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 Because of their Welsh connections,
Henry VII and VIII did much to placate the Welsh Nation until,
in the twenty-seventh year of the reign of Henry VIII, Wales
emerged as a nation where the Welsh had equal rights to the English.
In passing this Act, Henry also altered the role of Ludlow. In
the past it had been the headquarters of the Marcher Lords who
were little more than legalised thugs, when viewed from the Welsh
point of view. But now Ludlow became the headquarters of the
President of the Court of Justice for Wales, and was served by
counsellors, a secretary, an attorney, a solicitor and four justices.
Peace had come to Ludlow and the Marches after almost 450 years
of Ludlow being the centre of bloody power struggles between
the English and the Welsh and even the English and the English.
Apart from the Civil War, of the 17th century, when there was,
once again, unrest in Ludlow, it was towards industry that Ludlow
turned for a future.
Like many English towns,
the industry in Ludlow developed through the centuries. In the
middle ages, many Ludlow burgesses were craftsmen producing goods
for the local market. Late 13th century documents show 38 different
trades, and a century later it is recorded that there were 12
trade guilds.
By the 16th century, many of these guilds had amalgamated to
produce two composite guilds, the Hammermen and the Stitchmen
(those that worked in metal and wood, and those that worked with
leather or cloth). But there was one common denominator between
the Hammermen and the Stitchmen, and that was wool, for Ludlow
lies to the east of an area well known for its sheep.
Until the early 17th century, the sale of wool, the manufacture
of cloth and the manufacturing of products necessary for those
involved from sheep farmer to spinner, were, in the main, produced
locally. Records show that between 1470 and 1610 annual productiopn
of cloth varied between 450 and 900 'cloths' (each cloth being
a bundle of 100 pieces of material). The richest and most well-known
of Ludlow's wool and cloth merchants was Laurence of Ludlow who
lived in the 13th century. He was rich enough to build Stokesay
castle for himself, and influential enough to get a licence to
crenellate it.
A monastic document records, in 1294, that;
"Laurence of Ludlow, the most renowned of merchants,
was drowned at sea.... In the same year certain English merchants,
licensed by the King, crossed the sea with their wool; these
ought to have been led by Laurence of Ludlow."
From the early 17th century, Ludlow's cloth industry declined.
Then in the 1640's, when the Council of the Marches was virtually
suspended, and the population dropped by 20%, economic hardship
came to Ludlow. It was time for another industry to rise to prominence,
and the one that did was glove making which expanded dramatically
in the town in the 18th century until it was one of "the
great seats of the leather glove manufacture in England."
Then came the Napoleonic Wars when foreign gloves were not reaching
England, and Ludlow's glove industry peaked, and many pairs were
made for export to the U.S.A.
The gloves were cut by tradesmen and sewn in the homes of the
sewers as a sort of cottage industry. In 1811 it was recorded
that;
".... the glove line has been brought of late years into
great repute and perfection and the number of men, women and
children employed in it amounts to several hundreds. This manufactory
is, undoubtedly, beneficial to the town at large, because a great
number of the persons employed in sewing gloves might otherwise
probably be under the necessity of requiring parochial assistance."
- And on the subject of parochial assistance and homelessness,
in May 1886, in an article "Workhouse Bohemians"
in ONCE A WEEK it is stated that Ludlow is thus tabooed by the
ragged fraternity:-
"Beware of Ludlow - bare boards - no chuck." A
curious illustration of the beggars' and vagrants' litany.
Today, Ludlow is a thriving town yet it still has much to show
the visitor in its fine buildings and heritage. Pay it a visit
sometime. You wont be disappointed!
 
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