The Domestic Economy of the Seventeenth- and Eighteenth-Century Holmfirth Textile Industry

Abstract

The Holmfirth area, known anciently as the Graveship of Holme, lay towards the south-western edge of the West Riding woollen cloth district. It shared the classic domestic economy of the textile region, whereby the manufacture of pieces of cloth was combined with small-scale farming. In this study, 101 probate inventories surviving from 1690 to 1762 are examined in detail to explain the workings of this system. In particular, the inventories provide rich evidence of every stage in the manufacture and marketing of woollen cloth. The Graveship of Holme never acquired the wealth associated with the clothiers of the Calder Valley, but its inhabitants were typical of those who lived in the moorland districts further south.

Keywords:

• Holmfirth
• cloth
• clothiers
• textiles
• inventories
• mills

I would like to thank the YAJ editor and an anonymous referee for their helpful suggestions for improving the first draft.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

David Hey

David Hey is Emeritus Professor of Local and Family History, University of Sheffield; president of the British Association for Local History; and chairman of the British Record Society. His publications include A History of Yorkshire (Carnegie, 2nd edn, 2011) and The Oxford Companion to Family and Local History (OUP, 2nd edn, 2010).

Correspondence to: Prof. D. Hey, 12 Ashford Road, Dronfield Woodhouse, Dronfield s18 8rq, UK. Email: [email protected]