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More than 5000 entries on the history, culture and life of Britain (published in 1993 by Macmillan, now out of print)
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wool
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The major source of English prosperity from the late Middle Ages (as reflected in the *Woolsack). The climate is well suited to the rearing of sheep, and at first the product was mainly exported as raw wool. But from the 14C England increasingly became a manufacturer and exporter of cloth. Areas with strong and reliable streams, such as the Cotswolds, were soon dotted with water-driven mills where primitive machinery replaced muscle power in the exhausting process of fulling – the pounding of the loosely woven fabric to make it more compact. Spinning and weaving were mainly done as piecework in people's homes.
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Other areas particularly known for the production of woollen cloth were Yorkshire and East Anglia (*worsted derives its name from a Norfolk village).
In the 17C woollen goods made up half of Britain's exports. This figure had fallen to about a quarter by the mid-18C. Wool was then still the country's largest single export, but by the early 19C it had been overtaken by *cotton – the commodity which had benefited from many of the most significant advances of the early *Industrial Revolution.
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