Draft:Dutch Weavers

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The 'Dutch Weavers' (as they were referred to by the people of Colchester) are more accurately described as Flemish clothiers or Flemish bay-makers. ‘Dutch Weavers’ refer to Flemish migrants from West Flanders who moved to Colchester to flee religious persecution from the Catholic Spanish Empire. They were invited to teach the existing English weavers how to produce bay: a light, thin woolen fabric. The term 'Dutch Weavers' reflects their language and primary, but not only, role in the textile industry. Flemish migrants also settled across East Anglia including in Norwich where they are referred to as Strangers.

The first Flemish settlers arrived in Colchester following floods in their homeland.^[1] They brought weaving skills and worked in the existing Colchester russet trade to produce cloth made into everyday cloaks. The trade was a success leading to Henry III buying russet cloth to clothe his servants in 1248.^[2]

In 14^th and 15^th century England the aftermath of the Black Death resulted in enhanced affluence and greater demand for better clothing and more expensive cloth.^[3] Therefore, Colchester’s russet industry was in decline as the standard everyday cloaks fell out of fashion. There was also an economic shift from agricultural farming to pastoral farming as animal husbandry required less labour than cultivating fields. This rising importance of textiles led Edward III to issue letters of protection to Flemish protestants to encourage them to settle in England and bring their textile expertise. In 1351 he welcomed 27 Flemish textile manufacturers exiled from Flanders. In the 1350s Flemish textile workers and their families made up 10% of Colchester’s population.^[4] They successfully improved the russet trade, expanding sales to overseas markets.

As the russet industry declined, the Privy Council organised the Flemish bay-makers to settle in Colchester to revive the textile industry, granting them protection from religious persecution. In 1565, the first 11 families (55 individuals) involved in the bay-trade arrived in Colchester. By 1571, 185 Flemish individuals lived in Colchester and Elizabeth I issued special favour to the Flemish clothiers to practice the art and trade of bay and say making in Colchester, issuing Dutch Bay Seals to mark the high standard and reliable quality of the bay fabric. By 1586, the Flemish population in Colchester rose over 1,290.^[5]

The bay trade in Colchester was well-established by 1571 and continued until its decline in the 18^th century during the Napoleonic Wars.^[6] The Flemish population in Colchester fell from 1,600 at the start of the eighteenth century to 200 by 1790.^[5] The redundant weavers took jobs in the emerging silk industry as well as moving to agricultural jobs.^[7]

The Flemish bay-makers strengthened the textile industry in Colchester, improving the local economy. They brought a range of jobs involved in the trade including scrubbers, spinners, weavers, fullers, pressers, combers, dyers, throwsters, and windsters. The Flemish clothiers would take on both Flemish and local weavers. They frequently hired apprentices including older children from Blue Coats School in the Dutch Quarter who were prepared for work in the textile industry.^[8] There were at least 15 apprenticeships in the bay and say trade in Colchester between 1670 and 1690.^[9] It is claimed that in 1633, over £3,000 worth of Colchester bays were sent to London each week.^[6] Colchester bays were attributed with high quality and reliability which resulted on heavy punishments for the counterfeiting of Colchester Dutch Bay Seals, including a fine of £20 for a first offence.^[6] A coin minted in 1794 depicting Colchester Castle and a loom with the legend “SUCCESS TO THE BAY TRADE” circulated to celebrate the industry.^[10] Many merchants and tailors became particularly wealthy because of the industry, including Isaac Rebow who bought Colchester Castle and ran as MP.

The Flemish migrants did not only bring bay. They introduced gardening as an activity for ordinary people (rather than rich landowners) which is notable in 16^th century Colchester occupation records. They also introduced parchment making and beer making with hops.^[11] In 1360 Flemish merchants sold clogs in Colchester which would later form the clog dancing tradition found in Colchester and inspired by the sounds of workers using looms.^[12]

The Flemish settlers were widely involved in celebrations of the textiles trade including processions for Bishop Blaise, the patron saint of wool-combing. A record of the 1782 procession describes two young children, from families with generations of Colchester wool trade connections, sat on a high wagon each with a lamb on their laps. Wool combers would often meet in No. 35 Stockwell Street at the Bishop Blaise inn.^[13]  

The Dutch language spread to English tradesmen who worked with customers in the Netherlands, and eventually to a wider English population from marriages to Flemish people and working with them. Dutch terms entered the English vocabulary, including many of today’s seafaring terminology such as ‘yacht’, a type of Dutch trading vessel.^[14]

There is a Flemish connection to Ann and Jane Taylor’s nursery rhymes penned in Colchester. They were the daughters of Isaac Rebow, the wealthy merchant and MP, who was related to the Tayspill family of Flemish merchants and tailors. ‘The Star’ (known as ‘Twinkle Twinkle Little Star’) was written in the Dutch Quarter in Colchester. A letter from Jane Taylor describes her love of star gazing from her attic in her Dutch house, and how she read poetry to a friend on the Roman town wall. The melody ‘The Star’ is set to is a Hungarian carol and Dutch children’s song named ‘Hull a pelyhes feher ho’ and ‘Altijd is Kortjakje ziek’. Many of Jane Taylor’s poems reference the textile industry or the Dutch Quarter, and others can be interpreted as references to migration.^[15]

The Dutch Quarter was home to the Dutch weavers. The homes were built at the end of the 16^th century and were painted red and green with white window frames in a typical Dutch style.^[16] Examples include Peake’s House, located in the centre of the Medieval market where fullers, dyers and tanners worked; East Hill House built by wealthy merchant tailor George Wegg; and the residence of Ann and Jane Taylor marked with a plaque in West Stockwell Street.^[17] Houses built in Colchester during the textiles trade often were built with ‘weaver’s windows’ which were large and horizontal to allow light in without the looms blocking it.^[18]

For more on the Dutch Quarter visit the Dutch Quarter Wikipedia page.

John Winnock left a legacy in his will to the benefit of 'the poore of the Dutch Congregacion in Colchester' which resulted in the construction of almshouses in Hog Lane (now Military Road), St Giles which housed 8 poor women.^[19] Arthur Winsley has a monument in St James explaining his charitable donation in his will on March 28 1726 which established the Almshouse in St Botolphs.^[20]

The success of the bay-trade resulted in the development of fulling mills around Essex. These were mills either built or converted to clean, smooth and thicken cloth. In the 14^th century there were 8 mills around Colchester. In 1588 Crockleford mill was built as a fulling mill. In 1640 Bourne Mill was converted from a fishing lodge to a fulling mill. Corn mills such as Cannock mill, East mill, Hull mill, and Middle mill all received new fulling mills in the 16^th and 17^th centuries. Fulling mills were also built such as Hythe mill, North mill, and Stokes mill.^[21]

The Dutch Bay Hall was established on Highstreet to inspect the bays. The 14th century Dutch Quarter had a number of shops including an ironmonger in East Stockwell Street. The Colchester court rolls of the 14th century also outline wells providing water supply. A permanent location for wool trade was established in Moot Hall. The Minories Art Gallery, bought by Isaac Boggis in 1731, and Hollytrees House Museum were also bay making workplaces.^[11]

Turnpike roads developed from the 17^th century partly to connect villages for trade. The road from Colchester to Halstead, passing through the villages on the river Colne, became an important route for the supplies of spun wool produced in the villages for the Colchester weavers. Clothiers also donated to improve infrastructure such as William Frere of Clare donating £40 for 'the highway between Clare and Yeldham' which was a route between the Essex towns and London used by the clothiers.^[22]

Dutch Church Records by 1571 list 3 carpenters born in Flaunders, a tailor born in Gilderland, a tailor born in Flaunders, a dyer born in Flaunders, a comber born in Flaunders, a wool comber born in Brubant, and a total of 167 Dutch strangers. The source also names bay makers including the following listed as 'maker of bayes': Nichoas De Hane, Frauncis Ver Hest, Jacob Mewes, William Cassere, Garrard Stowteheten, Gyles Benie, Lewys de Hase, Frauncis Provoest, Matthew Bellsier, Lourence Derik, Joes Millecan, Joes Dewee, and John de. Troster. Weavers of ‘bais’ are also listed: Joes Billet and Kaerle Vand. Thomas Everard is listed as a fuller of ‘bais’. Each of these names are from Flaunders. There are also 2 parchment makers born in Flanders listed: John De Lanchu and Thomas Garrard.^[23]

The Flemish migrants formed a close community, especially those working in the textile industry. Records from ‘Colchester People: The John Bensusan-Butt Biographical Dictionary of Eighteenth-Century Colchester’ indicate that sons would often take over the family business including Thomas Boggis taking over from Isaac Boggis, and three generations of Philip Havens’ succeeding Robert Havens. The first Philip Havens was described as ‘a very considerable manufacturer of baize’ and his son was a leading quaker merchant. A visitor to James Mansfield’s textiles company commented on how close the community was and how they all referred to each other as cousins.^[24]

The Tayspill family moved to Colchester in the 1580s to escape persecution in Flanders. Giles Tayspill was part of the early waves of Flemish settlement in Colchester. There is a portrait of him aged 72 in Colchester Castle Museum. The Tayspills were a bay and say (a lighter form of bay) making family who lived in the Dutch Quarter and Queen Street. George Tayspill is buried at St Botolph’s Priory.^[25]

Isaac Boggis was the son of a Dutch mother and an East Hill Baker. His family were very successful bay makers. He bought the Minories in 1731, using it as a bay-making workshop. He died in 1762, leaving the house and his business to his son Thomas, as well as the funds for his younger sons Isaac and James to complete their apprenticeships. By 1762, bay-makers were beginning to become known as Baize-makers. Bay makers would buy the wool have it sorted then hand it back and forth through various stages of cloth production. Thomas Boggis had rowers (another term for raising the nap of cloth for a soft finish) working on rowing machines in Queen's Street and hung his cloth on tenter frames on the slopes below the castle. His cardmakers lived in All Saints near the castle and fullers worked in the water mills around the town including Bourne Mill, Lexden and Spring Lane which was hired in partnership with the Tabors who were baymakers in Queen Street. Spinning took place in cottages. He sent the finished products on wagons to London where they were dyed and sold. Peter Devall was Thomas Boggis' buisness manager and wool sorter. His son worked as an apprentice to Thomas Boggis and is regarded as the last bay maker of Colchester, having worked up to the end of the 19th century.^[26]

Arthur Winsley was a wealthy cloth and wool merchant and Alderman of Colchester. He founded twelve charity houses in St Botolph’s Parish and left his property and a sum of money to the Almshouse Accommodation charity in his name in his 1726 will. There is a tomb effigy to him in the church of St James the Great on East Hill, Colchester.^[20]

Peter Devall is regarded as one of the last bay makers of Colchester. His daughter gave an interview in 1893 in the Essex County Standard where she spoke about the last bay makers. She explained that he mostly employed women for spinning to make blankets. He was the business manager and wool sorter for Thomas Boggis, and his son worked as an apprentice to Thomas.^[13]

The 'Dutch Quarter' in Colchester is named in reference to the Dutch speaking settlers who revived the textiles trade and built the colourful houses in the area. A ‘Dutch Quarter’ plaque on a pavement in the Quarter outlines the importance of the Flemish Weavers to Colchester. A reference to their Flemish identity is seen in the street named ‘Flemish Court’ which can be found in the CO1 1GX postcode area of Colchester. The Rebow family are also memorialised in an effigy at St Mary at the Walls, Colchester. Traces of the Flemish settlers can be seen throughout the architecture around Colchester. Visit the Dutch Quarter wikipedia page for more information about the physical legacy of the 'Dutch Weavers'.

·      Giles Tayspill (1549-1620), one of the first Huguenot cloth traders to emigrate to Colchester from Flanders.

·      Isaac Rebow (1655-1726), clothier and MP, father of Ann and Jane Taylor.

·      Isaac Boggis (1699-1762), bay-maker. 

·      Thomas Boggis (1739-1790), bay-maker.

·      Arthur Winsley (d. 30^th January 1726/7), wool and cloth merchant, alderman.

·      Peter Devall (c. 1790-1834), bay-maker.

Bay (cloth)

Flemish People

Elizabethan Strangers

Russet (cloth)

Bourne Mill

Colchester