In message <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>, Diana Smith <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes >Another *mistake* is she mentions Nottinghamshire
Not necessarily. In the histories of the machine lace industry (Nottingham in particular) there is mention that John Heathcote watched the natural movements of the hand lacemakers in order to imitate the twisting movement in the machinery. Admittedly he was in Loughborough, not Nottingham, at the time, but I would suspect that there were probably pockets of lacemakers in most of the rural communities - we have, maybe, a tendency to want to "package" things into easy chunks and that anything that doesn't fit in the "package" couldn't possibly have been so, could it? :-). Also, despite "tradition", families did move quite large distances in those days - one of my father's side was born in Kent, moved to York, and finally settled in Rutland near Peterborough (he was a railway worker) - though the main area for his family name (Phippen) appears to be around Honiton! Lacemakers were not only the wives of agricultural workers - they were also married to railway navvies (and being a tracklayer's daughter, I'm following the tradition!). Another section of Dad's family moved from the Peterborough/Stamford area (Cambridgeshire/Lincolnshire border and Rutland) to Bradford (Yorkshire) to work the mines - they were farm workers before that - so it stands a chance that lacemakers who were married into the more "nomadic" agricultural families would not have stayed neatly put in Northamptonshire, Bedfordshire and Buckinghamshire - they would have followed their menfolk to where their work was - after all, it was the men who earned the money to keep the family, the woman's income was extra to this. I once came across some bobbins in a Cotswold antique shop labelled as "West Midlands" - this equally could have been a mistake, but also could have been accurate - we use "East Midlands" bobbins made in the West Midlands quite frequently now (and where I am, I am geographically sitting on the fence!). Only those around at the time, and their children (and maybe, grandchildren) will know exactly where lace was made for sure! Incidentally, "Torchon" lace was used for furnishings - and possibly could have meant a lace of low quality and coarse thread - in which case Bedfordshire of this type (rather than the finer variety used in clothing) could have been termed Bedfordshire-Torchon ? So many words change their meanings over the years! -- Jane Partridge - To unsubscribe send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] containing the line: unsubscribe lace [EMAIL PROTECTED] For help, write to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
