HATTING AND OTHER OCCUPATIONS.

[Stanley]

HATTING AND OTHER OCCUPATIONS.
[In parish of Thornton in Craven]

Analyses of the occupations of the men mentioned in the [parish] registers are given below for the years 1723, 1735, 1750 and 1800.

1723. Yeomen 2, husbandmen 13, cloth worker 1, weavers 18, smith 1.

1735. Husbandmen 11, weavers, 10, tailor 1, cloth fuller 2, carpenter 1. These figures and others for years about the same time seem to indicate that at the beginning of the 18th century the number of people in the parish engaged on the land and in the domestic industry of cloth working were about equal.

1750. Weavers 17, husbandmen 8, labourers 5, smiths 3, yeoman 1, carpenter 1, woolcomber 1, cordwainer 1, butcher 1.

1800. Weavers 30, husbandmen 3, woolcomber 3, hatters 5, labourers 4, farmers 6, joiner 1, tailor 1.

By 1750 the proportion of agricultural workers and textile workers had altered, there being more people engaged in cloth making than on the land; and by 1800 a greater proportion still were engaged in cloth or hat making and a less proportion on the land. During the 18th century there was a gradual development of cloth making and similar work and agriculture employed less and less people.

HAT MAKING.
It will be noted above that five hatters are mentioned in the registers for the year 1800. An examination of the registers shows that hat-making developed in the parish about the middle of the 18th century and became rather an important local industry especially in Kelbrook. The first entry connected with hat-making is in 1749 in connection with a hatter who lived at the Hague. Later hatters are mentioned who lived at the Hague, (Old) Stone Trough, Tunstead, Bawhead, Scald Bank, Moor Gate, Hard Clough, as well as several who lived in Kelbrook village, three in Earby and one in Thornton. It is also known that hat-making was carried on at Heads Farm, Wood Ing (now demolished) and other houses. Hat-making seems to have been concentrated mainly in Kelbrook township, and possibly it was introduced into the parish by way of Foulridge. It has been the privilege of the writer to obtain an interesting description of the process of "hatting" from an old inhabitant of the parish who, when a boy, actually saw the hats being made and who still has in his possession an iron pan which was used in connection with the work. The hats made were felt hats made of felted wool. Felted hats had been known in England since the time of the Norman Conquest in the 11th century. The hatters first washed the wool until it was beautifully clean and then cut it into short lengths of about half-an-inch. Next, by means of a simple home-made wood instrument the wool was teased until it was as fine as down. A quantity of this down-like wool sufficient to make one hat was then weighed, and by repeatedly dipping it into boiling water—to which was possibly added a quantity of some acid—and rolling it on boards with a sort of rolling pin, the wool was worked until it was felted and of a uniform thickness and the proper size. The hatters worked round a circular iron pan, about two feet three inches diameter and fifteen inches deep, which contained the boiling water. The pan was built round with stone and a fire placed underneath. Thick wooden boards sloped slightly upwards and outwards from the rim of the pan. The felted wool was then shaped by placing it on a stone block shaped like a modern felt hat with the brim turned down. Other processes were applied and the hat was then dried. When made the hats were white, but in the finishing process they were dyed. They were sold at about 1s. 6d. to 2s. each. Most of the hatters sold their hats to a middleman, and the rendezvous of one middleman who purchased many of the hats made in this parish was at Haworth. Occasionally, however, a hatter, dissatisfied with the price offered by the middleman, would refuse his offer and go round the district hawking them himself. In time, competition from machine-made felt hats became so keen that it was unprofitable to make them by hand. As conditions grew worse one enter-prising local hatter turned his attention to making wool-felted stockings. The stockings would, without doubt, be durable and warm, but his resource did not meet with the success it deserved. Local hat-making died out and so another skilled domestic industry became a thing of the past. An interesting relic in the form of a hat block of whitish stone, which was used by a local hatter over 100 years ago, is still in the possession of an inhabitant of Kelbrook. [From: BYGONE DAYS IN AN ANCIENT PARISH. [III] HISTORY IN THE PARISH REGISTERS. (BY A. H. CLEGG.)]