In Wiltshire, the principal manufactures of woollen cloth are Bradford, which is considered the centre of the greatest fabric of superfine cloths in England, which it shares with the surrounding towns of Trowbridge, Melksham, Corsham, and Chippenham ; besides these places, woollen cloth, of a thin texture, is made at Wil ton ; and cloths of various qualities, but all fine, are made at Warminster, Caine, and Devizes.
The principal places in Somersetshire, where this manufacture is carried on, are Taunton ; here the wool. len goods are principally of a coarse fabric : Frome and Shippon Mallet : the former is famed for its manufac ture of second cloths, the latter for superfine, of which it generally makes annually between 150,000 and 200,000 yards. The woollen cloths made in the west of Eng land are commonly arranged into five classes, according to their thickness: the thickest are double superfine milled ; the finest and thinnest cloths are for the Turkey trade ; ladies cloths are rather thicker than these ; cloths manufactured for the East and West Indies, a degree thicker ; and the superfine are, in point of thick ness, next to the double superfine already mentioned. The woollen manufacture of the west of England also extends into parts of Dorsetshire, Sturminster Newton in that county being famous for its broad cloths and flannels.
In these two grand seats of the woollen manufacture of England, the West Riding of Yorkshire, and the coun ties of Gloucestershire, Wiltshire, and Somersetshire, there are three different modes of carrying it on : 1st, That of the master clothier of the west of England ; 2nd, That of the factory system ; and 3d, That of the domestic system. The last was undoubtedly the origin al, and formerly the most prevalent and extensive sys tem, though the state and circumstances of society, and especially the improvements in machinery, have at pre sent confined it within narrow limits. It is to he found principally a few miles below Lceds and 14 miles to the south of it. It does not extend far from Leeds in the other directions. It is also found nearly at the same dis tance round Huddersfield. The factory system, howe ver, is daily encroaching on the limits of the domestic system, and, without doubt, will in time totally extir pate it.
Through the whole of the west of England, as well as in the north of England, there are factories: but the master clothier of the west of England buys his wool from the importer, if it be foreign, in the fleece, or from the wool stapler if it be of domestic growth ; and in all the distinct processes employs distinct classes of per sons,who work either at their own houses, or in the fac tories of their master. None of those workmen go be yond their own peculiar branch of the manufacture. From this circumstance, and the necessary consequence of it, that each is excellent and perfect in his own line, it is supposed that the superior excellence of the west of England cloth arises. Previously to the introduction
of machinery, it was common for the north country man to conic into the west of England, purchase wool, work it up in Yorkshire, and sell it in its manufactured state in its native country. This circumstance was supposed to arise from the north country man being at liberty to work himself, and employ his family and others as he pleased. In the factory system, the master manufacturer, who sometimes possesses a large capital, employs a number of workmen in one or more buildings or factories under his own inspection, or that of his superintendants. It is evident that, both in the system of the west of England, where the master clothier gives the raw material to workmen, who manufacture it either in their own hous es or in factories, and in the factory system of the West Riding of Yorkshire, the workmen have no property in the goods which they manufacture. This circumstance marks the essential difference between these systems and the domestic system.
The domestic system, as we have already mentioned, still exists in Yorkshire, though not to nearly so great an extent as formerly. It is also found in Devonshire, (though not in the manufacture of woollen cloth,) in Wales, and in a small village in Cambridgeshire ; but it is with it as it exists in Yorkshire, that we are now in terested. According to this system, the manufacture is conducted by a number of master manufacturers, gene rally men of small capital, who, besides carrying on their manufacture of woollen cloth, have small farms of a few acres, partly for the support of their families, and partly for the convenience of their manufacture. The domes tic clothiers have sometimes one loom, sometimes two or three, but seldom four looms in their houses, at which they themselves, their wives and children, and from three to seven journeymen, are generally employed : during harvest, their wives, children, and servants, arc sent out to work. They buy their wool of the dealer, and formerly used to carry it through all the stages of its manufacture, and even dye it ; but at present they make use of the mills and machinery, which may happen to be in their neighbourhood, for many of the processes, as there are public mills near every manufacturing village. If the distance of the domestic clothier from these mills be considerable, or if he is obliged to go far to a market for his cloth, he generally keeps a horse, which is sup ported on his little farm. As there is coal in all the dis trict where the domestic system is principally carried on, (which may be about from 20 to SO miles long, and from 12 to 15 broad,) the domestic clothier easily and cheap ly obtains this article, so necessary for his own comfort, and for the conducting of his business.