References
- Historical summary in K. G. Ponting, Wool Marketing (London, Pergamon Press, 1966 ). I cannot write on this subject without referring to at least one work by the illustrious founder of this journal. Although we shared an interest in history, our first contact stemmed from my wish to determine those wool qualities in greatest demand as a basis for sheep-breeding specifications; see M. L. Ryder, ‘Producing desired wool properties during fleece growth’, pp. 18–31 in M. Cordelier and P.W. Harrison eds, Contributions of Science to the Development of the Textile Industry (Manchester: Textile Institute, Paris: Institut Textil, 1975).
- A. F. Barker, ‘Sight and touch v. the microscope in wool classing and sorting’, Nature cxv (1925 ), p.226.
- E. Lipson, A Short History of Wool and its Manufacture (London: Heinemann, 1953 ), p. 6.
- M. L. Ryder, ‘On the grading of British wool’, Textile Institute and Industry VII (1969 ), pp. 238–41. M. L. Ryder, ‘Sorting out British wool grades’, Wool Record (1972), April 21, pp. 26, 27 and 31.
- Although the OED gives ‘hog’ for young sheep as well as pig, I prefer ‘hogg’ to distinguish sheep from pig and because the word is derived from ‘hogget’. In fact both are the same term derived from hoggaster.
- I introduced the term ‘degree of excellence’ because ‘quality’ with wool has the specific meaning fineness (of fibre diameter) and indeed fineness is the main determinant of the degree of excellence, accounting for 80 per cent of a wool’s ‘spinnability’, the next most important characteristic being the length of the staples. These are the natural locks into which wool falls within the fleece, and which form the basic unit of the fleece indicating its type.
- See Note 4.
- British fine wool is only ‘Semi-fine’ on the world scale. The ‘degrees of excellence’ ‘Pick’ and ‘Super’ used in the 1991 BWMB Price Schedule are the last relics of a traditional fleece grading system that can be traced back for several centuries.
- M. L. Ryder, ‘New types of British wool’, Wool Record (1973 ), April 21, pp. 26–27. M. L. Ryder, ‘What does the wool buyer pay for?’ Wool Record (1973), May 4, pp. 23,24 and 27. M. L. Ryder, ‘Why the BWMB abolished 59 wool grades’, Wool Record (1980), December, p. 53. M. L. Ryder, ‘Wool’, pp. 3–10 in I. F. M. Marai and J. B. Owen eds New Techniques in Sheep Production (London: Butterworth, 1987).
- M. L. Ryder, Sheep and Man (London: Duckworth, 1983 ), p. 743.
- S. G. Barker, who wrote a 328-page book on the subject, pointed out that the count represents the ideal case: S. G. Barker, Wool Quality (London: HMSO, 1931 ), p. 8.
- Op. cit. (note 11).
- M. L. Ryder and S. K. Stephenson, Wool Growth (London, Academic Press, 1968 ), p. 650.
- Fibre measurements are now replacing hand and eye assessment for the sale of wool.
- M. L. Ryder, ‘The measurement of wool fibres in yarns as an aid to defining carpet type’, Oriental Carpet and Textile Studies, hi (1987 ), pp. 134–52.
- Hence the designation of quality numbers as ‘Bradford counts’, Bradford (Yorkshire) being the centre in which worsted manufacture became concentrated.
- This description typifies the ‘hand and eye’ approach to assessment, which has largely been replaced by objective fibre measurement in the main wool-producing countries of the world.
- Note how the lack of any definition of ‘fine’ and ‘less fine’ lends an aura of mystique to fleece grading, which is supposed to require years of experience.
- This term originated from the custom of merchants of‘casting aside’ inferior fleeces during grading and weighing on the farm. These ‘cast’ fleeces were then weighed later and paid for at a reduced price: H. Haigh and B. A. Newton, The Wools of Britain (London: Pitman, 1952 ), p. 56.
- S. Kershaw, Wool (London: Pitman, 7th ed. 1953 ), p. 105.
- Op. cit. (Note 19).
- H. Haigh, The Work of the Woolman (London: Spon, 1952).
- The variability of wool is such that there is no agreement even on the number of grades; 300 is an often quoted total and the 1979 BWMB Price Schedule had 270 just before 59 grades were abolished because of low production (see Note 9).
- Biologically the finest wool is grown on the sheep’s shoulder.
- Since ‘strong’ is used to mean coarse wool, ‘inferior in strength’ almost certainly means less fine. This is supported by the definition given by Burnley (1889 ) — Table 1 in this paper and Note 27.
- Abb = weft cf. web and wef, yet the Textile Mercury ‘Dictionary of Textile Terms’ (c. 1950 ) states that abb is used for warps — it would be more appropriate to use this inferior wool for wefts.
- J. Burnley, The History of Wool and Woolcombing (London, 1889).
- The OED defines ‘livery’ as ‘the colour of liver (soil)’ and so since this is the name given to wool from the belly one wonders whether this is a descriptive term for the stained wool from that part of the fleece.
- A similar comment was made by W. Youatt Sheep (London: Baldwin & Cradock, 1840 ), p. 67.
- J. Bischoff, A Comprehensive History of the Woollen and Worsted Manufactures (London: Smith, Elder, Vol. I, 1842).
- Op. cit. Note 29.
- My italics — this implied variation of the sorting according to the demand foreshadows the present-day amalgamation of grades because of low production. Buyers of such wool can then sort it for their own requirements. It is said that the Bradford buyers of Australian wool like badly-classed bales because they pay the price for the poorest fleeces of the lot and then gain by sorting out the best wools.
- The wool is unlikely to have come from the head of the sheep; see my comment on Burnley’s description in Table 1.
- Op. cit. Note 27.
- It is interesting that Youatt, who usually had an answer for everything, found the term abb difficult.
- Op. cit. Note 11, p. 32.
- J. Luccock, The Nature and Properties of Wool (Leeds, Baines & Newsome, 1805 ). A book dated 1809 by the same author, but with a different title appears to be identical to this.
- Op. cit. Note 11.
- This statement is supported in only very general terms by archeological evidence from textile remains. See Note 10.
- These measurements were presumably made with a microscope, but he gives no indication how they were obtained, unlike Youatt (1840 — Note 31) who gives a fascinating early account of his examination of wool fibres under the microscope. At any rate Luccock’s 1/1000 in = 25 microns, which is the approximate mean diameter found today in 58s quality wool of Down breeds, i.e. grades Pick and Super.
- Op. cit. Note 30. The language is not only ‘beautiful’ but scientifically accurate.
- H. Best, Rural Economy in Yorkshire, 1641 (Ed. C. Best-Robinson, Public. Surtees Soc. (33), 1857).
- M. L. Ryder, ‘Wool in 1641’, J. Bradford Textile Soc. 1969 –70, pp. 36–41 [no vol. no.]; M. L. Ryder, op. cit. Note 10.
- It is not clear whether these derived from asphalt (petroleum), coal or wood.
- Dated 1826; National Gallery Accession No. 130.
- The washed wool price was abolished in 1980 {Wool Record, April p. 63).
- Short, hairy clippings from such parts as the legs.
- Short, chalky-white kemps are actually found at the base of the fleece; long (heterotype) hairs form the tips of the staples and so are more obvious on the outside of a fleece. Kemps and hairs are collectively known as ‘hairy fibres’.
- R. Watts, The Young Man's Looking Glass (1641) (Quoted by Lipson, op. cit. Note 3, p. 118).
- P. J. Bowden, The Wool Trade in Tudor and Stuart England (London: Macmillan, 1956).
- Op. cit. Note 3, p. 119.
- Op. cit. Note 42.
- Op. cit. Note io, p. 484.
- H. Swanson, Medieval Artisans—An Urban Class in Late Medieval England (Oxford: Blackwell, 1989).
- Op. cit. Note i.
- Op. cit. Note 3, p. 14.
- Op. cit. Note 10, p. 452.
- B. Waites, ‘Pastoral Farming in the Duchy of Lancaster’s Pickering Estate in the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Centuries’, Yorks. Archaeol. J., il (1977 ), pp. 77–86.
- R. A. Donkin, ‘Cistercian Sheep-Farming and Wool-Sales in the Thirteenth Century’ Agric. History Rev. 6 (1958 ), pp. 2–8. See also footnote 70.
- Op. cit. Note 10, p. 465.
- There is something biologically doubtful about these data in that one would expect the bulk of the wool to be of medium quality, with a smaller amount better than this in a statistically ‘normal’ distribution. As expected, there was a smaller amount worse than the bulk.
- Op. cit. Note 10, p. 480.
- F. Hockey, Beaulieu, King John’s Abbey (Beaulieu: Pioneer Publications, 1976).
- The same operations at Fountains were carried out in a lanaria (wool house or wool shed) R. A. Donkin op. cit. Note 59.
- Op. cit. Note 3, p. 120.
- Op. cit. Note 20; op. cit. Note 13, p. 707.
- Op. cit. Note 10, p. 742.
- Op. cit. Note 59.
- Op. cit. Note 63.
- ‘Warpelock’ implies wool suitable for making stronger warp. Could this foreshadow serge, which had a worsted (combed) warp and a woollen (carded) weft; see Note 3 p. 120. The translation by Donkin (op. cit. Note 59) of god et card as ‘cotted and coarse’, should perhaps be revised to ‘geld=deprived and impure’. My interpretations of the Latin terms are based on R. E. Latham, Revised Medieval Word List (Oxford: University Press, 1966).
- Op. cit. Note $9, p. 8.
- Op. cit. Note 3, p. 67.
- M. L. Ryder, ‘Wools from Antiquity’, Textile History, v (1974), 100–10; a wider coverage is given in Note 10.
- M. L. Ryder & T. Gabra-Sanders, ‘The Application of Microscopy to Textile History’, Textile History xvi (1985 ), pp. 123–40.
- Op. cit. Note 10, p. 497.
- This lack of differential in price between different fleece grades is still with us today and is an inhibiting factor in attempts to get farmers to breed for finer wool: more money is gained for weight than for quality.
- The moisture content of wool has such an important effect on weight that a standard was later established — 16 per cent by weight of water, which is the water content at a temperature of 20°C and a Relative Humidity of 65 per cent. The Bradford ‘Conditioning’ House was set up in 1891 to issue certificates of water content to allow the price to be adjusted to the standard water content.
- R. D. Connor, The Weights and Measures of England (London: HMSO/Science Museum, 1987 ), p. 130 ff.
- T. H. Lloyd, ‘The Medieval Wool-Sack’ Textile History, hi (1972 ), pp. 92–99.
- J. E. Satchell, ‘The Bretherdale Wool Weight’, Trans. Cumb. & Westmorland Antiq. & Archaeol. Soc., LXXXIX (1989 ), pp. 131–40.
- H. Hall & F. J. Nicholas eds, ‘Select Tracts and Table Books Relating to English Weights and Measures (1100–1742 )’, Camden Miscellany xv 1929 (3rd Series vol. 41).
- M. L. Ryder, ‘Wool Tod Mystery’, J. Bradford Textile Soc. 1967 –68, pp. 120–1 [no vol. no.]. I here suggested that chipped stones weighing 14 lb might be ‘archaeological remains’ to look out for in old farm buildings. The Science Museum, London, has on show six wool weights of 7 and 141b (half tod). These date from 1640 to 1720 and have a hole at the top for a ring, which went through the steelyard.
- J. W. Shilson, ‘Weighing Wool in the Middle Ages’, Antiquity, xvm (1944), 72–77. When I submitted a note on wool weights to The Countryman the editor discovered that J. W. Shilson of Oxfordshire was still alive and was able to obtain from him a personal account of his joining the family firm of wool staplers at the turn of the century and of going round farms to buy wool. Figure 7 is from that note (‘Rescuing the past’ The Countryman, Spring 1969, pp. 164–66).
- Op. cit. Note 19.
- According to Haigh and Newton (1952 ) (Note 19) this was the origin of the draft of 2 lb per cwt, which was still in existence in the wool trade at the time he wrote, although the amount had been reduced to 1 lb in 1920.
- This is the weight of the medieval sack, which would make the sheet equal a sack and not half-a-sack as indicated in Table 3. N.B. Fleece grading, and possibly wool sorting, must have originated before the Middle Ages and indeed records from ancient Mesopotamia indicate both (see p. 95 of Note 10). On the other hand J. P. Wild apparently makes no mention of either in his Textile Manufacture in the Northern Roman Provinces (Cambridge: U.P., 1970).