TRADES
The fact that leather clippings were
found with a coin of Edward the Confessor at the bottom of a well covered by
the Norman earthworks of the castle (fn. 1) has been
adduced in proof of the existence of a pre-Conquest
leather trade. There is, however, no early evidence
of any outside market for Northampton leather goods
and all the medieval sources suggest that textile
industries took the first place in the days of the
town's early prosperity. The earliest custumal
(c. 1190) mentions no craft but that of the weaver,
who is classed with the nurse as a domestic servant not
to be enticed away by a rival employer. (fn. 2) It also refers
to the sale of wool, thread, fresh hides, honey, tallow,
cheese and flesh by the burgesses at the fair. In 1202
Northampton was one of eleven towns which purchased the right to buy and sell dyed cloth as they
were wont to do under King Henry, that is, without
keeping the assize of 1197. (fn. 3) We have seen that the
Northampton fairs were noteworthy for the sale of
cloth and of furs in the reigns of John and Henry III,
and the petition of the burgesses to Parliament in
1334 indicates that some of this cloth at least was
home made. 'In the time of King Henry . . . when
the staple of wool was at divers places in England . . .
there were at Northampton 300 workers of cloths,
who paid on every cloth a fixed sum towards the
farm of the town, as well as a fixed rent from their
houses where they used to dwell in the said town,
which are now fallen to the ground.' (fn. 4) The 13th century custumal contains regulations as to dyeing, and
regulations as to the weaving of cloth, dated 1251,
which bear out the other evidence as to the importance of the trade.
Clause 23. Consideratum est quod nullus operarius
pannorum ponat in panno suo, sc. imperiali, brasil
nec tinctum de verme, nec in albo stragulato scorthe
neque aliam falsam tincturam. . . .
24. Si pannus inueniatur terra tinctus, et proprius
pannus fuerit tinctoris, amittatur, et si alienus et
ex consensu ipsius fecerit, similiter amittatur. Et
sinon de consensu ipsius tinctor abjuret officium
suum per annum et diem. . . .
25. Nullus tinctor menstruet aliquem pannum
calce. . . .
26. Nullus operatur pannos nisi pannus sit de
rationabili sequela sc. peior ulna in panno tincto non
valeat minus unum denarium ad plus et imperiale
unum obolum.
34. Consideratur quod si aliquis textor alicuius
pannum male texerit et super hoc convictus fuerit
amittat laborem suum (et) duos denarios ad commodum ville.
35. Operatores pannorum qui textores sunt non
sedeant super utensilia (fn. 5) ad pannos suos proprios nec
alienos texandos. (fn. 6) . . .
36. Provisum est quod quilibet pannus albus sit de
triginta et triginta porteriis et imperiale de viginti et sex
et viginti septem. Albus stragulatus eius latitudinis. (fn. 7)
These regulations indicate advanced development
both in technique and in organisation; both dyers
and weavers are represented as working with other
men's material. Other regulations provide that
woaders from outside the town may only bring in
woad and sell it by licence of inspectors, (fn. 8) and forbid
dyers to throw their waste products into the streets. (fn. 9)
Scarlet Well is mentioned as early as 1239, (fn. 10) and local
tradition, according to Morton, asserted that London
cloth had formerly been sent to Northampton to be
dyed, (fn. 11) and that cloth miscoloured at Nottingham
was brought to a good scarlet here. (fn. 12) The eyre roll
of 1247 records the death of a dyer, scalded by falling
into a vat of his own dye. (fn. 13) The Fullers' Street is
mentioned in a deed of 1250–60, (fn. 14) the Drapery 1202–
1220, (fn. 15) the Wimplers' Row as early as 1189–94. (fn. 16)
Northampton burgesses were employed as experts by
Henry III to buy cloth for him at Lynn and Stamford. (fn. 17)
In 1274 the jurors giving a list of the craftsmen
(menestralli) who have left the town to escape the
heavy tallages, mention fullers, weavers, dyers,
drapers, glovers and skinners, (fn. 18) and mention burgesses
with the surnames Waydour (or woader) Mercer,
Comber, Tinctor, as well as a linarius. The estreats
of the town court, c. 1290, mention a taverner, a
carpenter, a baker, a fisher, a maltmongere, a miller,
a knyfsmith, a carter, a peyntour, a skynnere, a woman
maker of cords, a catour, a laver, a latoner, a tailor,
and a plomer. (fn. 19) Pentecost de Kershalton, mayor of
Northampton in 1297, 1301, 1302, 1304, 1307 and
probably some other years also, was a 'deyster.' (fn. 20)
The petition of 1334 testifies to a decline in cloth
working in the 14th century, shared by Northampton
with Leicester, Oxford, Stamford and Nottingham. (fn. 21)
Nevertheless, Northampton, as we have seen, had its
own seal for the cloth subsidy. James Hart, writing
in 1633, speaks of the ruins of great buildings once
employed in the clothing trade, (fn. 22) but the only building
recorded is the Wool Hall, and 14th century notices
of Northampton refer rather to the wool trade than
to the cloth industry. In 1274 six burgesses had been
presented for exporting wool to foreign parts, contrary
to the king's prohibition, one being responsible for
68 and another for 80 sacks. (fn. 23) Northampton sent four
of its merchants to the merchants' assembly of 1337
which formed the syndicate that cornered the wool of
England for the benefit of Edward III, (fn. 24) and there are
other indications of a wool trade of some importance. (fn. 25)
But in its wool trade no less than its cloth trade it was
completely outdistanced by other towns and counties
of England. (fn. 26)
The frequent presence of the king and court must
have stimulated various other crafts besides the
textile. In 1224, when besieging Bedford, Henry
was able to call on the smiths of Northampton for
4,000 quarrels, well headed and feathered, and for
150 good pickaxes. (fn. 27) Two cartloads of Gloucester
iron were also to be sent from Northampton to
Bedford for the king's works there. Hides, both
white and tanned, were demanded, and with them two
saddlers with their craftsmen for making targes. (fn. 28)
The trades mentioned in 1274 not concerned with the
clothing or leather industries were mostly victualling;
vintners, spicers, mustarders, fishmongers. (fn. 29) A goldsmith is mentioned in 1233; (fn. 30) a tanner and a parchment maker in 1247. (fn. 31) In 1325 37 pairs of shoes and
two of boots were stolen from one shop; (fn. 32) and there
were a Tanner's Street, a Glovery, a Saddlery and a
"Cordwauria" near All Saints' in 1332. (fn. 33) In the
eyre roll of 1329 there is mention of weavers, skinners,
barbers, dyers, tailors, shearmen, brewers, taverners,
garlic-mongers (or aillours), masons, cordwainers,
cobblers, curriers, and a romongeour. (fn. 34)
Amongst the economic ingredients of medieval
Northampton, the Jews ought not to be overlooked.
Jews of Northampton occur on the Pipe Rolls from
1170, (fn. 35) and there was an anti-Semitic riot here in 1190
which St. Hugh intervened to check. (fn. 36) In 1194
Northampton with 39 Jews comes fifth on the list of
English towns with Jewries, after London (112),
Lincoln (82), Norwich (42), and Gloucester (40). (fn. 37)
In that year a chest was set up at Northampton, as
elsewhere, for the deposit of Jewish bonds and deeds,
and two Jews and two Christians appointed as custodians. Henry III commanded in 1237, not for the
first time, that no Jew should live in Northamptonshire outside the king's town of Northampton, (fn. 38) and
showed his sense of responsibility for them by his
command to the leading burgesses in June 1264 to
protect the Jews who had taken refuge in the castle
during the disorders of the spring. (fn. 39) Some of the
Jews who had deposited their chattels with Christians
for safe-keeping in the emergency found it difficult to
recover them later. (fn. 40) The Plea Rolls of the Jewish
Exchequer shew us the Jews of Northampton acting
as bankers for both town and county. Burgesses
like Robert son of Henry or Robert of Leicester
borrowed money from them at the illegal rate of 10d.
a week in the pound; (fn. 41) knights of the shire, like
Robert de Pavely of Paulers Pury or Hugh de
Chanceaux of Upton, pledged their manors to them. (fn. 42)
In the 13th century the Jewish community in Northampton must have been shrinking steadily. A
number of houses once possessed by Jews in Northampton are mentioned as being granted by the king
to other persons, such as to the Master of the Temple
in 1215, (fn. 43) the earl of Winchester in 1218, (fn. 44) Philip
Marc in 1219, (fn. 45) Stephen de Segrave in 1229, (fn. 46) and
Robert de Mara in 1248. (fn. 47) In 1277 the Northampton
Jews were charged with a ritual murder, (fn. 48) and in 1278
a general attack on them for clipping and forging coin
led to the execution and forfeiture of many Northampton Jews. (fn. 49) A series of grants of houses once belonging to Jews are enrolled on the Charter Roll 1280–
1286. (fn. 50) When the Jews were finally expelled in 1290
the inquest into their houses, rents and tenements
showed that 5 houses were held in Northampton by five
separate Jews, and the community of the Jews held
a synagogue, two houses near its entry, two houses
outside the north gate and a burial ground. (fn. 51) A later
document suggests that the synagogue of the Jews,
granted to the Abbot of St. James in 1291, (fn. 52) lay in
Silver Street. (fn. 53) Other Jews' houses are described as
lying in the Corn Row, (fn. 54) in the market place, (fn. 55) in
Larttwychene, (fn. 56) in Berewardstrete, (fn. 57) in the Cornechepyng, (fn. 58) whilst Henry Lee describes as Jewish
three houses standing before the fire of 1675, one near
the Red Lion in the Horsemarket, one near the Ram
in the Sheepmarket, and one in Silver Street. (fn. 59) The
Jewish community then were not confined to one
Jewry, though they seem to have preferred the
northern and western parts of the town.
There is no clear reference to any craft organisation
till the 15th century, though the 13th century custumal
refers to master butchers, (fn. 60) and the expression
bachelerie de Northampton has been interpreted to
mean associations of journeymen, (fn. 61) the economic
equivalent of the political bacheleria. The economic
regulations of the 13th century custumal show the
prepositura as the authority regulating primarily
conditions of buying and selling, (fn. 62) but also, in the case
of weavers, dyers and butchers, the quality of the
goods offered for sale. The butcher pays a fee to the
town, 'as he used to do to his peers,' for the right to
become a master. (fn. 63) And when in the 15th century
the town records begin, it is noteworthy that the town
government takes the initiative, in one instance at
least, in forming a craft gild, and keeps throughout a
controlling hand on the regulations of the crafts, both
assisting in drafting the rules, swearing in the wardens
and demanding reports from them, and enrolling the
constitutions in the town records. In these craft
ordinances the textile industries are still prominent.
In 1427 the shearmen are commanded to organise
themselves under two wardens, who are to inspect the
quality of the work and report to the mayor. (fn. 64) The
existence of turbulent organisations of journeymen is
indicated in the regulations for the weavers' craft in
1432, (fn. 65) which are designed to put an end to 'many and
dyverse unfittyng contestes and debates . . . which have
long tyme regned in the Crafte of Englisshe wevers of
Northampton bitwene the Maistirs and the jorneymen
of the seide crafte.' The ordinances of 1432 refer
to old-established customs such as the Easter procession to St. Mary de la Pré outside the town, and the
'customable drinking' that followed the offering of
wax tapers there, and further illustrate the cleavage
within the craft by the prohibition of ' confederacyes,
conventicles and gederyngs.' Supplementary regulations of the weavers' craft were passed in 1439, 1441,
1448 (fn. 66) and 1462, when a six years' apprenticeship
was provided for, and a supervision of the licensing of
new weavers by the warden of the craft, acting with
two of the Twenty Four comburgesses. (fn. 67) In 1511
the inspection of cloths by the ' searchers' was further
regulated. (fn. 68) The formation of the Tailors' Craft Gild
in 1444–5 is of great interest: the industry was so
important to the town as a whole that the town
government took the initiative and compelled the
tailors to accept a constitution. 'Full many gentilmen and other people of oure lorde the Kynge for
the shapyng of theire clothyng and of their servauntes
and of theire lyvereys dayly comen to the same town.
Nevertheles noo Rule ne order put ne is in the said
Crafte betwene thartificers and mynystres of the
seide Crafte. . . . Wherefore the seide gentilmen . . .
oft tymes for unhable shapyng . . . aren . . . disseived to her prejudice and also sclaunder and detriment to the saide toun. And therefore the saide
Maire and his Comburgeis by the comyn Assent of
the seide toun wyllen in the saide Crafte ordynaunce
and good Rule be putt.' (fn. 69) By this constitution
overseers were set up, with power to correct and to
call meetings of the craft. The town assembly confirmed the regulations for tailors and woollen drapers
jointly in 1588. (fn. 70) In 1452 the fullers' craft was
organised on similar lines, (fn. 71) further regulations being
added in 1464, 1511 and 1585. (fn. 72) In like manner,
constitutions or regulations were made for the corvisers and cordwainers in 1401 and 1452, (fn. 73) the shoemakers in 1552, (fn. 74) the glovers in 1594; (fn. 75) the whittawyers and tanners in 1566 and 1582; (fn. 76) the bakers in
1467, 1518, 1545 and 1553; (fn. 77) the butchers in 1505,
1558, and 1568; (fn. 78) the fishmongers in 1467 and
1574; (fn. 79) the innkeepers in 1383, 1568 and 1570; (fn. 80)
the brewers in 1545, (fn. 81) the carpenters in 1430; (fn. 82)
the slaters in 1509; (fn. 83) whilst in 1562 the ironmongers'
constitution was cancelled. (fn. 84) All these regulations are
duly enrolled in the Liber Custumarum or, after 1553,
the Assembly Books. In 1574 a number of unorganised
trades—mercers, haberdashers, linendrapers, grocers,
apothecaries, upholsterers, salters and tryers of honey
and wax—were ordered to meet at St. Katharine's
Hall in the last week of October and choose themselves
wardens, with various other regulations to bring them
into line with the other tradesmen. (fn. 85) In all these
constitutions, drafted by the mayor and the craftsmen
jointly, the craftsmen elect their own wardens or
searchers, who are sworn in before the mayor at the
guildhall on the court day. (fn. 86) Regular fees are payable to the town chamber and fines for breaches of
the regulations are divided between the craft and the
town. Many of the crafts with constitutions used
to meet, as we have seen, in the hall over the great
Conduit in the market place. The fullers and slaters
used to meet at the Black Friars' House, (fn. 87) the shearmen and the shoemakers at the White Friars. (fn. 88) After
the Dissolution the shoemakers used to meet in
St. George's Hall. (fn. 89)
Some indication of the comparative importance of
different trades in the town is given by the lists of
town bailiffs between 1386 and 1461, (fn. 90) in which in
many instances, their crafts are named. Nineteen
bailiffs were mercers, eleven drapers, eight dyers,
six fullers, six hosiers, two weavers, and two woolmen.
There were eight bakers and six fishmongers; five
glovers and five ironmongers. Other evidence suggests that Northampton continued to be of some
importance as a clothing centre. There are frequent
references to the fullers and their tenters in the Assembly Books from 1550 to 1630. (fn. 91) The Privy Council
notes in 1577 that merchants of Norwich, London and
Northampton are in the habit of buying and selling
wool at Northampton, driving up the price, to the
great decay of clothing in the shire. (fn. 92) The enrolments
of apprentices on the town records show the tailors
as the most popular industry in the 16th and early
17th centuries, and the clothing trades running the
leather trades close for the first place in the town.
There is a marked revival in weaving in the second half
of the 18th century, and though the shoemaking
trade is by now well ahead, the poll books of the
elections of 1768, 1784 and 1790 show a large number
of woolcombers and weavers. 'A century ago,' says
James, writing in 1857, 'the woolstaplers of Northampton were the local magnates, the weavers of serges,
tammies and shallons more numerous than the shoemakers of the present day.' (fn. 93) In 1768 the weavers
seem to have congregated about the Mayorhold and
St. Giles', and the woolcombers in Bridge Street and
the south quarter in general, where it may be presumed the fullers would also be found, from the
proximity of the Cow Meadow, where their tenters
stood in the 16th and 17th centuries. (fn. 94)
The apprenticeship statistics cannot be regarded as
exhaustive, but they give some indication of the proportion in which the different industries were pursued
in Northampton in the 17th and 18th centuries, and
of the extent to which the town population was
recruited from the country. (fn. 95) Of the great advance
of the shoemaking industry in this period an account
has been given in the previous volume. (fn. 96) In 1619 the
complaint of the nuisances caused by tanners, glovers,
whittawyers and parchment makers washing their
hides in the river and the watercourses of the Cow
Meadow (fn. 97) suggests that the leather trade was active,
but the glovers were still, apparently, as important
as the shoemakers. By 1662, however, Fuller could
say 'This town stands on other men's legs,' (fn. 98) and
in 1689 the shoemakers of Northampton, petitioning
against a bill for the free transport of unwrought
leather overseas, asserted, 'A very considerable part
of the trade of this town has consisted, time out of
mind, in the manufacture of boots and shoes, great
quantities of which have been sent abroad.' (fn. 99) The
colonial and military demand for Northampton boots
and shoes is thus of old standing, and war, from 1642
onwards, has been a marked stimulant to the industry.
In 1794 the town was producing from 10,000 to 12,000
pairs a week, as against 7,000 to 8,000 in time of peace, (fn. 100)
and its achievements in the war of 1914–18 were in
accordance with previous traditions. During the
four years of the war Northampton supplied the
Allied forces with 23 million pairs, Northamptonshire
contributing another 24 million, as against 23 million
from the rest of the country. (fn. 101) These included
infantry boots for the French, Serbian, Italian,
Roumanian and American forces, Russian Cossack
boots, Canadian knee boots, ski boots, rope-soled
boots for the Tank corps, submarine deck boots,
Flying corps boots, highland shoes, mosquito boots,
seamen's shoes, and hospital slippers, as well as the
standard B.5. British infantry boot. (fn. 102) When the
period of Army requisitioning ended, however, the
Northants Journal of Commerce observed that the army
boot was a far heavier product than Northampton
manufacturers and Northampton operatives cared
to handle, as they preferred a higher grade boot. (fn. 103)
In the 17th and 18th centuries Northampton was
noted as a centre for the purchase of horses. Baskervill
refers to the horse fairs in 1673, (fn. 104) and Morton in 1712
says that Northampton is famed for the best horses
in England. (fn. 105) The Earl of Moray writes of a friend
in 1683: 'He is busy getting horses: he is resolved
to have them good or not at all, and if he get them
not here (in London) he will go down to Northampton,
where the best are.' (fn. 106) The horse fairs were still well
attended in 1815. They are now held in the cattle
market on the Saturday nearest to June 24. (fn. 107)
The mills of Northampton, though not mentioned
in Domesday Book, have a long history. Conches
melne or the mill of Conge (fn. 108) is mentioned before
1135, and its tithe was granted to St. Andrew's Priory
by Grimbold. (fn. 109) In 1274 there were two mills of that
name; (fn. 110) in 1539, if we may identify the Quengions
mills of the Court of Augmentations with the
Congenes mill of 1320, (fn. 111) there were five, two being
used for grinding 'meselyn corn,' one a 'colyn'
mill for grinding wheat, and the other two being
fulling mills. (fn. 112) Marvells mill is apparently identical
with the Merewyns mill of 1253, (fn. 113) the Merthensmylne
of the Hundred Rolls (fn. 114) and the Mervyns mylne
of the Valor Ecclesiasticus. (fn. 115) It also was held by St.
Andrew's, (fn. 116) like St. Andrew's mill north-west of the
town and Rushmill (fn. 117) to the south-east. A postern in
the town wall and a causeway seven feet wide led to
it. (fn. 118) After the Dissolution it was acquired by the
town, and a windmill was erected alongside of the
water mills. (fn. 119) The mills having been leased to a
succession of tenants, (fn. 120) were employed about 1740 for
a new venture in cotton-spinning, financed by Edward
Cave, the founder and editor of the Gentleman's
Magazine and one of the original patrons of the
Northampton infirmary. The carding and rollerspinning machinery invented by Lewis Paul, (fn. 121) which
anticipated Cartwright's inventions, was set up in
them under the management of T. Wyatt, as described
in the previous volume, (fn. 122) and for a while Marvell's
Mills were known as the Cotton Mills. The venture
failed, for lack of capital as much as of good management. The Nuns' mills to the south-east of the town
were held by Delapre Abbey. (fn. 123) After the shoemaking
and leather currying industry, the town is to-day noted
for its flour mills, as well as its maltings and breweries.
There are also iron-foundries of some importance.
The Northampton Chamber of Commerce was
founded in 1917, and its organ, The Northants Journal
of Commerce, began to appear in January 1919,
announcing as its aim 'to extend the fame of our
members' productions in every market throughout the
world.' (fn. 124)