The Linen Industry of Shropshire

Abstract

The discovery in 1975 of part of Charles Bage's iron framed Castlefields flax mill led the author to study Shropshire's other linen factories and the domestic manufacture of linen and ropes during the seventeenth, eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. The manufacture of linen by cottagers and farmers from home grown hemp survived, alongside the factories, into the nineteenth century. The hempen cloth produced in Shropshire was rarely sold at markets or fairs, and was made mainly by country families for their own use. The survival of such a cottage industry into the nineteenth century was rare in England, and the existence of a workforce skilled in the preparation and manufacture of hemp and flax was probably one of the factors which influenced Shropshire entrepreneurs to manufacture linen in their factories, rather than cotton.     

The Rolt Memorial Lecture, 1979 The Old Furnace at Coalbrookdale,Shropshire

Abstract

The decision of Allied Ironfounders Ltd in 1950 to clean and make use of the area of the buried (Old Furnace) in the Upper Works at Coalbrookdale revealed the extent and condition of the remains. Clearance for measurement and photography was followed by a recognition of the importance of the site and the decision was taken for its preservation. Clearance revealed a problem particularly of a high ground water level and some of the most important features, early foundations and structures were cleared up while regulating this deep drainage. Much structural stabilization was done and the perennial problem of the preservation of ironwork encountered. A small museum was added to illustrate 250 years of the Coalbrookdale Company.     

The Structure of the Timber Kitchen at Weoley Castle,Birmingham

A CEMETERY uncovered during roadworks at High Wycombe in ig86 confirmed the location of the medieval hospital of St Margaret. Examination of the skeletal remains suggests that several of the individuals excavated had suffered from leprosy.