Page:VCH Rutland 1.djvu/297

 INDUSTRIES ment of the same court was hanged, though neither the sheriff nor coroner was present.^ Again, Osbcrt of Thurgarton flayed five sheep in Hardwick Field, and was taken with the skins in his possession. He met the same fate as Maud Scherewind, for he was hanged at Tinwell by- judgement of the Abbot's Court.' Rutland wool was often collected by mer- chants and exported to the Low Countries through the port of Boston. For we hear that in spite of a prohibition of the export of wool during a quarrel between Henry III and the Countess of Flanders, William de Beck, a citizen of London, bought up ten sacks of wool, at lOOs. the sack, in Rutland, and sold them at Boston, though the jury of Martinsley Hundred was discreetly ignorant as to the buyer and the ultimate destination. Two Stamford men, John le Plowman and Gilbert de Chesterton, had offended in like manner.* We may safely assert that all this wool found a continental mart.' In 1337 * it was ordered that 30,000 sacks of wool should be bought in the various counties for the king's use. Of this amount 4,500 sacks were to be obtained in Lincoln and Rutland, but the Rutland wool was evidently inferior to that from Lincoln, since its price was fixed at 7^ marks a sack as compared with the 10 marks a sack of the Lincolnshire fleeces. William Dalby of Exton was a wool mer- chant in 1395.' Abel Barker of Lyndon carried on a profitable trade in wool in the middle of the 17th century. Entries in his note-book of that date record the sale of 530 tods in September 1642 to 'his loving friend,' Mr. William Gladwine,* as well as of various consignments sent to Coggeshall in 1648, when the price was 29J. per tod,' and again in 1655, when the same buyers were supplied with 50 tods, made up of 376 fleeces, and with lai tods, comprising 97 fleeces.^" A ' Todd Bill ' of Mr. Geoffrey of Wardley, 1 783-1 804, is noted in Parkinson's Rutland}^ Uppingham was carrying on a small trade in wool in 1841.^^ Early notices of weavers and fullers are occa- sionally found. Nicholas le Webstere appears on an Assize Roll of the county for the year 1285, whilst Peter le Fulur was following his craft at South Luffenham in 1290.^^ ' Assize R. 721, 47 Hen. Ill, m. 10. ' Assize R. 722, 14 Edv/. I, m. 5. ' Cal. Pal. I 39 1-6, p. 627. « Hilt. MSS. Com. Rep. v, App. i, 387. •Ibid. 391. '"Ibid. 325. " Parkinson, Jgric. Rut. 129. " Pigot, Dir. 57. "* Cal. Pat. 1292-1301, p. 219. " Memo. R. K.R. Mich. 39 EJvv. Ill, Rather late in the reign of Edward III we hear of the forfeiture of Rutland cloths." The cloth chiefly produced in Rutland in the 1 8 th century was that known as ' tammy,' for which the county was said to be ' noted,'"" the industry, it would appear, having been largely located in the southern portion of the shire," the preparation of the raw material however giving employment to numbers of the poor throughout the county. Tammy, called also tamine, was a woollen stuff, formerly imported from abroad, but made at home, according to Anderson, from about 1733. In 1800 tammies were described as plain piece- stuffs, from 18 to 36 in. in width, made from deep-stapled Lincolnshire or Yorkshire wool, and manufactured in great variety, from forty-eight to eighty threads of weft, and forty-eight to sixty threads of warp, to one inch. The fabric was designated ' fine class good, often glazed in fin- ii^hing.' Tammies were largely exported to the West Indies for the use of the slave population, whilst at home they were principally utilized for window curtains and screens." There was undoubtedly a superior variety in use for home consumption, although this was probably of foreign production. In 1650 we find this cloth selling for is. lod. and 2s. 6d. per yd. The latter, known also as ' sea-green Turkey,' was of superfine quality.'^ Elizabeth Allen was manufacturing tammy at Uppingham in 1793." 'A few tammies' were still being made in the county in 1821,^* but the industry has now ceased to exist. The spinning of linen '^ and of jersey ^^ seems to have been in the nature of a cottage industry. In 1701 the overseers of the poor of Glaston expended 15^. in buying hemp and getting it spun, a further 2s. 2d. being laid out for a wheel. -^ Silk shag^^ was formerly made at Oakham, where Robert Gouger was ' the only manufac- turer' of this fabric in 1828.^^ "' Tymms, Family Topographer, v, 58. " Brewer, Beauties of Engl, and Wales, xii, 27. " Beck, Drapers' Diet. 338. '' Rogers, Hist, of Jgric. and Prices, v, 577. " Brit. Univ. Dir. iv, 649. " Gent. Mag. Jan. 1821, p. 12. " Two linen-weavers worked for hire at Emping- ham in 1795. Eden, State of the Poor, ii, 598. ^° A woollen fabric, of which stockings were made. See The Woman Hater, and the Scornful Lady. A pair of these stockings cost 9/. Carnation jersey stockings were worn in 1 6 16. Fairholt, Costume in Engl, ii, 262. " The Reliquary, V, 41. " Generally a worsted material, sometimes made of hair or silk. In 1676 the price of this materi-il was 1 3^. dd. per yard. Favourite colours were scarlet, black, blue, and buff. Beck, Drapers' Diet. 296, " Pigot, Dir. 1828, p. 667. 237
 * Ibid. m. 10 d.
 * HunJ. R. (Rec. Com.), ii, 52.
 * Pat. II Edw. Ill, pt. ii, m. 15.