From Farm to Town: The Changing Pattern of Textile Production in Anglo-Saxon England

Penelope Walton Rogers

doi:10.23858/FAH31.2018.008

Published: 2018-12-21

Vol. 31 (2018)

From Farm to Town: The Changing Pattern of Textile Production in Anglo-Saxon England

Penelope Walton Rogers

Fasciculi Archaeologiae Historicae

Section: Articles

https://doi.org/10.23858/FAH31.2018.008

Abstract

Through much of the Anglo-Saxon period (the 5th to 11th centuries AD), textile production was a farm-based, rural industry. The middle period, however, saw the appearance of some large estate centres, producing high quality goods for an elite group, and small overseas trading centres through which surplus cloths may have been channelled. As towns began to emerge in the 9th century, opportunities for regional and overseas trade increased. Textile production in Late Anglo-Saxon towns can be seen as a phase of social and economic change, as a supply network for raw materials was established. By this means, foundations were laid for both urban gilds and the English cloth export trade of later centuries.

Keywords:

textiles, cloth industry, Anglo-Saxon, farm, town, loom, trade

Download files

PDF PDF

Citation rules

Walton Rogers, P. (2018). From Farm to Town: The Changing Pattern of Textile Production in Anglo-Saxon England . Fasciculi Archaeologiae Historicae, 31, 103–114. https://doi.org/10.23858/FAH31.2018.008

Cited by / Share

Licence

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

References

Bender Jørgensen L. 1992. North European Textiles until AD 1000, Aarhus.
Google Scholar

Biddle M. 1990. Object and Economy in Medieval Winchester, Winchester Studies 7 (1), Oxford.
Google Scholar

Budny M., Tweddle D. 1985. The Early Medieval Textiles at Maaseik, Belgium, “Antiquaries Journal” 65 (2), 353-389.
Google Scholar

Campbell E. 2007. Continental and Mediterranean Imports to Atlantic Britain and Ireland, AD 400-800, CBA Research Report 157, York.
Google Scholar

Chester-Kadwell M. 2009. Early Anglo-Saxon Communities in the Landscape of Norfolk, British Archaeological Reports. British Series 481, Oxford.
Google Scholar

Coatsworth E. 2012. Embroideries: Ante-1100. In: G. R. Owen-Crocker, E. Coatsworth, M. Hayward (eds.), Encyclopedia of Dress and Textiles in the British Isles c. 450-1450, Leiden, Boston, 190-195.
Google Scholar

Collis J. 1978. Back Street, St Cross, Winchester Excavations III (1949-60) 2, 33-39.
Google Scholar

Cowie R., Blackmore L., Davis A., Keily J., Rielly K. 2012. Lundenwic: Excavations in Middle Saxon London 1987-2000, Museum of London Archaeology Monograph 63, London.
Google Scholar

Crabtree P. 1990. West Stow: Early Anglo-Saxon Animal Husbandry, East Anglian Archaeology 47, Ipswich.
Google Scholar

Crabtree P. 1996. Production and Consumption in an Early Complex Society: Animal Use in Middle Saxon East Anglia, “World Archaeology” 28 (1), 58-75.
Google Scholar

Crabtree P., Campana D. 2014. Animal Bone. In: A. Tester, S. Anderson, I. Riddler, R. Carr, Staunch Meadow, Brandon, Suffolk: A High Status Middle Saxon Settlement on the Fen Edge, East Anglian Archaeology 151, Bury St Edmunds, 296-313.
Google Scholar

Dumville D. 1977. Kingship, Genealogies and Regnal Lists. In: P. Sawyer, I. Wood (eds.), Early Medieval Kingship, Leeds, 72-104.
Google Scholar

Gräslund A.-S. 2001. The Position of Iron Age Scandinavian Women: Evidence from Graves and Rune Stones. In: B. Arnold, N. L. Wicker (eds.), Gender and the Archaeology of Death, Lanham (US), 81-102.
Google Scholar

Haddan A. W., Stubbs W. 1869-1878. Councils and Ecclesiastical Documents relating to Great Britain and Ireland (3 vols).
Google Scholar

Hägg I. 1994. Friesisches Tuch. In: G. Jaacks, K. Titow (eds.), Archäologische Textilfunde. Archaeological Textiles: Textilsymposium Neumünster 4.-7.5. 1993. North European Symposium for Archaeological Textiles V, Neumünster, 82-108.
Google Scholar

Hamerow H. 1993. Excavations at Mucking Volume 2: The Anglo-Saxon Settlement (Excavations by M. U. Jones and W. T. Jones, English Heritage Archaeological Report 21, London.
Google Scholar

Härke H. 1997. Early Anglo-Saxon Social Structure. In: J. Hines (ed.), The Anglo-Saxons from the Migration Period to the Eighth Century: An Ethnographic Perspective, Woodbridge, 125-170.
Google Scholar

Harris A. 2003. Byzantium, Britain and the West: The Archaeology of Cultural Identity AD 400–650, Stroud (UK). Higham N. J. 1992. Rome, Britain and the Anglo-Saxons, London.
Google Scholar

Hills C. 2001. From Isidore to Isotopes: Ivory Rings in Early Medieval Graves. In: H. Hamerow, A. MacGregor (eds.), Image and Power in the Archaeology of Early Medieval Britain: Essays in Honour of Rosemary Cramp, Oxford, 131-146.
Google Scholar

Hills C. 2003. Origins of the English, London.
Google Scholar

Ingstad A. S. 1979. Frisisk klede? En diskusjon omkring noen fine tekstiler fra yngre jernalder, “Viking” 43, 81-95. Keene D. 1990. The Textile Industry. In: M. Biddle, Object and Economy in Medieval Winchester, Winchester Studies 7 (1), Oxford, 200-208.
Google Scholar

Leslie S., Winney B., Hellenthal G., Davison D., Boumertit A., Day T., Hutnik K., Royrvik E. C., Cunliffe B. 2015. The Fine- Scale Genetic Structure of the British Population, “Nature” 519 (March), 309-314 and supplementary pages.
Google Scholar

Liebermann F. 1903. Die Gesetze der Angelsachsen 1: Text und Übersetzung, Tübingen.
Google Scholar

Loveluck C. 2007. Rural Settlement Lifestyles and Social Change in the First Millennium AD: Anglo-Saxon Flixborough in Its Wider Context. Excavations at Flixborough 4, Oxford.
Google Scholar

Loyn H. R., Percival J. 1975. The Reign of Charlemagne: Documents on Carolingian Government and Administration, Documents of Medieval History 2, New York.
Google Scholar

Mann J. 1982. Early Medieval Finds from Flaxengate, The Archaeology of Lincoln 14 (1), London.
Google Scholar

Naylor J. 2004. An Archaeology of Trade in Middle Saxon England, British Archaeological Reports. British Series 376, Oxford.
Google Scholar

Nockert M. 1991. The Högom Find and Other Migration Period Textiles and Costumes in Scandinavia, Archaeology and Environment 9: Högom II, Umeå.
Google Scholar

Pounds N. J. G. 1973. An Historical Geography of Europe 450 BC-AD 1330, Cambridge.
Google Scholar

Pritchard F. 1984. Late Saxon Textiles from the City of London, “Medieval Archaeology” 28, 46-76.
Google Scholar

Pritchard F. 1991. Small Finds. In: A. G. Vince (ed.), Aspects of Saxo-Norman London 2. Finds and Environmental Evidence, London, 120-278.
Google Scholar

Rogerson A., Dallas C. 1984. Excavations in Thetford, 1948-59 and 1973-80, East Anglian Archaeology Report 22, Gressenhall.
Google Scholar

Salzman L. F. 1923. English Industries of the Middle Ages, Oxford.
Google Scholar

Scull C. J. 1993. Archaeology. Early Anglo-Saxon Society and the Origins of Anglo-Saxon Kingdoms, “Anglo-Saxon Studies in Archaeology and History” 6, 65-82.
Google Scholar

Scull C. J. 1997. Urban Centres in Pre-Viking England? In: J. Hines (ed.), The Anglo-Saxons from the Migration Period to the Eighth Century: An Ethnographic Perspective, Woodbridge, 269-310.
Google Scholar

Stalsberg A. 2001. Visible Women Made Invisible: Interpreting Varangian Women in Old Russia. In: B. Arnold, N. L. Wicker (eds.), Gender and the Archaeology of Death, Lanham (US), 65-79.
Google Scholar

Teague S. 2011. The Anglo-Saxon Burh and the Anglo-Norman and Medieval City: Overview and Discussion. In B. M. Ford and S. Teague, Winchester – a City in the Making. Archaeological Excavations between 2002 and 2007 on the Sites of Northgate House, Staple Gardens and the Former Winchester Library, Jewry Street, Oxford Archaeology Monograph 12, Oxford, 187-224.
Google Scholar

Tester A., Anderson S., Riddler I., Carr R. 2014. Staunch Meadow, Brandon, Suffolk: A High Status Middle Saxon Settlement on the Fen Edge, East Anglian Archaeology 151, Bury St Edmunds.
Google Scholar

Tipper J. 2004. The Grubenhaus in Anglo-Saxon England: An Analysis and Interpretation of the Evidence from a Most Distinctive Building Type, Yedingham.
Google Scholar

Walton P. 1988. Dyes of the Viking Age: A Summary of Recent Work, “Dyes in History and Archaeology” 7, 14-20.
Google Scholar

Walton P. 1989. Textiles, Cordage and Raw Fibre from 16-22 Coppergate, The Archaeology of York 17 (5), London.
Google Scholar

Walton P. 1991. Textiles. In: J. Blair, N. Ramsay (eds.), English Medieval Industries, London, 319-354.
Google Scholar

Walton Rogers P. 1997. Textile Production at 16-22 Coppergate, The Archaeology of York 17 (11), York.
Google Scholar

Walton Rogers P. 1999a. The Textiles. In: C. Haughton, D. Powlesland, West Heslerton. The Anglian Cemetery I, The Excavation and Discussion of the Evidence, Yedingham, 143-171.
Google Scholar

Walton Rogers P. 1999b. Identification of Dye on Middle Saxon Pottery from Christ Church College, Canterbury’s Archaeology 1996-1997, 21st Annual Report of Canterbury Archaeological Trust, Canterbury, 36.
Google Scholar

Walton Rogers P. 2001. The Re-appearance of an Old Roman Loom in Medieval England. In: P. Walton Rogers, L. Bender Jørgensen, A. Rast-Eicher (eds.), The Roman Textile Industry and Its Influence: A Birthday Tribute to John Peter Wild, Oxford, 158-171.
Google Scholar

Walton Rogers P. 2005a. The Textiles from Mounds 5, 7, 14 and 17. In: M. O. H. Carver, Sutton Hoo: A Seventh-Century Princely Burial Ground and Its Context, London, 262-268.
Google Scholar

Walton Rogers. P. 2005b. Dyestuff Analysis of E Ware Pottery. In: A. Crone and E. Campbell, A Crannog of the First Millennium AD: Excavations by Jack Scott at Loch Glashan, Argyll, 1960, Edinburgh, 61-62.
Google Scholar

Walton Rogers P. 2007a. Cloth and Clothing in Early Anglo-Saxon England (AD 450-700), Council for British Archaeology Research Report 145, York.
Google Scholar

Walton Rogers P. 2007b. The Importance and Organisation of Textile Production. In: C. Loveluck, Rural Settlement Lifestyles and Social Change in the First Millennium AD: Anglo-Saxon Flixborough in Its Wider Context. Excavations at Flixborough 4, Oxford, 106-111.
Google Scholar

Walton Rogers P. 2009. Textile Production. In: D. H. Evans, C. Loveluck, Life and Economy at Early Medieval Flixborough c. AD 600-1000: The Artefact Evidence. Excavations at Flixborough 2, Oxford, 281-316.
Google Scholar

Walton Rogers P. 2012. Costume and Textiles. In: K. Parfitt, T. Anderson, Buckland Anglo-Saxon Cemetery, Dover Excavations 1994, The Archaeology of Canterbury New Series 6, Canterbury, 179-235.
Google Scholar

Walton Rogers P. 2014a. Cloth, Clothing and Anglo-Saxon Women. In: S. Bergerbrant, S. H. Fossøy (eds.), A Stitch in Time: Essays in Honour of Lise Bender Jørgense, Gotarc series A: Gothenburg Archaeological Studies 4, Gothenburg, 253-280.
Google Scholar

Walton Rogers P. 2014b. Textile Production and Treatment. In: A. Tester, S. Anderson, I. Riddler, R. Carr, Staunch Meadow, Brandon, Suffolk: A High Status Middle Saxon Settlement on the Fen Edge, East Anglian Archaeology 151, Bury St Edmunds, 285-294.
Google Scholar

Walton Rogers P., forthcoming, Textile Networks in Viking-Age Towns of Britain and Ireland. In: S. Ashby, S. Sindbæk (eds.), Craft Networks in Viking Towns.
Google Scholar

Webster L. 2012. Anglo-Saxon Art, London.
Google Scholar

West S. 1985. West Stow, The Anglo-Saxon Village, East Anglian Archaeology 24 (2 vols) ; Whitelock D. (ed. and trans.). 1930. Anglo-Saxon Wills, Cambridge.
Google Scholar

Whiting M. C. 1983. Appendix 2: Dye Analysis. In: R. Bruce-Mitford, The Sutton Hoo Ship Burial 3: Silver, Hanging Bowls, Drinking Vessels, Containers, Musical Instruments, Textiles, Minor Objects, London, 465.
Google Scholar

Wild J. P. 1970. Textile Manufacture in the Northern Roman Provinces, Cambridge.
Google Scholar

Wild J. P. 2002. The Textile Industries of Roman Britain, “Britannia” 33, 1-41.
Google Scholar

Winric of Trèves. Hermanni Contracti Conflictus Ovis et Lini. M. Haupt (ed.), “Zeitschrift für deutsches Altertum” 11 (1859), 215-238.
Google Scholar