Wakefield, its Woollen-Cloth Trade and Merchant Networks, 1558-1650

Abstract

Abstract Towns cannot be fully understood without a knowledge of their interactions with each other. This was never more true than at a time when the textile industry was both ubiquitous and of national importance. The industry had an influence over the largest city and the smallest cottage. Trade was a way in which many people saw their own area as a part of the national picture. Here, using a wide range of primary sources including wills, leases, court cases, taxation records and government surveys, the cloth trade of early-modern Wakefield has been partially reconstructed. Particular attention is paid to the network of towns and regions Wakefield traded with, and the reciprocal nature of this trade. Case studies illustrate how and why trading developed.