The Worsted & Woollen Industries of 17th Century England

August 6, 2026

One of my favourite things about researching history is when I accidentally stumble upon a piece of treasure. Sure, it often pulls me away from my initial focus, but it adds another layer to the story; more people to discover, more places to go, more techniques to uncover.

Finding this etching was like finding gold. I was researching my Who, What, Where & When of Worsted Wool when lo and behold, one of the very first few pages of The Histories of English Industries, The Woollen and Worsted Industres, E. Lipson, 1921, I see this:

A seventeenth century broadside illustrating the process of the woollen and worsted industries, f.h.van.hove.sculpt

This broadside; a large sheet of paper printed on one side only, was illustrated by Frederick Hendrik van Hove (1628–1698). Born in The Hague, Hove was an engraved who studied under F.Bcuttats in Antwerp as a draughtsman and engraver. In the 1660-90s, he moved to London to work for John Dunton.

The illustration depicts the people involved in the process of worsted and woollen industries. If you've read my previous blog about the deep dive into worsted wool, you'll know how important the wool industry was to English trade.

Hove's broadside give us a tonne of tidbits, insider knowledge and further areas to explore. Down both the right and left edges there is a total of 14 roles regarding the woollen industries, each depicting a role which I am determined to go through with you. Frustratingly, I don't think the roles are in any chronological order within the broadside, so it's up to me to translate.

This blog won't be completed on release, instead I'm uploading bit-by-bit as I share my research for each part of the process. Let's get started!

Sheep are not native to Britain. We have 'native' or 'traditional' breeds because they have been bred over thousands of years to suit the environments and climates of specific places in the UK. We now have over 60 native breeds of sheep in Britain that have adapted to wet and windy climates like the Welsh mountains, or have been bred specifically for meat.

Sheep were likely brought over to our land by Neolithic farmers from the Near East in 4000-3000 BC. Over the next few thousand years, sheep really staked their claim on British soil. In Medieval England, sheep brought in trade and money and power. Wool was described as the 'jewel of the ream' in the 15th century. To put into perspective how important wool, was, it was the country's most valuable export- Italy was craving English wool for it's superior quality. It was a national symbol that funded wars, and built churches and genuinely made people rich.

So, you can only guess how people felt when manufactures began relying on imported products fabrics, like cotton from India and France.

This specific illustration is a broadside, created by a Dutch engraver born in The Hague, Frederick Hendrik van Hove (1628-98). van Hove moved to London in the 1660-90s, to work under John Dunton, printer and writer and inventor of the broadsheet.

Broadsheets & broadsides are two separate publications. I just want to mention this before we move on, so that we can understand 'Broadside Culture' Chris Kyle, 2008. Broadsheets; Dunton's invention, refers to a sheet of paper printed on both sides. Whereas, a broadside; this illustration, refers to a sheet of paper printed on one side only.

Now, broadsides, were often printed by regular people in the 17th century, and, up until 1624, it was common for people to send in broadsides to Parliament in order to petition specific things. In 1624, the House of Lords, banned the receipt of printed documents. It didn't change much, and broadsides were a preferred format for delivering public announcements for many centuries.

To create a broadside, engravers, like van Hove would carve illustrations into wooden 'relief blocks', which would be arranged in the preferred layout, covered in an oil-based black ink and pressed onto a single sheet of paper. Think of lino printing. Broadside printing was a whole craft in itself.

Anyway, van Hove curated this illustration entitled 'England's Great Joy and Gratitude' in around 1690.

The piece depicts the woollen textiles processes of a 17th century English industry. Each job undertaken to complete the process is located in a square along the right and left sides of the broadside. Each illustration is carefully labelled and intricately details the requirements, from cloth worker, to throwster, spinster, saylor and presser. I'll go into more detail about each role, and the overall operation of creating wool and cloth in 17th century England further on in the blog.

In the centre, a group of people look to be in a circle around a bonfire. Dancing hand-in-hand, these are possible the workers within the industry, celebrating English-own, and burning the hats created using imported fabrics.

Final thing to mention: there is a triangle of three emblems located in the middle of the broadside. These are from the guilds of Cloth Workers, Weavers and Worsted Weavers. Including these adds a level of weight and authenticity to the protest- 'if it's backed by such significant liveries, it must be important to back', kind of thing. I'll detail further elements of this broadside a little further on, if I've done well at intriguing you?

No.1: The Cottage Industries

I want to take further about the cottage industries of Britain in another post, but I can't not mention it in this one, because these cottage workers were the backbone of the wool trade.

Before the Industrial Revolution between 1750-1900, many people worked at home, with their hands and the tools they could afford. They operated a 'putting-out' system, which simply meant a merchant would 'put-out' raw materials, or half-finished projects at someone's rural house, and the worker would complete the task within their own space. Many would only complete one role within the process before it was handed-off to another to complete, or continue.

These roles would have been completed by both men and women, with exception to the Saylor, Landlord and Farmer which would have all been male roles, and the Spinster also and entirely female role. The Ale House is also a odd one on there. It's not really a role, but a instead a key part of the process for one specific job within the operation.

Altogether, there are 14 roles involved with the woollen industries. But, there are way more than 14 people involved in turning the fleece from one sheep into either cloth, or yarn. By 1700, there were between 800,000 and 1,500,000 people working in wool textiles in England. When you measure that against the entire population of the country in 1761; 6,310,340, it really puts into perspective how many people were involved in the wool trade.

No.2: The Bonfire

When I first saw this image, I thought, 'oh, cool a bonfire in the middle, they're all dancing about, interesting, I bet it's something that a lot of broadside engravers used to do to symbolise something.' And, whilst it is symbolising something, it took a little bit more research to know what.

My interpretation is that all the workers from the roles around the edges have come together to join hand-in-hand, like it says in the text:

'Now Lett us all joyn Hand in Hand T-advance that moft Promotes our Land'

aka: 'Now let us all join hand-in-hand to advance what most promotes our land'

aka: let's all join in a circle, holding hands and celebrate what makes our economy boom: wool!

When you look closely, there are some really interesting looking figures in the circle. Some perhaps look like they've spent too much time at the Ale House, or perhaps they really like to dance, and really want to celebrate wool. Something to mention is that you'll see both men and women in the circle. Because, of course both men and women had significant roles to play in the wool trade.

If you look closely in the fire, you'll see three hats, and towards the left there is a women about to throw another one in. Why? When I was revising this illustration I really had to double check that they were in fact meant to be hats, because it didn't make any sense. Again, I thought it was just a 'thing' broadside engravers did that made sense in the 17th century, something that everyone understood, that just symbolised X.

Then, if you look even closer, at the bottom of the illustration, reads the text (I'll modernise it):

'England's Great Joy and Gratitude'Express to the King and Parliament for passing the Bill for the more Effective Employment of the Poor and Encouragement of the Manufactures of this Kingdom'

SO: In 1698-9, William III wrote about passing an Act to encourage manufacturing in the Kingdom of England and the employment of the poorer people of his country. The Act would not actually come into effect until 1701 (I think it actually, finally came into effect in 1721), but, essentially, it banned the wearing of 'All Wought Silks Bengails and Stuffs mixed with Silk or Herba of the Manufacture of Persia China or East India and all Callicoes painted dyed printed or stained' that were imported into the Kingdom.

'William III, 1698-9: An Act for the more effectuall imploying the Poor by incourageing the Manufactures of this Kingdom. [Chapter X. Rot. Parl. 11 Gul. III. p. 3. n]', in Statutes of the Realm: Volume 7, 1695-1701, ed. John Raithby (s.l, 1820)

WHY? Because William III realised that importing such fabrics was actually a pretty expensive thing to do. It was wasting his coin and causing his people to go elsewhere to look for work, when, in reality he had a pretty good textile industry on his own shore.

Makes it all make a bit more sense, doesn't it? Isn't history cool!!

In a nutshell: King Will III was wasting money, upsetting his people and pretty much making them so fed up that they were up and leaving to foreign shores because he had favoured the import of fancy silks and cotton from Asia. But, once he'd realise he'd actually made quite a silly mistake, he went to set it right and basically ban these materials he had spent a lot of money importing.

So, we see the workers celebrate in thankfulness to this new Act, and praise the King and his Parliament because they now have work and money to put food on their table and a purpose to their lives. They're throwing these banned hats into the fire in celebration that England's Wool Trade will live on, in great support of the King.

No.3: The Great Livery Companies of the City of London

We have to remember that this is all pre- Industrial Revolution. So, people are working with their hands, even the machines they are working with are hand-machines. It is all a physical labour of hand crafted products.

And, it's all skill. Some people will have learned skills from years in an apprenticeship, others from watching family members do the job within their homes as they grew up. All the while, gaining a reputation as a skilled worker is probably the best way to ensure long-term employment.

Meanwhile, in London, there are 12 Great Livery Companies which comprised of workmen (yes, just men- but some women did work apprenticeships, or alongside their husbands) from specific trades and crafts. They sound like medieval practices, because many of them are, but, surprisingly, many are also still around to this day! Did you know that the earliest guild still in existence is the Weavers' Company, which was granted charter in 1155.

The point of these guilds, or liveries, was to, initially, regulate competition within the trade and maintain the high standards of skill. As guilds became more established, many set up headquarters in London, or around the country. Later, many introduced their own clothing to distinguish members from other guilds.

Membership to a guild could be taken in three ways: a. an apprenticeship, b. by patrimony (i.e. if your dad was a member), or, c. by redemption (i.e. payment of a fee). Having a membership didn't necessarily mean you practiced the trade, but it did give you a higher stance of authority. Most members entered through the apprenticeship route, which consisted of several years of work in order to learn the trade. Apprentices were often young, but came from both poor and wealthier homes. Journeymen were the craftsmen that had finished an apprentice, but had not set up their individual business. Master craftsmen could run a small one-man workshop, or a thriving business with several apprenticeships and journeymen employed in trade.

On the broadside, you'll see the emblems of three Liveries:

Worshipful Company of Clothworkers, London. Founded 1528
Worshipful Company of Weavers, London. Founded 1130
Company of Worsted Weaver, Coventry. Founded 1448

I can't find any history of a worsted weaving Livery in London, nor can I find any Guild with the emblem associated with the Worsted Weavers on the broadside. But, I did find a company set up in Coventry. It probably isn't the same one van Hove was referring to, so I'll do some more digging!

I've also had some conflicting research about using Livery emblems. Obviously, copyright wasn't invented yet, so people could use anything without the fear of plagiarising. But, with the authority that Guilds held over the City, I doubt engravers would use their emblems without permission. So, we have to assume that the Guilds backed this broadside, and the message it was sending.

Take a moment to digest all that research, wow; there's a lot of it.

P.s the broadside is available to purchase! I have reproduced the illustration to a higher quality, so you can hang a piece of museum-worthy history on your craft room walls. Click here to head to the product page. Every little bit of support gets me one step closer to curating a collection of heritage yarns from around the country for you all you experience.

P.S. USE SECRET CODE BROADSIDE FOR A SURPRISE DISCOUNT!

In Part 2, I'll start going through the roles the workers had, and how the wool came from the sheep on the land and turned into cloth or yarn.

Sources:

The History of the Woollen and Worsted Industries, Lispon. E, 1921

Frederick Hendrik van Hove, The British Museum

From Broadside to Pamphlet: Print and Parliament in the Late 1620s, Kyle. C. R, 2008

The History of Sheep Breeds in Britain, Ryder. M. L, n.d

History of the Wool Trade, Johnson. B, 2015

The Wool and Cotton Textile Industries in England and Wales up to 1850, Sugden. K & Cockerill. A, n.d

William III, 1698-9: An Act for the more effectuall imploying the Poor by incourageing the Manufactures of this Kingdom, British History Online, 1820

Livery Companies, City of London, 2024

Women in the Livery and High Civic Office in the City, Stary. E, 2021