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English Fulling Mills

Type Object Region England Time 1580

Fulling, a key wool-finishing process, was widely powered by water in 16th-century England, boosting capacity and supporting woolen exports.

Timeline

  1. c. 1550–1580Cotswolds and southwestern river valleys · EnglandEnglish woolen manufacturers built waterwheel-driven fulling workshops along streams, using wooden mallets to repeatedly beat coarse cloth soaked in Fuller's earth or urine-lye solutions. Compared with traditional treadle fulling, water-powered mills could operate continuously and handle larger batches, pushing workshops toward centralized production.
  2. 1590–1600England · EnglandIn the 1590s, English broadcloth exports relied on regional division of labor: rural spinning and weaving ran alongside town or valley fulling and scouring. Water-powered fulling mills linked up with export networks such as the Merchant Adventurers Company, making finishing capacity a key factor constraining and promoting trade, reflecting the technology-economy coupling of the pre-industrial period.

Sources