Wool production in the Cotswolds dates from Roman times to the present day and has had a profound influence on the shaping of all aspects of the Cotswold life. From medieval times onwards cloth was produced for export, and became the primary way of earning a living. Cotswold cloth was the best of British wool cloth and British cloth was considered the best in the world.

Until the end of the 1360's Britain was exporting huge amounts of raw wool for processing on the Continent in Ypres, Ghent and Bruges, but exports fell off gradually because it was more profitable to process the wool locally and export the cloth. A great deal of money was amassed, much of which went to the local churches. Merchants built vast houses and owned much land - many substantial houses are still in use today. The most famous merchant of them all, Dick Whittington, owned most of Stroud and one of its valleys. He exported Cotswold cloth abroad, made it famous, and was thrice Lord Mayor of London, and is still remembered by every British child.

Out of this trade grew great guilds (not the most universally popular of organisations) and the number of sheep grew and sheep seemed to take over the countryside. All major towns had centres where wool trading expanded. Specialised guilds were involved for each stage of the processing - each taking an inordinate pride in their job, having every movement down to a fine art and they guarded their secrets closely. The ability to obtain good colour in wool using vegetable dyes is a skill not to be taken lightly, and it wasn't.

The woollen industry, as well as being highly profitable, had its share of problems, especially in the 1830's, with labour disputes, tied-up capital, fluctuating markets, riots, strikes, bankruptcies, failing machinery and wholesale mill closures.

So much for History, but how was woollen cloth produced? The manufacturing process had many steps, and each step was carried out by specialist workers who then passed the cloth on for the next step. Wool grew in many lengths, but for convenience it was divided into short, medium and long lengths. After shearing, long wool was combed, short wool was carded and medium could be either. The process removed very short fibres before spinning. Most of the long wool went to produce warp thread for weaving and for a type of worsted , while the short was best suited for the production of local broadcloth. After combing or carding, the wool could be sulphur-bleached or dyed blue, as was the practice in the northern Cotswolds where woad was grown locally. Then the wool was oiled, with butter, goose grease, Seville or Gallipoli Oil, and then mixed - a process called scribbling, which tore or loosened the fibres.

Until industrialisation, the next stage was done in cottages (the ones that line the valleys and lend picturesque settings to the views of today). The fibres were hand-spun, using Sleeping Beauty type spinning wheels. The resultant yarn was collected for redistribution to the weavers cottages. Most of the weavers were illiterate and signed their work by weaving their mark into the edge of the cloth. The most prized cloth was collected, along with its mark, and passed down through families. In a day of dawn-till-dusk labour, assisted by family members, 10-12 feet of cloth could be produced by a good weaver. At one stage alone this complicated process could involve the winding onto the loom of some 4,000 strands without tangles or changes in tension. The weft was wound onto quills in shuttles. After weaving the cloth was scoured in urine, dried, examined, soaped, folded, and fulled. This last process involved the use of fullers earth, mined near Minchinhampton, and resulted in the production of a hairy felt. The cloth, now shrunk somewhat, was stroked by teasels (yes, the sort found beside motorways) to raise the nap or fluff. Later, during mechanisation, bunches of teasels were tied to a drum to do the same thing, and believe it or not, they are still used today, because nothing better has been found to do the job. The raised fluff was then shorn, using a machine which became the inspiration for the first lawn mower, then dyed and dried on huge tenter racks in fields. (Stealing the cloth from fields often led to the death penalty). Hot pressing gave the cloth a sheen and some degree of waterproofing.

Streams proved essential, not just in repeated washing of the wool but in the mechanisation of the industry. Sometimes the use of the mill could be twofold; for grain as well as wool. Sometimes a mill had two wheels, fed by two ponds. The last remaining wheel, broken in 1962 due to sediment in the pool, was at Painswick, where the mill had been turned over to the production of hairpins. The best place to see surviving mill buildings is in the south Cotswolds, mainly in the Stroud and adjacent Nailsworth areas.