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Draft:Dutch Weavers

  • Comment: "Many merchants and tailors became particularly wealthy because of the industry, including Isaac Rebow who bought Colchester Castle and ran as MP." is unsourced, as well as the entire "Legacy" section ABG (Talk/Report any mistakes here) 00:43, 9 October 2024 (UTC)


Dutch Weavers

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The Dutch Weavers of Colchester were Flemish clothiers, more accurately known as Flemish bay-makers. These skilled textile workers migrated primarily from Flanders during the 16th century, fleeing religious persecution under the Catholic Spanish Empire.

Commonly called "Dutch" by the English as they were Dutch speaking. Their expertise in producing high quality bay (cloth) significantly shaped Colchester's textiles industry. Flemish migrants also settles across East Anglia including in Norwich where they are referred to as Strangers.

Migration and Settlement

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The arrival of the Flemish weavers in Colchester occurred in several waves:

  • Early Migration (13th century): The first Flemish cloth workers arrived following flooding in Flanders.[1] Their skills supported Colchester's russet trade, a form of coarse wollen cloth. The trade was a success leading to King Henry III purchasing Colchester russets for his household as early as 1249.[2]
  • Edward III (14th century): Following the Black Death, demand for finer clothing rose. [3] This rising importance of textiles led Edward III to issue letters of protection to Flemish protestants to encourage them to settle in England and bring their textile expertise. In 1351, King Edward III invited 27 Flemish textile workers to England to support the ailing russet trade. In the 1350s Flemish textile workers and their families made up 10% of Colchester's population.[4] They successfully improved the russet trade, expanding sales to overseas markets, revitalising the local economy and introducing new textiles methods.
  • Elizabethan Settlement (16th Century): The decline of the russet trade due to enhanced incomes and an increased demand for better clothing and more expensive cloth led the Privy Council to organise a new migration of Flemish bay-makers. The first 11 families (55 individuals) arrived in 1565. By 1571, the Flemish population had grown to 185, and by 1586, exceeded 1,290.[5] Queen Elizabeth I granted special privileges, allowing them to practice their trade, marked with official Dutch Bay Seals.

Bay Trade and Economic Impact

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The bay trade (a fine wollen cloth) became central to Colchester's economy from the late 16th century to the early 19th century. It involved a complex network of workers including:

  • Carders, combers, spinners, weavers, fullers and dyers.
  • The Flemish clothiers would take on both Flemish and local weavers.
  • Between 1670 and 1690, at least 15 apprenticeships in bay and say making were recorded.[6]
  • By 1633, Colchester was exporting over £3,000 worth of bay cloth to London each week.
  • Colchester bays were attributed with high quality and reliability which resulted in heavy punishments for the counterfitting of Colchester Dutch Bay Seals, including a fine of £20 for a first offence.[7]
  • In 1794, a commemorative coin featuring Colchester Castle and a loom was minted with the inscription "SUCCESS TO THE BAY TRADE".[8]
  • Many merchants and bay manufacterers became particularly wealthy because of the industry, including Sir Isaac Rebow who bought Colchester Castle in 1705 and ran as an MP.
  • There are many reasons the Bay industry declined in the late 18th and early 19th centuries including mechanisation, war and competition. Some of Colchester's workers moved into the growing silk industry.[9]

Cultural Influence

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The Flemish migrants influenced more than just textiles. Their contributions included:

  • The introduction of gardening as an activity for ordinary people (rather than rich landowners) which is notable in 16th Century Colchester occupation records.
  • Introduction of beer making with hops. [10]
  • Parchment production.[10]
  • Flemish merchants in 1360 sold clogs which would later form the clog dancing tradition found in Colchester and is said to be inspired by the sounds of workers using looms. [11]
  • They also celebrated Bishop Blaise, patron saint of wool-combers, with public processions. A record of the 1782 procession describes a young girl dressed in white, surrounded by wool, sat on a high wagon carrying a lamb symbolising the wool trade. Wool combers would often meet in No. 35 Stockwell Street at the Bishop Blaise inn. [12]
  • The Dutch Language influenced English, especially in maritime vocabulary (e.g., "yacht" a type of Dutch trading vessel). Intermarriage also helped spread Dutch customs and words into English society. [13]

The Dutch Quarter

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The Dutch Quarter in Colchester became the centre of Flemish life. Built in the late 16th century, the houses were painted red and green with white window frames in typical Dutch style.[14] Notable examples include:

  • Peake's House - A Grade II listed building located in the centre of the Medieval market where fullers, dyers and tanners worked.
  • Taylor House - Angel Lane is now 11-12 West Stockwell Street and Grade II listed. [15] Home of Jane Taylor, author of "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star"[16] the house carries a plaque inscribed "In these houses lives Jane and Ann Taylor, Authors of original poems ofr infant minds 1796-1811".

Many homes had large horizontal 'weaver's windows' to maximise light for loom work. [17]

For more on the Dutch Quarter visit the Dutch Quarter Wikipedia page.

Architecture and Infrastructure

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  • A Dutch Bay Hall had been established by the early 17th Century on Colchester High Street to inspect bay cloth for quality and to seal before sale.
  • The 14th century Dutch Quarter had a number of shops including an ironmonger in East Stockwell Street and many butchers lived in East and West Stockwell Street with slaughterhouses there as late as 1580. [18]
  • The Colchester court rolls of the 14th Century outline wells providing water supply.
  • The building known as the Minories (High Street Colchester) was acquired in 1731 by Isaac Boggis with wealth from the wollen bay making trade.

Mills

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The economic success of the bay trade led to the construction and conversion of fulling mills (used in the wool processing), around Essex. In the 14th Century there were eight mills around Colchester.

In 1588 Crockleford Mill on Salary Brook, was built as a fulling mill. In 1640 Bourne Mill was converted from a fishing lodge to a cloth mill for weaving, fulling, and finishing bays. Corn mills such as Cannock mill, East mill, Hull mill and Middle mill all transformed to fulling mills in the 16th and 17th centuries. [19]

Roads

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Trade routes were improved and turnpike roads developed from the 17th century partly to connect villages for trade and to support wool and cloth transport. The road from Colchester to Halstead, passing through the villages on the River Colne, became an important route for the supplies of spun wool produced in the villages for the Colchester weavers. Clothiers also donated to improve infrastructure such as William Frere of Clare donating £40 for 'the highway between Clare and Yeldham' which was a route between the Essex towns and London used by the clotheirs. [20]

Community

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Dutch Church records

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The Flemish migrants formed a tight-knit community. Dutch Church records for Colchester from 1571 list 167 Flemish 'Strangers', including:

  • Carpenters, tailors, dyers, wool combers, parchment makers, and bay makers.
  • Named individuals listed as 'makers of bayes' include Nicholas De Hane, Jacob Mewes, Lewys de Hase, and Francis Ver Hest. Weavers of 'bais' are listed as Kaerle Vand and Joes Billet, whilst Thomas Everard is listed as a fuller of 'bais'.[21]

Records from Colchester People: The John Bensusan-Butt Biographical Dictionary of Eighteenth-Century Colchester indicate that sons would often take over the family business including Thomas Boggis taking over from Isaac Boggis, and three generations of Philip Havens' succeeding Robert Havens. The first Philip Havens was described as "a very considerable manufacturer of baize" and his son was a leading quaker merchant. [22]

Notable Families and Individuals

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  • Giles Tayspill (1549–1620), Early Flemish settler and cloth trader. [23]
  • Isaac Boggis (1699–1762), prominent bay-maker, purchased 74 High Street (later known as The Minories) in 1731. The property once included an adjacent bay and say warehouse on the east side of the house. [24]
  • Thomas Boggis (1739–1790), son of Isaac, went on to expand the family buisness.
  • Arthur Winsley (d. 30 January 1726/7), Winsley's House at the east end of the High Street was the home of wealthy baymaker Arthur Winsley; he founded Winsley's Almshouses in Old Heath Road and his memorial survives in the church of St James the Great on East Hill, colchester. [25]
  • John Winnock, A wealthy bay maker and member of the Dutch community in Colchester, he founded almshouses in 1678 in Hog Lane (now Military Road) to help 'the poore of the Dutch Congregacion of Colchester': specifically to house six poor women. [26]
  • Jacob Ringer, There is a gravestone in St Martin's churchyard for Jacob Ringer, Bay Maker.
  • Peter Devall (c. 1790 – 1834), Peter Devall & Son was the last bay making firm in Colchester. It was located in Priory Street. Peter Devall's official title was 'Master Bay Maker'. Peter worked at Bourne Mill to sort the wool and have it spun before sending it to Priory Street for weaving. It then returned to Bourne Mill for fulling and bleaching and was left to dry on the tenterhooks by the mill pond.

See also

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References

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  1. ^ "Historical immigration to Great Britain", Wikipedia, 2024-03-02, retrieved 2024-03-13
  2. ^ "Medieval Colchester: The economy | British History Online". www.british-history.ac.uk. Retrieved 2024-03-13.
  3. ^ Lee, John S. (2018). The Medieval Clothier. Boydell Press.
  4. ^ Lambert, Bart; Pajic, Milan (December 2014). "Drapery in Exile: E dward III , C olchester and the F lemings, 1351–1367". History. 99 (338): 733–753. doi:10.1111/1468-229X.12077. ISSN 0018-2648.
  5. ^ Denney, Patrick (2004). Colchester: History & Guide. The History Press Ltd. ISBN 9780752432144.
  6. ^ Archives, The National. "The Discovery Service". discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk. Retrieved 2024-03-13.
  7. ^ Endrei, Walter; Egan, Geoff (January 1982). "The Sealing of Cloth in Europe, with Special Reference to the English Evidence". Textile History. 13 (1): 47–75. doi:10.1179/004049682793690913. ISSN 0040-4969.
  8. ^ "Colchester halfpenny token | Royal Museums Greenwich". www.rmg.co.uk. Retrieved 2024-03-13.
  9. ^ Laver F.S.A., Henry. "The Last Days of Bay-making in Colchester". Transactions of the Essex Archaeological Society. 10 (1) – via The Society at the Museum in the Castle.
  10. ^ a b Bird, Brian (1981). Guide to Colchester's Dutch Quarter. Essex Libraries. ISBN 9780903630139.
  11. ^ "Flemish Weavers and Clogs". Halliwell Local History Society. Retrieved 2024-03-13.
  12. ^ Page, William (1977). "The Victoria History of the Counties of England". Essex Volume. 2 – via ISBN 10: 0712907750, ISBN 13: 9780712907750.
  13. ^ Joby, Christopher (2015-01-01), "1 Dutch in Early Modern England: An Introduction", The Dutch Language in Britain (1550–1702), Brill, pp. 13–55, ISBN 978-90-04-28521-7, retrieved 2024-03-13
  14. ^ "HISTORY: Why is the Dutch Quarter called the Dutch Quarter?". Gazette. 2016-09-16. Retrieved 2024-03-13.
  15. ^ "Former home of famous Colchester sisters hits the market (and it's not cheap)". Gazette. 2022-05-25. Retrieved 2024-03-13.
  16. ^ "Memoirs and Poetical Remains". digital.library.upenn.edu. Retrieved 2024-03-13.
  17. ^ "Axiell Internet Server 6 | Details". cim-web.adlibhosting.com. Retrieved 2024-03-13.
  18. ^ Landmarktrust. "Peakes house history album" (PDF).
  19. ^ "Mills | British History Online". www.british-history.ac.uk. Retrieved 2024-03-13.
  20. ^ Bogart, Dan. "The Turnpike Roads of England and Wales" (PDF). Onlineatlas – via Cambridge Group for the History of Population.
  21. ^ Neder Duytsche Gemeinte (Colchester, England); Huguenot Society of London; Moens, W. J. C. (William John Charles); Waller, William Chapman (1905). Register of baptisms in the Dutch Church at Colchester from 1645 to 1728. Allen County Public Library Genealogy Center. [Lymington, England] : [Printed for the Huguenot Society, by C.T. King].
  22. ^ D'Cruze, Shani (2009). Colchester people: the John Bensusan-Butt biographical dictionary of eighteenth century Colchester. Vol. 1, 2. Lulu. ISBN 9781445209203.
  23. ^ "Giles Tayspill". artuk.org.
  24. ^ Bensusan-Butt, John. The house that Boggis built: a social history of the Minories, Colchester. Victor Batte-Lay Trust.
  25. ^ "Winsley's Charity – Providing Quality Almshouse Accommodation in Colchester". www.winsleyscharity.org.uk. Retrieved 2024-03-13.
  26. ^ "Charities for the poor | British History Online". www.british-history.ac.uk. Retrieved 2024-03-13.
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