Sudbury - the Arrival of Silk Manufacturing

Sudbury - the Arrival of Silk Manufacturing. . Silk making began in China but by the late Middle Ages the same skills were being used in France and Italy., The wearing of silk became a mark of a person's position in society and silk products commanded high prices. In 1609 King James hade an unsuccessful attempt to stimulate silk making in England but later, religious disputes at the end of the 17th century were to have more impact. There was a mass exodus of protestant Huguenots from France in 1685 when the Catholic king, Louis XIV, revoked the Edict of Nantes. They brought to England their wealth, arts and skills, including silk weaving. Many came to Spitalfields in London., By the mid 18th century the industry in Spitalfields was well established but plagued by frequent industrial disputes between masters and men, particularly over wages. In 1774 magistrates in Spitalfields decided to regulate wages in the local silk industry. As a result many masters then began to move production from London to nearby country areas. Silk-weaving arrived in towns such as Haverhill, Glemsford and Sudbury. Here there were many skilled textile workers who were happy to work for wages that were higher than they could obtain weaving the traditional fabrics but still only two thirds of what the silk masters would have had to pay in Spitalfields. Records show that by 1844 there were four silk manufacturers and some 600 silk looms in Sudbury., At this stage silk weaving was still a hand process and was largely carried out by weavers, working from home. Three-storey terraced houses were built to house the weavers and their families. The middle floor was occupied by the weaving loom and had large windows to admit maximum light. Long terraces of these weavers' cottages are still a distinctive feature of Sudbury's townscape. Examples can be seen in Melford Road, New Street, East Street Station Road, Cross Street and Ballingdon Street., By 1860 the employers had begun to establish mare efficient manufactories. Here large numbers of weavers worked under one roof in rooms that could accommodate the wider hand looms and the taller Jacquard loom for weaving intricate velvets and damasks., One of these manufactories still survives, The Dental Emporium that you can see across the road. The picture below shows how the ground floor was being used in 1885.