Extracts shown below are taken from a booklet entitled "Aspects of Combe and Wadeford Through Time" published by the Combe Parish History Group in 2000; the section on fulling and the cloth industry is taken from the book on Combe St. Nicholas, published by the Somerset Vernacular Building Research Group; and extracts are taken from the book entitled “Mills of the Isle”, written by Derrick Warren and published by The Somerset Industrial Archaeological Society in 2001. The book covers all the mills on the River Isle but this extract shows those situated in the parish of Combe St. Nicholas.

Maps showing the location of the Mills can be accessed on the links shown below.

Four streamlets flowing strongly from springs rising from the greensand around Combe St. Nicholas and below Scrapton, merge just to the south-west of Wadeford (ST 305105), at approximately 340 feet to form the fast-flowing little River Isle.

Although the Domesday Survey of 1086 shows that a specific mill was in existence, by whom it was held and what dues were paid, it does not give a mill's exact location and rarely a name. Ilminster is recorded as having three mills paying combined dues of 22s 6d but nothing else, although these have subsequently been identified. Isle Brewers had two, only one of which is known. To add to the confusion, mills sometimes changed their names, taking the name of the current miller or owner or the trade in which they were then engaged. The history of few mills mentioned in the following pages is complete, for there is still a lot of research to be done; many must await a comprehensive study of a village or area, for it will be only then that the scraps of information concerning mills will come to light and can be put together to give a coherent story.

Here it should be explained that 'mill' is a loose term denoting not only the ubiquitous corn mill, but any industrial building using water-power. In cases where old records use the phrase 'two mills' in connection with one site, in all probability what is meant is that two pairs of stones were worked by the same waterwheel, rather than the one pair so many small rural mills had in earlier days. The same applied to fulling mills and the number of stocks they worked.

The names of many millers working during the 19th century have been taken from Trade Directories covering Somerset, mainly Pigot's, Kelly's and Post Office Directories, and in these instances no individual references are given, the exceptions being for either a lesser known Directory or for clarity in a particular instance. The sites themselves have been numbered and described consecutively down the River Isle and then, in order, down its tributaries. Only the longer leats, serving mills which stand some way from the river, are shown, and then by dotted lines. Because the 1st Edition of the 25" County Series Ordnance Survey maps do not reproduce well, most map sections have been taken from the 2nd Editions c!903. Other maps are named.

What has emerged from this study of the River Isle and its mills is the significant part played by the manufacture of woollen cloth in the economy of the area. Chard is recognised as having been the centre of the local cloth trade, but it is now evident that because the little River Isle could provide such a constant supply of 'quick' water, the area from Wadeford down to that surrounding Ilminster (where 14 woollen, fulling and textile mills have been identified) must have provided a great deal of cloth for the merchants of Chard. Indeed, the manufacture of woollen cloth had ceased in Chard by the early part of the 19th century, whereas along the Isle the trade continued for another hundred years, albeit on a greatly diminishing scale, and even then die water-power of many mills continued to be utilised by other industries, the last wheel ceasing to turn in 1990. It is interesting to speculate on whether the demise, in the early 1920s, of Chard's last wool merchant - E.R.Chaffey & Co. - was directly related to the closure of the last working woollen mill on the Isle, at Wadeford.

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The names of nearby fields - Rack Close, Stove Plot, Hemphayes and Woolhayes1 - to say nothing of an existing old road name, Rack Stile Lane, is indicative that the area was associated with the woollen industry for many years, although the first specific mention of it was in 1774. "John Hart, late of Combe St.Nicholas, Fuller, a Prisoner for debt in the King's Bench Prison, Surrey". A few years later Nicholas Mander met with as little success, for in 1783 he was declared bankrupt, with all the contents of his woollen mill having to be sold. His "utensils" included "4 Breaking Frames, 2 Scribling Horses, 4 pair Scribling Cards, 4 pairs of Looms, Twisting Mill, Wool Mill, 3 Shear Boards and Cloth Press with iron pins....", whilst his stock consisted of "Drab plains, Drab Kersey and Beaver plain". Amongst his creditors were Collins of Hort Mill, Hine of Rose Mills and Wellington of Chard.

It is evident that both fulling and woollen cloth manufacture were carried on at this site although in separate premises, for in 1812 the following notice appeared "To Be Sold, A Woollen Manufactory....It is at present employed....on the manufactory of superfine cloths and cassimeres, super seconds, forest cloths and Kerseys. The premises consist of two powerful heads of water (the large mill ponds) on which are two considerable and extensive buildings, in complete repair. The machinery consists of everything necessary for the manufacture of the above articles, on the most improved principles; comprising gig and shearing frames, the site of a fulling mill, with a powerful head of water (this would have been the River Isle below the woollen mill), buildings for broad and narrow looms, complete dye house with furnaces, and blue vats and rack stove. A good dwelling house and large garden, house for a foreman and considerable detached tenements for work people. The two mills are at a small distance from each other and so suited as to be applied to two different concerns if required".

In 1819 it was again on the market: "Factory to Let....From Michaelmass next, for a term, if required, situate at Combe St.Nicholas, near Chard, with a constant and powerful supply of water, well adapted for, and which has for many years been employed in the clothing business - if desirable, it might be divided, and one or two lofts let separately. For particulars apply to Mr.W.Walter jun. at Combe StNicholas". With many cloth mills in the area being in recession, many 'diversified', and Wadeford Woollen Mill was no exception for in 1839, when William Long was in occupation, the old fulling mill was then a grist mill.

However, the cloth trade itself must have revived for in that same year "Combe St Nicholas Woollen Mill, driven entirely by water had two wheels giving an output of 20 hp and the employees numbered 46 including 17 under 18 years of age". Its continuing operation was assured in 1847 when there was a (further) lease between William Brown "....with William Long, now dead, all that water grist mill, manufactory adjoining, now in the possession of William Brown". During the 18th century the name Brown had been prominent in Chard as woolstaplers and wool merchants and at the beginning of the 19th century turned to manufacture as well, concentrating their business at Wadeford and setting up their homes at nearby Pudleigh and Chardleigh Green.

Although in 1876 the woollen mill was described only as a "wool store"' manufacturing must have continued there, for during the 1914 - 1918 war material for army great coats was made there. It was purchased by a local landowner, Lt.Col. R.Scott-Hopkins, for £120, and during the 1939 - 1945 war he allowed the upper floor to be used as the social hall for the village, when it was popularly known as 'Power Loom Mill'. In 1975, before its conversion into a dwelling, the upper floors had no divisions and the central wheel-pit was intact, although the 16' x 4' overshot wheel had been removed.

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This is situated on the inside of Wadeford bends, which was latterly a grist mill grinding corn into meal but was originally a wool fulling mill. It was fed by a leat or man-made water course that can still be seen in Underway Meade, the field at the bottom of Underway, although it is now dry. Ownership can be traced back to at least 1639 when John Walter was granted a lease on the mill although it probably existed before that.)

In a lease of 1796 the lessors, Samuel Brown and Edward Pratt, Clothiers, both of Chard, leased to William Walter, Shear Grinder, "..all that water wheel and cog wheel erected by the late Jonathan Wyatt Symes for the manufacture of tobacco and snuff….the said William Walter shall maintain all the buildings except for the thatch....". In 1793 Walter had insured "....his dwelling and offices adjoining for £100; Flour Mills adjoining £20; Shear Mill and Shops and Woodhouse £60. All thatched". Obviously Symes did not give up his interest in the site for in 1843 a sale notice advertised "For Sale. Valuable tobacco machinery and trade implements including tobacco sieves and snuff mullers (a stone for grinding)". From 1866 until 1887 Thomas and John Dyer were millers and then in 1911 they became Dyer & Co. From 1917 Sydney George Shier was miller there until it closed in the early 1920s. He was also a corn merchant. The wheel pit was extant in 1976 where there was once an 16' x 3' overshot wheel.

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The first mention of the she comes nearly 400 years ago when, in 1614 "....it was presented That Thos. Bowridge of Pudley Mill took away stones from Chard Common". In a letter of 1756, Wm. Russell Mead writes "....leased Pudley Mill....with Court, gdn and 1 fulling mill....now rebuilt with two fulling mills under one roof....". Mead had evidently succeeded William Dyer and been followed by Joshua Harcombe and John Pyke, for in a conveyance of 1783 "...Joshua Harcombe and John Pyke, Clothiers, late of Combe StNicholas, bankrupt....one fulling mill of old Auster called Pudley Mill, now reduced into two fulling mills under the same roof, formerly Dyer's and late of William Russell Mead....to William Davey".

In 1795/6 there was a flurry of legal activity in which Samuel Brown, a prominent Chard clothier, was intent on establishing himself as a manufacturer at Wadeford. There was a sale notice in the newspapers "To Clothiers, Millers, Etc., To be Sold by Public Survey, either together or in separate Lots, by William Coward....at the George Inn, Chard....A desirable Leasehold Estate called Pudley Mill, lying in the Parish of Combe St.Nicholas, within one mile and a half of the town of Chard, consisting of a dwelling house, out­house, about half an acre of orchard, with the remains of a fulling mill, well situated for erecting either an extensive manufactory or flourmills, being upward of 260 feet in front, and having an ample supply of water...the above estate is held under the Dean of Wells for three good lives, and answerable at an early fine. For viewing the fame apply to MrJohn Davey, of Nimmer, near Chard, the owner"

The mill was apparently acquired by another prominent Chard clothier. John Deane and his company (over Samuel Brown's head ?). "John Deane and Richard Forsey sue to Samuel Brown the tenement and Pudley Mill....". Then, almost immediately, "....Deane, Waldron & Co., of Chard, agree to sharing the cost of repairing the Pond Head at Pudley Mill with Samuel Brown". Finally the details of a lease between Richard Forsey of Chard, William Waldron of Trowbridge and James Coles of Trowbridge, Clothiers, and Samuel Brown of Chard "....two fulling mills called Pudley Mills...." then defining the area "....whereon part of the said two fulling mills formerly stood....from the middle of the south end of the cut-water at the Mill Head in a straight line to die point of ground that lies between the two streams at the Mill Tail....260 feet or thereabouts....".

In 1797 "Samuel Brown at Pudley Mill paid £12 rent" to the Manor of Combe St.Nicholas. By this time Samuel was living close to the mill, for there is a deed of 1796 between John England, Clothier, of Combe St.Nicholas and Samuel Brown, Clothier, on a dwelling house at Pudley. In 1811 Samuel bought the property. "Deane, Waldron, Coles and Forsey to Samuel Brown....all that part of two fulling mills called Pudley Mills"; with, in 1813, a valuation "....a ten acres tenement lying within the Tything of Clayhanger in the Manor of Combe St.Nicholas, with a curtilage, gdn and orchard and one fulling mill of old austers called Pudley Mill, now reduced into two fulling mills under the same roof, formerly Dyer, since of Wm. Russell Mead and late of John Pyke, now the said Samuel Brown". Samuel was joined by his brother, John, who was also a clothier but who took no part in the manufacturing side of the business.

In 1828 it was reported that Chard (by that date it could only have meant Wadeford) was manufacturing 'livery cloth' and that in 1840 Chard (Wadeford) had 23 weavers and was producing 'fine, seconds and livery woollen broadcloths’. It has always been assumed that these had been made at Pudleigh but it now transpires that this could not have been the case and the cloth was made at Brown's other woollen mill, at Wadeford.

Only the old fulling mills were at Pudleigh then, for the construction of Pudleigh woollen mill did not commence until 1843. A notebook, kept by Samuel between 1843 and 1847, details the building of the mill; unfortunately, however, with only a few exceptions this does not give costings. Digging the foundations commenced in February 1843 with the first order for bricks, from Thomas Forcey of Chard, - 250 soft and 50 hard. Then came the erection of scaffolding, the building of the mill and the materials used; bricks and lime from Facey, field stone from Clayhanger, sand from Foxdon Hill, nails from John Toms of Chard and although timber is listed it does not say where this came from. Then there was the erection of the dye house, the fitting of the furness (sic) and the ingredients needed; copperas, madder, and dye wood and also the soap and alum for washing the cloth. No mention is made of a steam engine although a steam boiler was installed in November 1843 which, incidentally, used Newport coal at 11 3/4d a cwt, bought from the Chard & Bridgwater Coal Co. and transported on the newly-opened Chard Canal. All the iron-work was purchased (here are the only instances of costs) and erected by Wightman & Dening, Ironfounders, of Chard: "the new waterwheel with 'keys for same', and one man 1 day fixing £22.Os Od"; "new pulley wheel, £2 2s Od; 2 1/2 inch shaft £1; forging and turning 3 bearings, crown wheels, pinions, shafting, the list goes on , even what they allowed on the old waterwheel as scrap, £1 2s 5d! They also repaired machinery; "fixing and removing cards over cylinder of carding machine" and "repairing loom".

But all this was in 1845 when the work on the new mill was nearing completion. Although this must have been produced at the Wadeford Woollen Mill, details of the cloths made are -Best Sidneys, Best Germans, 3rd Sidneys, Drabbs and Greys. Another item mentioned, presumably because it was unusual, was the purchase of 6 bags of 'foreign wool'! Also noted were the repairs being carried out at his mill at "Neighmoor1; "H.Bond and three men building at Neighmpor" and "2 new mill feet and foreledge per mill at Neighmoor. In 1850 it was reported "Pudleigh Mill built".15 Wadeford Woollen Mill at this time was recorded as being a 'Wool Store' and it is highly likely that production was indeed concentrated at Pudleigh, with "2 spinners, 20 weavers, 1 dyer, 2 cloth dressers, 5 cloth factory workers and 4 cloth factory labourers", and it was said that such was the quality of the stout cloth made there as to "be such that a coachman's coat would stand up stiff without the coachman inside"! and that it was displayed at the Great Exhibition.

In 1876, in one of those newspaper features so popular at the time, 'A Walk Around....' includes "....below was the woollen factory at Pudleigh and the dyed cloth drying in the fields behind....". However the economics and locations of woollen cloth manufacture were changing and with them the old ways. Samuel Brown, his brother John and then his sons, John and Frederick had been patriarchal, and one of the last things Frederick did was to build a very superior row of houses for his workers. Sometime in the early 1900s, however, there was a cloth-workers strike in the North of England which, despite Frederick's pleas and the fact that his 'hands' had no personal dispute with him (in fact their pay rates were above those in the north), the workers joined the strike and the factory had to close. It never re-opened and the machinery was sold to Dening & Co. for scrap metal. After a price for the scrap had been agreed, Frederick, bitterly disillusioned, had all the machinery smashed by having it thrown out of the factory windows, so that it could ever again be used to make cloth. This greatly reduced its value as scrap and Denings made a loss on the transaction. But did Frederick smash all the machinery or was some transferred to Wadeford to be used in the future? During the Great War of 1914 - 1918 he was in production there - or were the old machines still there from years before?

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The architecture of the original little millhouse attached to the east end of the factory, with its hamstone mullioned windows, suggests that the site is older than when John Hicks leased it from John Henley in 1683.' This lease refers to "....two water grist mills and all those fulling mills....at a yearly rent of twenty pounds of lawful English Money payable quarterly.... for seven years...." A further lease with John Hicks in 17002 clearly identifies the site "....grist and all those fulling mills known by the name of Nymer Mills....situated between Heath Field and Foxmould Common....". The final mention of fulling, in 1783 comes in an indenture between "...Joshua Harcombe, Tallow Chandler and Soap Boiler, of Combe StNicholas, and John Davey, Fuller, of Nimmer...,". (Looking at the completely empty buildings now, in 2001, it can be seen that there had been a second waterwheel to the north of the present wheel, which is adjacent to the old millhouse, and that this second wheel had worked the fulling stocks. The remains of the original groundfloor structure here are substantial, as they would have needed to be to support the stocks).

For the next 70 years the mill must have struggled to survive. In 1828 Arthur Hull records in his diary, "W.Wellington is building a lace factory at Nimmer, to go by water", and this is confirmed in Pigot's Directory of 1830 which lists "William Wellington, Lace Manufacturer". There is a slight discrepancy here however, for a newspaper report in 18295 states "....the lace manufactory of Mr.J.Mackie at Combe StNicholas, was entered and some valuable parts of a lace machine, which had been put into a box in order to be repaired the next day, was taken away....". Probably Mackie was the manager, for Wellington was listed as living in the High Street, Chard in 18356. Shortly afterwards he became bankrupt. Also living in the High Street in 1835 was Susannah Phillips, described as "Silk Manufacturer", although in 1842 she was living at Nimmer, next to her "Factory".By 1845 the mill had become the property of Samuel Brown, a local woollen cloth manufacturer, for at that date he "....carried out building work at my mill at Neighmoor and fixed machines there....", and in 1854 "....set up new waterwheel at my mill at Neighmoor....". However, by then it had reverted to being a corn mill again with Mr.A.Drew as miller", so it had evidently been just an entrepreneural venture and not an extension of his woollen business.

In 1875 the premises were acquired by Messrs Coates & Co., Toilet Brush Manufacturers, of Axminster & London and in that year they advertised for "....for men and women to work at Nimmer Brush Works”. An article in a local newspaper paints an evocative but true picture of the processes carried on there "....inside the factory there was a strangely musty smell caused by an atmosphere foggy with bone dust...and we could see vices and chisels, whirling drills and quick-revolving saws, quaint moulds and patterns, revolving churn-like drums and all the various appliances that brought the rough leg-bones of oxen to dainty articles of toileteries". In 1936 all of Messrs Coates business was concentrated at Nimmer, with a Mr.Brown as the manager. Amalgamating with another firm of brush-makers, Simpsons, the firm became world-famous for their shaving brushes, with the finest badger bristle heads and handles of ivory and even solid gold.

Coates was a very important local employer both at the factory and through their use of outworkers. The late Audrey Miller shared her memories of her 8 year employment with us in January 1998 and told us how bone for handles was cut into strips and then bleached outside in what looked like cucumber frames. Once bleached, they would be turned on lathes, which made a lot of dust, and Audrey also remembered that the power wheel and machin­ery made a lot of noise and the mill race swarmed with eels. An interesting aside is that the Somerset Rural Life Museum in Glastonbury houses a collection of machinery, tools and products from Nimmer.

The factory continued to be powered by the 16' x 3'9" waterwheel until the business finally closed in 1990. The waterwheel had not been particularly successful at generating electricity in spite of it having a governor added, and in the early 1920s an oil engine was installed, later superseded by a 5hp and then an 8hp Petter engine.

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In a lease of 1347 the mill is named 'Homesbogh alias Hornysbowe' and is credited as being one of the earliest in the area. On the 4th February 1822 the following notice appeared: "Hornsbury Mill, near Chard. To be SOLD by AUCTION. ALL the VALUABLE FARMING STOCK and MILL MACHINERY of JOSEPH BUCKLAND, a bankrupt: consisting....6 cart horses, 1 hackney horse, 2 waggons, double and single hulls, a thrashing machine....apple mill and cider press, a pair of excellent French mill stones, 4ft 4in in diameter and bolting mill....". Only two weeks later, another notice appears: "Hornsbow (sic) Mill. To be LET, by AUCTION... HORNSBOW WATER GRIST MILL....and two pair of Mill Stones, with conveniences for the business of a Miller and a Baker....to be let for a term of 7, 14, or 21 years from Lady Day next....".

However, the Buckland family continued as millers there until 1885, Charles Buckland, Joseph's son, dying in 1876 with his widow carrying on until 1885. Thomas Scutt then took over until 1902, when the Chaffeys became the millers, George Chaffey being miller when it closed in 1942. The present structures date from cl8OO and the 18'x 6' overshot waterwheel and most of the machinery were installed in 1870. The wheel was made by Bodley Bros., of Exeter, and weighs 4 tons, and can carry a flow of 1500 gallons of water a minute, each bucket holding 20 gallons. The machinery was made by William Sparrow, of Martock, and the whole was installed by the Chard millwright, Joseph Hawker. Latterly more modern machinery was installed, including an auger, elevator, dust extractor and a D.C. generator to provide the mill with electric lighting. There is a cryptic inscription on a wood beam "Germans started running Jan. 2nd 1933. Barrens started running Jan. 30th 1933". There is a simple explanation - German and Barren were makers of mill stones. The mill house is now an hotel. The leat still flows from a sluice near Nimmer Mills.

The use of mills for grinding grain is relatively straightforward and well understood. However, the process of fulling has been obsolete for centuries, and needs some description. Moreover, the way in which fulling led on to the mechanisation of the cloth industry had a major impact on the parish.

Fulling was perhaps the most important process to be mechanised before the Industrial Revolution and needed water power. Before mechanisation this task used human power and was done by foot, a task requiring some eight, monotonous hours of trampling for each bolt of cloth. The raw cloth was placed in an alkaline solution - this may have been stale urine or a mix of mined clay, silica and aluminium oxide, otherwise known as Fuller's Earth, found locally near Crewkerne - and trampled to break down the natural grease of the wool.

The whole purpose of fulling was to de-grease the newly woven cloth and pound it to matt together the loose fibres, thus both felting and shrinking it by up to a fifth of its original length. After mechanisation big oak hammers were attached to the water wheels to pound the material, small rotations between the hammering ensured that it was uniformly pummelled. The fulled cloth was rinsed in clean water and hung on a tenter-frame. These frames were mounted on hillsides where sun and wind could dry the material. Each frame consisted of two rails across which the cloth was stretched from tenterhooks.

The introduction of fulling mills in the late 13th century enabled the cloth industry, formerly town-based, to move to the countryside where there was less competition for the much cleaner water supply. Here it was possible to take advantage of depressed wages arising from the lower cost of rural living. Rural cloth production also escaped the Guild control experienced in urban areas.

Early in the 17th century the Somerset Justices of the Peace presented a report to the Privy Council on East Somerset, where conditions would have been very similar to those on the Blackdowns. In it they noted "a great part of it being forest and woodlands and the rest very barren for corn....the people being occupied about the trade of cloth-making, spinning, weaving and tucking (fulling)."

Weaving, an essential domestic skill since man stopped wearing animal skin, would have been practised in Combe St Nicholas from the days of the first settlement. A will of 1648 records a bequest of a pair of looms by George Bennett, described as a woollen weaver at a time when we can be sure that the local mills were active.

The water supply and cheap labour were the all-important factors in the location of these mills as it was comparatively easy to transport the wool, at least for short distances. The mills of the Isle will have had the advantage of some locally produced wool from the Blackdown Hills besides importing more from South Wales.

The plentiful seasonal and occasional labour supply was an additional factor in their siting. The location in the parish of Combe was ideal - pastoral farming of the small dairy type, yielding butter and cheese, enabled those employed in agriculture to have time for secondary employment in the cloth trade. Wool-workers, carders, combers and spinners, usually women, would have been able to work from home on a regular basis. Since this labour was unsupervised wages were paid by output. Many weavers, generally male, were part-time too, often working from home.

A weaver was likely to make 10 cloths per annum, working a 12 hour day and a six day week. In 1704 this generated an income of £17.11.4d.The higher skilled artisans, the fullers, dyers and the most important shearers, paid Id per hour in 1700, were more likely to work full time.

An essential part of cloth making was dyeing, for which woad was commonly used in Somerset. Woad was used by the Iron Age tribes as a blue body dye and by the Romans as a medicine. There was massive production of it from the Middle Ages until 1770 for cloth dyeing and it was still being used locally in the late 1800s. Copious amounts of water are needed for the dyeing process; ideally this should be soft water which makes it easier to produce an even colour when dyeing in the piece. The springs rising from the greensand are hard, but the water is easily softened by boiling and therefore makes the Isle valley an ideal place for the creation of dyes and the process of dyeing.

Dyeing with woad was a very complex and multi-staged process needing highly skilled craftsmen, the chemists of their day. Woad belongs to the cabbage family and was imported from the Cheddar region where it was certainly grown as a crop. The leaves were crushed, fermented and dried into woad balls, a process known as 'couching', with 50 kilos of leaves producing 5 kilos of pigment. If necessary it was transported in this ball form, but then it had to be crushed and fermented in an alkaline solution, of lime or wood ash in boiling water or of urine. The dried, couched woad was put into a vat with the chosen solvent and kept at 50 degrees centigrade for three days, when the skill of the dyers lay in maintaining the alkalinity.

This was a very smelly process and Elizabeth I would not allow the manufacture of woad dye within 5 miles of any royal property. Fortunately she had none in Wadeford, therefore the dye pits between Court Mill and Wadeford Corn Mill and the dyehouse at Clayhanger were allowed. In spite of the odour created most exported wool was dyed blue, this being the foundation dye for many other colours. Since both fulling and dyeing provided their specific aromas, this may well explain a lack of early higher-status houses along the river.

These rural fulling mills served national and international markets rather than just local needs. By the 15th century cloth production was subject to a degree of standardisation in weight and quality. 'Broadcloth' was to measure 24 yards by !3/4 yards - using two weavers it took over two weeks to weave. The skills of some 30 people would be required for the complete processing of one length of broadcloth.

The finished cloth was then taken to the merchants of Chard, en route for export to France, via Lyme Regis. The latter had a considerable export trade in the 17th century, particularly of the poorer quality woollen fabrics known as 'kerseys' and 'dozens'. Most of these were sent to Normandy or Brittany, where they were purchased by the poor who could not afford good quality cloth, rather than to the London markets.

Nationally, the woollen industry was the most important employer of labour, apart from agriculture, until the 19th century. By the 15th century the broadcloth industry, largely urban based, was the single most important manufacturing industry in England, accounting for 90% of exports, with more sheep than people in late medieval times. Competition from Spanish merino wools presented a challenge, but did not surpass the finest English wools until the 17th century. An Act of Parliament was in force between 1678 and 1731 which stipulated 'burial in woollen cloth', simply to stimulate the industry nationally.

During the late 18th century fulling became obsolete when the demand for coarse cloth was superseded by the need for looser, unfelted weaves, the super fine cloths and cassimeres which allowed the creation of the lighter, fitted fashions of the day. The limited European markets for high quality woollens were becoming saturated. New draperies, using ungreased Spanish merino wool, were becoming fashionable. Fulling, which created hardwearing cloth, was no longer a necessary process to clothe the rising middle classes.

The boom time for the English cloth industry was during the Napoleonic wars when there was so much disruption in Europe that little wool production took place there. By this time new machinery had already begun to replace the old hand methods; a Spinning Jenny was installed at Shepton Mallet in 1776.