting in a soft, almost felted cloth. Many workers were named after their profession, and the surname names are still in use today – Weaver, Fuller, Miller etc. Much of this work was undertaken by hand in the workers’ own houses, with men, women and children employed in the trade.

In the 1790s and onwards, factory-style working was introduced to the town; this did not sit well with the local workers who, up until now, worked by hand in their own homes. The introduction of a mechanised workforce rapidly reduced the percentage of employment available to the townsfolk, whose displeasure resulted in two recorded riots, the most well-known taking place on the 14th of May 1791:

A mob of around five hundred cloth workers gathered outside of Westbury House (which at that time was owned by a clothier named Phelps) to protest the introduction of a new scribbler machine to his mill. The machine would put hundreds of hand-scribblers out of work (scribbling wool is the process of combing the wool into thin layers to remove dirt, debris and knots before spinning into yarn) and rapidly change the speed of production, pressurising other workers whose workload was already at capacity. The workers asked Phelps to hand over the machine, but he refused, resulting in a riot of stones being thrown, with windows smashed and weapons fired. In response, Phelps and his men fired back, killing a man, a woman and a child. Eventually, Phelps was overtaken and forced to hand over the machine, which the workers carried to the centre of the town bridge and set on fire.

A man's coat of light brown superfine woollen broadcloth 1705 - 15.

Despite the statement riots, more machinery was soon introduced by the town’s clothiers, and Bradford on Avon quickly became one of the highest-yielding producers of traditional woollen broadcloth in the South West. As a result, many of the workers replaced by the machinery relocated to the north, where larger, more progressive factories were developing and more novel, lightweight materials were produced. Success continued in Bradford on Avon for a short period until the early 1840s, when the fashion for bright colours, lightweight fabrics and intricate weaves grew ever more popular. But, as Bradford on Avon was firmly rooted in its production of high-class traditional woollen cloth, the larger influence of changing consumer demand soon led to a decline in trade. In 1800, there were 32 factories recorded in the town; by 1838, there were only 5.

In 1841, the local bank, who were heavily invested in two of the largest mills in the area, failed. This catastrophe affected over 400 workers, forcing them to a workhouse that wasn’t equipped for this number of unemployed. As a result, the town’s population rapidly decreased, with workers moving away in search of work and many suffering from the lack of income and rapid decline in living standards.

The town’s situation, although devastating to its remaining inhabitants, offered the perfect circumstances for an emerging industry to take up roots. It was here in Bradford on Avon that, with the help of his friend Captain Palairet of Woolley Grange, Stephen Moulton found the perfect spot to settle. Here were several empty mills and factory buildings, a large unemployed workforce used to factory conditions and desperate for work, plus a grand - if not rather dilapidated - house for his family to live in. Moulton was quick to establish his factory, and alongside his family’s patronage, the town began to slowly thrive once more.