The History of Lacemaking in the Chilterns
I had a little nutting tree and nothing would it bear
But little silver nutmegs for Galligolden fair.
Twenty pins have I to do, let ways be ever so dirty.
Never a penny in my purse, but farthings five and thirty.
Betsy Bays and Polly Mays they are two bonny lasses.
They build a bower upon the tower and cover it with rushes.
Pardon mistress, pardon master pardon for a pin.
If you don’t give us a holiday we won’t let you in.
Jack be nimble, Jack be quick,
Jack jump over the candlestick.
You may have come across verses like these and presumed that they are simply nursery rhymes and have no real meaning. In fact, they are all examples of “tells”, poems used to teach children to count and to develop speed in their lacemaking. To “tell” is another word for “count” as in the word “teller”, a person who counts votes. Some tells are much longer and develop into a whole story.
When and where did lace originate?
There is pictorial evidence from the late fifteenth century of simple plaited laces used on costume, and this is consistent with the statement by the author of a bobbin lace pattern book — the Nüw Modelbuch — printed in Zurich in 1561, that lace was brought to Zurich from Italy in about 1536. What is certainly true is that the second half of the sixteenth century saw the rapid development of lace as an openwork fabric, created with a needle and single thread (needle lace) or with multiple threads (bobbin lace).
The earliest form of lace, needle lace, was slow and difficult to make and gradually bobbin lace took over. Bobbin lace is generally quicker to work than needle lace, and skilled workers were soon able to copy needle lace designs. Details of such lace can be seen on hundreds of portraits from the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. Bobbin lace was the kind that was brought to England in the 16th century by Flemish Protestant exiles fleeing from the persecution of Philip II of Spain between 1563 and 1567. It is recorded that amongst those refugees were makers of “bone-lace”, so called because they used bone bobbins or sharpened bones as pins. By 1568 the refugees had reached Bedfordshire and Buckinghamshire, bringing with them their lace-pillows, bobbins and parchment patterns. Later, around 1820, a Huguenot exile and his two daughters settled in Coggeshall. The daughters were skilled in making tambour lace, so called because the net forming the groundwork of the lace was stretched tight on a wooden hoop like a tambourine. This later developed into making lace onto which were sewn beads and sequins for the fashion industry.
The Chilterns and Lacemaking
Great Horwood was a typical village where lace-makers worked. In order to get the best possible light they sat outside when they could. On cold and wet days, they would sit in windows. Three or four lace-makers would often congregate in a bay window for maximum light, often with a ‘chaddy pot’ (this was similar to a warming pan, filled with hot coals) tucked under their skirts for warmth. When it was dark, they sat around one candle surrounded by special glass reflectors called flashes on a wooden stand. These maximised the light, and rush bags were attached to the stand to hold the flashes when not in use. Lace-makers worked long tedious hours and often ended up with very poor eyesight as a result.
The Lace Trade in Buckinghamshire
‘Tis our lace trade, our Farms,
Our labour – our arms
In Militia too th’ant be forgotten,
Which this County partakes,
Who those Int’rsts forsakes
Is no Buck, but a true misbegotten.
This very partisan poem in support of W.W.Grenville who was Prime Minister from 1806 to 1807 shows how significant lace making was for Buckinghamshire and was for many a more important topic than agriculture. The Grenvilles very much associated themselves with the lace trade which was significant in the politics of the time. Lace had been made in the county for more than a century before 1700 and it became a prosperous activity until the early 19th century. The second Duke of Buckingham stressed his role as a champion of Bucks lace. At elections a lace-pillow was mounted on a pole and carried at the head of processions along with banners adorned with lace.
In 1717 the large lacemen of Wycombe employed several hundred workers and weekly took the lace to London to sell to the London milliners, returning with a supply of thread and silk for the next week’s work. Newport Pagnell was also a centre for the trade and was said to produce more lace than anywhere else in the country. Aylesbury too was famous for its lace and in the workhouse lacemaking replaced spinning as the work for women. By the late 18th century it was so profitable that women and some men refused agricultural work. Hanslope was another a centre of lacemaking in the 19th century. Early in the 19th century, Hanslope lace was noted as being particularly fine, and in 1802 800 men and women out of a population of 1,289 were making lace and in 1862 about 500 women and children in the parish were so employed.
Lacemaking Demonstrations at Chiltern Open Air Museum
Haddenham Cottage is often the atmospheric location for lacemaking demonstrations at the Museum. Find out when our craftspeople are in residence on our events page.